We will charge you on the basis of either:
- an hourly rate, the details of which will be given with the conditions of Appointment, the rates being fixed by
reference to the skills, experience and qualifications of the personnel involved
or
- a fixed fee, which may be based on the value of the project and other factors, such as complexity, or urgency.
The details of our basis of charging will be set out in the Conditions of Appointment.
Value Added Tax is payable on all our charges for professional work; wherever a figure is stated, this will exclude
VAT.
On occasions, there will be payments to third parties, for example, for specialist drains testing, materials
testing, equipment hire and suchlike. We will pass these charges onto my clients at cost plus 10%, unless
instruction is given on the client’s behalf and settlement of the charges so incurred is made directly by the
client to the third party.
Our payment terms are identified in the Conditions of Appointment. Payment of our fees and disbursements within
these terms helps to keep our costs down and focus on our service to clients. Our usual terms are 14 days for most
projects; however, for first look surveys, payment is required in advance. We reserve the right to charge interest
and compensation on overdue accounts in accordance with the Late Payment Act.
There are three methods of payment available to settle our fee accounts:
By cheque: payable to Hipwell Consulting
By BACS: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Sort code: 16-26-30
Account number: 10102732
Account name: Hipwell Consulting Limited
By credit/debit card: We are able to accept UK Maestro / Solo / MasterCard / Visa Debit / Visa Credit /
Electron / JCB / American Express.
There is no additional fee for payment by this method.
From the outset, we will give you an estimate of the likely costs and period of time which it will take to complete your
project. For certain kinds of work, we will request payment from you in advance. Where an estimate of likely charges is
given to you, we will monitor our charges and advise you when that figure has been reached and give an indication of our
further charges.
Projects can last for a considerable period of time and a considerable amount of work may have been undertaken before
a project is completed. In such instances, we will submit interim accounts; where accounts are to be submitted at
pre-defined stages, these will be identified within the Conditions of Appointment. The carrying out of further work will
be dependent on payment of fee accounts submitted, or payment in advance, where such has been requested. We will accept
no responsibility, if, due to a lack of payment, work which requires to be carried out is either delayed, or not
completed.
Our hourly rates and other charges are reviewed annually in January. Dependent on the amount of our involvement remaining
for a project, for which hourly rates have been quoted, that extends beyond the date of review, we may charge you at the
revised rates for work beyond that date. We will advise you, if that is the case.
There may be occasions where work carried out for a client does not reach a formal conclusion, in which circumstances we
will submit an account for our involvement to that point.
If you have any queries concerning any fee account submitted to you, we will be happy to explain it to you; however, it
is important that you advise us within the period of the payment terms, should you have any queries.
