Terms of Service

Our Agreement
Below you will find the Compliant EPC “Terms of Service”, these are important to establish what you can expect from us as you use our services, and what we expect from you. These Terms of Service reflect the way Compliant EPC functions. As a result, these Terms of Service help define Compliant EPC’s relationship with you as you interact with our services. When communicating with, purchasing from or working with Compliant EPC you are agreeing to our Terms of Service. We strongly encourage you read our Terms of Services before conducting business with Compliant EPC LTD.

Definitions
1.1. ‘CEPC’ shall mean Compliant EPC Limited, its employees, subcontractors or agents.
1.2. “The client’ shall mean person(s), firm or corporate body that instructs CEPC to perform the consultancy, test, investigation, research or similar.
1.3. ‘Agreed’ shall mean agreed between the client and CEPC.
General
2.1. These conditions shall apply to all work undertaken by CEPC. No additions or variations shall apply, unless agreed in writing.
2.2. CEPC reserves the right to decline an order without providing a reason.
2.3. All contracts may be terminated prior to completion by providing 1 months’ notice. The client shall be responsible for all costs accumulated up to the date of termination.
Quotations & Charges
3.1. All charges shall be in accordance with a quotation provided by CEPC.
3.2. Quotations shall be valid for a period of 3 months, unless otherwise agreed.
3.3. CEPC reserves the right to amend all quotations, due to cost fluctuations such as inflation, staff salary changes or travel expenses.
3.4. CEPC reserves the right to charge additional fees for any works requested that fall outside of the agreed fees and scope of works provided.
3.5. CEPC requests acceptance of any additional fees and provision of a valid purchase order prior to commencement of said works. This includes for any revisions to works undertaken and issued previously that are required as a result of changes to specification or design.
3.6. The normal working day of CEPC ‘testing’ operatives is 08:00–17:00, Monday-Friday. If the on-site duration extends beyond standard working hours, CEPC reserve the right to charge the full test fee(s) plus the out-of-hours fee.
3.7. The normal working day of CompliantEPC office-based staff, including consultants and assessors, is 08:00-17:00, Monday-Friday. It should not be expected that contact be made with CEPC employees outside of this timeframe.
Testing
4.1. All equipment shall be tested regularly in accordance with the relevant British Standards institution, or other recognised body, to ensure compliance.
4.2. By prior agreement, all tests may be witnessed by a representative of the client or client’s agent. CEPC shall be entitled to charge for subsequent costs incurred.
4.3. The client shall be responsible for ensuring that CEPC has the correct permission to be on site to complete all necessary testing/inspections.
4.4. The client shall ensure that the owners/occupiers have sufficient insurance to cover all liabilities arising from: injury to CEPC staff whilst onsite; accidental damage to CEPC equipment/property whilst onsite; damage or injury to third party whilst onsite.
4.5. The client will accept CEPC judgement and decisions in ensuring the tests are conducted and reported on correctly. The client will not attempt to influence CEPC.
Certification of Test Data
5.1. No report or certification produced by CEPC may be used for advertising or other publication without written consent from CEPC.
Assessment and Consultancy
6.1. All consultancy and assessment work shall be undertaken by, or overseen and approved by persons accredited by relevant bodies to undertake the scheduled works. Evidence of relevant accreditation can be obtained from the relevant accreditation/certification bodies.
6.2. Building Regulations Part L1A and Part L2A assessment includes for assessment of dwelling emission rate (DER) or building emission rate (BER) as determined based upon specification, drawings and details as provided by others. A number of revisions to the calculation based on change to the specification may be included, as specified within the quotation provided. CEPC does not hold responsibility for ensuring compliance with any specified targets.
6.3. BREEAM and Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) assessments include for assessment of performance only and CEPC does not hold responsibility for ensuring compliance with any specified targets.
6.4. Any assistance provided by CEPC in order to meet any compliance targets does not constitute design advice: it is the responsibility of the client, designer or design team to ensure that any advice given is practicable and in line with other stipulated requirements and regulations.
6.5. Accuracy and/or correctness of results/reports issued by CEPC is based upon the relevant information provided by the Client (including members of design team) at the time of the works being carried out. The Client retains responsibility for ensuing that information provided is up to date and accurate at all times. CEPC reserves the right to charge for the amendment of reports or calculations due to incorrect information provided by the Client at the time of any assessment.
6.6. Any ‘preliminary’ Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) issued at ‘as designed’ stage is produced based on design information provided (as 6.5) and using the current version of the EPC calculation engine at the time of the assessment, and is provided as an indicative result only.
CEPC is bound by certification rules over the version of EPC calculation engine used at the time of final certification (on project completion) and is not liable for any changes in final rating (from preliminary) which result from changes to final ‘as built’ specification or EPC calculation engine.
6.7. Changes to calculation engine for EPCs (as 6.6) may also impact on the final results achieved for ‘As Built’ stage Building Regulations compliance.
6.8. CEPC shall not be liable for the impact of any such changes, however where changes to the result due only to the change in calculation engine result in non-compliance, CEPC shall provide a final Building Regulations compliance document based on the calculation engine used at the time of the ‘as designed’ assessment as accepted by Building Control. Where changes do not result in non-compliance, the current version of the calculation engine shall be used.
6.9. CEPC utilises third party online project management software for all BREEAM assessments. Where any client requires the use of an offline/manual process, CEPC reserves the right to charge an additional fee as outlined within the quotation.
6.10. CEPC issues all completed reports in pdf format via email. CEPC can provide on request 1No. printed hard copy report free of charge. If further hard copies are required, these can be supplied however CEPC may charge for this service and will be forwarded to the client and agreed before releasing reports for printing.
Intellectual Property
7.1. Acceptance of any works relates to the procurement of final issued reports by CEPC only, including Building Regulations checklists (BRUKL), SAP Worksheets, SAP input summary data, EPCs or similar. Any computational modelling, testing, or supplementary calculations required to facilitate the generation of any report remain the intellectual property of CEPC. Any release of this information is entirely at the discretion of CEPC and may incur additional cost agreed by all parties at a relevant time.
Cancellation – Testing and Surveying
8.1 If a booked test/survey is cancelled or postponed on the agreed test date as a result of an incomplete building or lack of access, 100% of the applicable test fee is chargeable.
8.2 If the test is postponed or cancelled within two days of the test date, 50% of the full test fee will be payable.
8.3 Any cancellation/postponement due to adverse weather will not incur a cancellation fee.
Cancellation – Assessment and Consultancy Works
9.1 CompliantEPC reserves the right to invoice the client for any works which have been instructed and are subsequently cancelled where any work has been undertaken.
9.2 If access to a property is not provided or a ‘no-show’ occurs for a booked appointment, CEPC reserve the right to charge 100% of the agreed fee.
9.3 Where any works are formally placed on hold by the client for any reason outside of the control of CEPC reserves the right to charge a fee reflective of the works undertaken to the point at which the works are placed on hold.
9.4 Where information required to complete works is not forthcoming after a period of 3 months from first request and CEPC are unable to continue to progress any assessment or consultancy works, CEPC reserves the right to formally place the works on hold, at which point item 9.2 becomes valid.
9.5 CEPC shall require a formal confirmation in writing that any works previously placed on hold are to recommence. CEPC reserves the right to amend any previous quotations and agreed timescales at this point.
9.6 Should it become apparent that any form of assessment of a project will not meet any previously determined targets upon completion of construction works, CEPC shall advise at the earliest opportunity and shall invoice for the full value of any stage of assessment for which CEPC is currently engaged.
External certification/accreditation fees
10.1. Any changes to certification/ accreditation fees shall be passed onto the client with no uplift at the point of invoicing.
Confidentiality
11.1. CEPC shall treat all information obtained from the client, tests and investigations as confidential; no such information shall be disclosed to a third party without prior approval from the client.
Limitations of Liability
12.1 CEPC shall exercise due care, reasonable skill and diligence in order to complete all work, producing reports and providing guidance. However, CEPC shall not be liable for any loss of earnings or damage, whether direct or indirect, arising from the use of reports, certificates, information or advice issued by CEPC.
12.2 CEPC shall not be liable for loss, expense or damage incurred by the client, resulting from a delay in completing the test, investigation or consultancy.
12.3 CEPC shall not be liable for loss or damages to the property arising from any testing.
Payment
13.1 All works are to be invoiced on completion/first issue of respective report and/or testing service completed. This includes SAP assessments with 100% invoiced at the design stage.
13.2 SAPs and EPCs are an inclusive fee and will be invoiced in full at ‘as designed SAP completion’ or post survey assessment.
13.3 BREEAM Assessment payment terms are as follows:
13.4 100% of Pre-Assessment fee upon issue of respective report.
13.5 Standard payment terms shall be 28 days from date of invoice unless agreed prior to first invoice date.
13.6 CEPC reserves the right to request payment in advance of any work commencing.
13.7 CEPC reserves the right to submit various regular progress claims.
13.8 All payments shall be paid without deduction; in the event of a query, the invoice shall be paid in full less the queried amount following client/CEPC agreement.
13.9 CEPC shall be entitled to charge interest at 2% above the Bank of England lending rate on accounts, of any sum, outstanding for more than 28 days and unjustifiably withheld.
13.10 Any outstanding payment which has reached 90 days and has been unjustifiably withheld will be escalated through a debt collection proceeding where the original debt will be liable for additional charges and fees as applied by the debt collection agency.