Terms & Conditions

About these terms

These terms govern your use of this website and set out the general basis on which SMART Developments LTD provides architectural and construction services. They do not replace the written contract for any specific project; where a signed contract or fee agreement exists, that document takes priority.

Website content

The content of this website is provided for general information about our services. Descriptions of typical processes, timescales and planning routes are indicative; the advice that applies to your property is the advice we give you in writing after a design visit.

All text, drawings, images and branding on this site remain our property or that of our clients and may not be reproduced without permission.

Enquiries and consultations

Wherever possible we provide a free initial design visit at your property, at no cost and with no obligation on either side. Nothing said at that meeting forms a contract until a written fee proposal or contract is issued and accepted.

Estimates and quotations

Estimates are prepared on the information available at the time and on the assumptions stated within them. Where site conditions, client instructions or statutory requirements change, the price and programme may be adjusted through the contract's variation mechanism.

Architectural services

Architecture is available as a standalone service and is delivered by our ARB-registered in-house team. Fees are staged, and no deposit is required for architecture-only work.

Where you are building with another contractor, we can provide on-site assistance and administer a JCT contract on your behalf. Doing so does not make us responsible for that contractor's workmanship.

We cannot guarantee the outcome of a planning application. Determination rests with the local planning authority.

Construction contracts and payment

Construction work is carried out under a JCT contract. A deposit is required for construction. Thereafter the project is valued monthly, or every couple of weeks on faster programmes, and staged payments follow that valuation.

Payment is by bank transfer. We do not offer finance. Sums fall due in accordance with the payment terms in the contract.

Defects, warranties and insurance

All construction projects include a 12-month defects period as standard from practical completion. New build homes are handed over with an NHBC or LABC structural warranty.

We carry £5m public liability, £10m employers' liability and £1m professional indemnity insurance. Evidence of cover is available on request.

Variations and delays

Changes instructed after works begin are priced and agreed as variations under the contract before they are carried out wherever practicable. Programme dates may be extended for causes outside our reasonable control, including statutory approvals, weather and matters arising from the existing building.

Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded. Otherwise our liability is limited as set out in the contract for the relevant project and is backed by the insurance cover described above.

Governing law

These terms and any contract entered into with us are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.