Trade terms
Last updated
1. About these terms
These terms apply when VYGN Joinery Installation (ABN ) quotes for or installs joinery on a commercial project. "We", "us" and "our" mean VYGN Joinery Installation. "You" means the builder, fit-out company, joinery manufacturer or other business that asks us to quote or engages us.
Our written quote sets out the work, the price and anything specific to the project. If our quote and these terms differ, the quote applies. If we sign your subcontract or accept your purchase order, its terms apply as well, and where they differ from these terms, the document we signed or accepted applies, unless the law says otherwise.
These terms are written for commercial projects, such as offices, workplaces and other commercial interiors. If a project includes work in a home, please tell us before we quote, because different rules can apply.
Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law, or under any other law that can't be excluded. Section 14 explains those rights.
2. What we do
We install joinery that others make and supply. Our work covers:
- Wall panels (square and curved) and feature walls
- Steel, timber and aluminium feature screens
- Acoustic panels
- Seats and upholstery
- Floating shelves and desks
- All types of cabinets, storage, kitchens, vanities and coffee stations
- Toilet partitions
- Aluminium frames and mirrors
- Reception desks and meeting tables
We install only. Unless our quote says otherwise, others are responsible for:
- supplying and manufacturing the joinery, including its hardware and finishes
- delivering the joinery to site
- plumbing, such as connecting sinks, taps and appliances
- electrical and data work, such as connecting lights, power and appliances
- stone benchtops, including templating, supplying, cutting and installing them
- painting, plastering, flooring and structural work
We supply the standard fixings, packers, adhesives and sealants we need for the installation, unless the joinery supplier provides them or our quote says otherwise.
We may engage other installers to help us on a job. We're responsible for their work as if it were our own.
3. Quotes
We quote from the drawings, specifications and joinery schedules you send us, and from a site visit if we need one. The more complete and up to date they are, the more accurate our quote will be.
Each quote lists the items and areas it covers, the drawing revisions it's based on, what's included and excluded, the working hours and number of site visits it allows for, and whether the price includes GST.
The quoted price is fixed for the work the quote describes. It changes only through a variation we agree in writing (section 5). A quote is valid for 30 days from the date we send it.
If the drawings change after we quote, please send us the new revision. We'll tell you whether the price changes before we do the work.
4. Accepting a quote
To accept a quote, tell us in writing, for example by email, or with a purchase order or subcontract that refers to it. Nothing starts until you've accepted it.
Before we start, please send us the current construction drawings and specifications, the joinery schedule, the program dates for our work, and the name and phone number of your site contact.
5. Variations
A variation is a change to the work in our quote, such as:
- extra items, or changes to the drawings, layout or finishes
- work outside the hours or site visits our quote allows for, including staged and after-hours work
- extra handling, for example carrying joinery by hand when a lift or loading dock isn't available
- modifying or repairing joinery that doesn't fit or arrives damaged, when you ask us to
- repairing damage that others have caused
We agree every variation with you in writing before we do the work. An email or a signed variation form is fine, and so is a text or WhatsApp message for a small change on site. We price variations at the rates in our quote. If our quote has no rate for the work, we'll give you a price and wait for your OK.
If your site manager asks us for extra work on site, we'll confirm the change and its price in writing before we start it.
6. Site readiness and access
Our quote assumes that, when we arrive at the agreed time:
- our work areas are clear, safe and ready for joinery, with walls, floors and ceilings finished to the stage our work needs, and other trades out of our way
- services in the walls, floors and ceilings we'll fix to are marked, or you've given us the services layouts
- there's working power and lighting in or near our work areas
- we can use a lift or hoist big enough for the joinery, booked for us where the building needs a booking
- there's a loading dock or unloading area we can use
- there's secure, dry storage for joinery that arrives before we install it
If there's no parking on or near the site, our quote says how parking is handled.
We complete your site induction, follow the site rules and your site manager's directions, and keep our work areas tidy. We put our packaging in the site bins, unless our quote says we'll take it away. Please tell us about any hazards in our work areas, such as asbestos.
If we arrive at the agreed time and can't start or keep working because the site or the joinery isn't ready, we'll tell your site contact straight away and agree what happens next. Waiting time and return visits this causes are charged at the rates in our quote, and we'll confirm them in writing.
7. Delivery and checking the joinery
The joinery manufacturer or your team delivers the joinery to site, unless our quote says otherwise. Please tell us the delivery dates, and who will unload the joinery and move it to the work areas.
Joinery that arrives before we're on site is in your care until we start work on it. Please keep it flat, dry, protected and secure, away from other trades.
When the joinery arrives, or when we first unwrap it, we check each item against the joinery schedule and drawings for visible damage, defects and missing parts. If we find a problem, we photograph it and report it to you before we install that item. We don't install a damaged or defective item unless you tell us in writing to go ahead.
Our check is visual. It doesn't replace the manufacturer's quality checks, and some faults only show once an item is installed.
We don't modify, patch or refinish joinery without your written OK. If an item doesn't fit or needs repair, the supplier can fix or replace it, or we can do the work as a variation if you ask us to.
8. Installing to the drawings
We install to the latest construction drawings and specifications you give us, and to the joinery manufacturer's installation instructions. Please send us every new revision in writing. Rework needed because we were given superseded drawings is a variation.
We set out the work, and install it level, plumb and square within the tolerances in your specification. If the building is out of tolerance, or the drawings don't match the site or the joinery, we stop, tell you and agree how to deal with it before we go on.
We know how to handle the products with care, and we follow the plans precisely and efficiently. We handle veneer, paint and stone with extra care.
We don't design the joinery or check its design or engineering. If we spot a problem with the drawings, we'll tell you.
9. Photo evidence and protection
When we finish installing an area, we photograph the installed joinery to show it's installed without any damage, and we send the photos to your site contact. You're welcome to inspect the work with us before we cover it.
Then we lay protection over the finished joinery to suit its finish, such as protective film, board or blankets.
If we notice damage that others have caused before we lay protection, we photograph it and report it to you.
Unless our quote says otherwise, the protection stays in place until your team removes it before the final clean.
10. Damage after protection and area handover
Once we've laid protection over an area and sent you the photo evidence, we've handed that area over to you ("area handover"). It isn't the same as the project's handover to your client, which usually comes later. From then on, the installed joinery in that area is in your care.
We're responsible for damage we cause, at any stage. We're not responsible for damage that others cause after area handover, including when others remove, move or damage the protection. If you ask us to repair damage that others caused, we'll quote it as a variation.
11. Defects in our workmanship
If you're a consumer (see section 14), our workmanship comes with the consumer guarantees. Your subcontract may also set a defects liability period.
If you think something we installed has a defect in our workmanship, such as a door or drawer out of alignment, a loose fixing or a panel joint out of line:
- tell us in writing as soon as you can, with photos and the item's location
- give us access to inspect it at a time that suits the site
- we'll inspect it and tell you what we found
Where the defect is in our workmanship, we'll fix it, as the law and your subcontract require. Most fixes are adjustments, re-fixing or re-aligning on site. If our work damaged the joinery, we're responsible for its repair or replacement.
If the cause is something else, such as a fault in the joinery itself, damage after area handover or movement in the building, we'll tell you what we found and give you our photos and notes. We can quote any repair you'd like us to do.
Our workmanship warranty
On top of those rights, we give a 12-month workmanship warranty. If a defect in our workmanship, or in a fixing we supplied, appears within 12 months of the day we hand an area over, we'll come back and fix it at our cost. If we can't fix it, we'll refund what you paid for the affected work.
This warranty doesn't cover:
- faults in joinery, hardware or materials made or supplied by others. Your claim for those is with the manufacturer or supplier, and we'll give you our photos and notes to help.
- damage caused by others, by accidents, misuse or overloading, or by water or movement in the building
- work that someone else has moved, changed or repaired after area handover
- normal wear and tear
These limits apply only to this warranty. They don't limit your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
How to claim
- Contact us in writing within the warranty period, as soon as you can after you notice the problem.
- Tell us the project, where the item is and what's wrong, and send photos if you can.
- We'll arrange a time to inspect it, usually within 5 business days, then fix the problem or explain what we found.
Claiming is free. We pay the cost of inspecting and fixing a valid claim, including our travel and materials. If making a claim costs you anything, such as postage, send us the receipt with your claim and we'll pay back your reasonable costs. If we find the problem isn't covered, we'll explain why and quote any repair, and we won't charge for the inspection.
Send claims to:
VYGN Joinery Installation
Address: Melbourne, Victoria
Phone: 0494 894 899
Email: info@vygn.com.au
The benefits of this warranty are in addition to your other rights and remedies under the law. The Australian Consumer Law requires us to include this statement:
Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. For major failures with the service, you are entitled:
to cancel your service contract with us; and
to a refund for the unused portion, or to compensation for its reduced value.You are also entitled to choose a refund or replacement for major failures with goods. If a failure with the goods or a service does not amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have the failure rectified in a reasonable time. If this is not done you are entitled to a refund for the goods and to cancel the contract for the service and obtain a refund of any unused portion. You are also entitled to be compensated for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage from a failure in the goods or service.
12. Payment
We invoice as our quote sets out, for example with progress claims as areas are installed, or on completion.
Payment is due within 14 days of our invoice, unless we've agreed a different time in writing. You can pay by bank transfer, and our account details are on each invoice.
If you dispute part of an invoice, tell us in writing which part and why, and pay the rest by the due date. We don't charge late fees or interest unless our quote says so.
Please give us your ABN and the details of who should receive our invoices. We quote our ABN on every invoice.
If one of our invoices is a payment claim under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic), it will say so. Nothing in these terms limits the rights either of us has under that Act.
13. Cancellations and delays
If you cancel work you've accepted, you pay for the work we've done and the reasonable costs we've incurred and can't recover, such as materials bought for the job. We'll show you how we worked it out.
If the program changes, or the site won't be ready on an agreed date, please tell us as early as you can. With at least 2 business days' notice, there's no charge to move a date. With less notice, or if the site isn't ready when we arrive, waiting time and return visits are charged as section 6 sets out.
If we need to change an agreed date, we'll tell you as early as we can and offer the next available date, at no cost to you. If we're running late on the day, we'll tell your site contact.
Neither of us is responsible for delays caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as a site shutdown or extreme weather. If that happens, we'll tell each other as soon as we can and agree new dates.
14. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law
Small businesses can be consumers too. Under the Australian Consumer Law, you're a consumer of our services if their price is $100,000 or less, or if they're a kind of service usually bought for personal, domestic or household use. That can include builders, fit-out companies and joinery manufacturers.
When you're a consumer, our services come with guarantees that can't be excluded. We must:
- do the work with due care and skill
- make sure the work is fit for any purpose you told us about, and of a quality that can reasonably be expected to achieve any result you told us you wanted
- do the work within a reasonable time, if we didn't agree on a time
- supply fixings and materials of acceptable quality
If our work doesn't meet a guarantee, you're entitled to a remedy. Depending on the failure, that can mean having it fixed or, for a major failure, cancelling the contract and getting a refund for the unused portion, or compensation for its reduced value. You can also claim compensation for any other loss or damage that was reasonably foreseeable.
Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies these rights.
15. Liability
We're responsible for our work, and for loss or damage we cause, as the law provides.
We aren't responsible for:
- the design, materials, manufacture or finish of joinery and hardware supplied by others. Your claim for those is with the manufacturer or supplier, and we'll give you our photos and notes to help.
- errors in drawings and specifications prepared by others
- damage that others cause, including after we've laid protection and handed an area over
- delays caused by the site or the joinery not being ready
Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law, or under any other law that can't be excluded.
16. Confidentiality, photos and privacy
We keep your drawings and project documents confidential, and use them only to quote for and carry out the work.
We may show photos of our installed joinery on our website and social media. We don't name you, your client or the site without permission, and we leave out people and anything confidential. If you or your client don't want photos of a project shown, tell us in writing and we won't use them.
Our privacy policy explains how we handle personal information, including in the photos we take on site.
17. If something isn't right
Please tell us first. Call or email us, with photos if you can, and we'll work with you to sort it out.
If we can't agree:
- either of us can use the dispute process in your subcontract, if there is one
- a payment claim made under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic) can go to adjudication under that Act
- the Victorian Small Business Commission helps small businesses resolve disputes with other businesses: vsbc.vic.gov.au
- either of us can take the matter to a court or tribunal
18. Changes and governing law
We may update these terms. Changes apply to quotes we send after the update. Work you've already accepted stays on the terms that applied when you accepted it. The date at the top of this page shows when the terms last changed.
These terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia.
19. Contact us
For questions about these terms, a quote or a project, contact:
VYGN Joinery InstallationPhone or text: 0494 894 899
Email: info@vygn.com.au
Hours: Mon–Sat, 7am–6pm
Melbourne, Victoria