When you retain us to perform work for you, you’re contracting with us to carry out that work on the terms of this agreement and agree to pay us at our standard rates.
We often have to rely on plans given to us by you, Dial Before You Dig, utility companies, public bodies and/or other third parties. We won’t be responsible for any losses or damages you incur if those plans turn out to be wrong. We’ll only locate those utilities that are marked on those plans and/or that you tell us exist – and it’s your responsibility to confirm that those utilities do really exist before you start your works.
We promise that we’ll perform the work you have requested and take all reasonable care when we do so. We also promise to follow any guidelines published by the relevant electrical, gas, water or telecoms supplier(s).
You promise that you’ll
- make sure you provide us with a safe working environment to carry out the work;
- make sure you’ve got all the permissions and permits needed for us to carry out the work;
- make sure you’ve got up-to-date Dial Before You Dig plans (or similar plans from the relevant utility suppliers) before we start to carry out the work – unless you’ve asked us to obtain them;
- read the guidelines published by the relevant electrical, gas, water or telecoms supplier(s) and give us any information set out in the guidelines that we need to carry out the work;
- pay us for any additional time that is required to complete the work;
- pay promptly for the work we do;
- pay interest on the penalty interest rate set out in the Penalty Interest Rate Act 1983 (Vic) on all overdue payments;
- pay all debt collection, recovery and/or legal costs we incur in respect of any payment you don’t make within the agreed timeframe; and
- tell us in writing in advance if the work is confidential.
We’ll always try to perform the work within the timeframe we give, but that timeframe is only an estimate and we won’t be responsible for any losses or damages you incur if we can’t carry out the work within that estimate. Likewise, we won’t be responsible for any losses or damages you incur because of things that are outside of our control – which include, for example, bad weather, natural disasters, labour disputes, delays in obtaining any plans or permits needed, and the breakdown or failure of equipment.
If any unforeseen event occurs, we’ll tell you about it as soon as we reasonably can and we’ll work with you to try to agree to a workaround. But the work will be put on hold and our contract will be suspended until we can agree on a workaround.
You agree that when we carry out the work we can use any method to locate underground utilities that we feel is necessary for our discretion. You acknowledge, however, that there are limitations in locating conduits, pipes or cables due to their size, depth, location, material type, geology and proximity to other conduits, pipes or cables that are beyond our control.
If we can’t find a particular underground installation, we won’t be responsible for any losses or damages you incur if you start digging yourself: you’ll be digging at your own risk. You can ask us to use non-destructive digging techniques to locate the relevant utilities if you wish: if so, you’ll have to pay us an additional fee, which we’ll agree with you before we start digging.
If we break any of our promises to you in this document or if we’re found to be in breach of a guarantee implied by the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, our liability to you will be limited to the lesser of us carrying out the work again, or paying for you to have the work carried out again by somebody else.
Under no circumstances will we be liable to you for any losses or damages caused by the actions or negligence of a third party. Nor will we ever be liable to you for any consequential losses or damages caused directly or indirectly by, or arising from, the work we carry out.
Our role is to assist you as much as possible: however, our work is only to be used as a guide and as such you agree and undertake to indemnify us, hold us harmless and at all times fully and effectively indemnify us and our successors against any losses, costs, actions, claims, demands, expenses, judgements, court orders or other liabilities arising directly or indirectly out of or in connection with the work we carry out, including without limitation any losses arising from or in relation to damage to any conduits, pipes or cables, any other utilities or any property.
We will take photos and/or videos of our work while we are on your site as a record of what we’ve done. We may, from time to time, use those photos or videos as we see fit unless you have previously told us in writing that the job is confidential. This document and our verbal agreement govern your relationship with us in full. If we agree to vary our relationship, all changes must be set out in writing and signed by both you and us. If anything in this document is found to be unlawful, invalid, or unenforceable, the rest of the document won’t be affected.
The laws of Victoria, Australia, govern our relationship and nothing in this document is designed to contradict or overturn any law or any term implied by statute. We are Geelong Cable Locations (ABN 34 343 163 352), which is a trading name of the Ben Minutoli Family Trust.