Terms and Conditions

1. About these terms

These are the terms Optimal Plumbing works under. They apply when you book a visit, approve a quote, or ask us to start work. We have tried to write them the way we would explain them at the door: plainly, and before anything happens rather than after.

If you and we sign a separate written agreement for a particular job, that agreement governs wherever the two differ. Anything it does not cover falls back to this page.

2. How we work

We provide residential and commercial plumbing services in a professional manner: we turn up when we said we would, we tell you the price before we start, and we leave the work area clean.

We generally respond to a request the same day or the next business day. Responding is not the same as arriving — how soon we can be on site depends on the schedule and on what the work needs.

We keep regular business hours and are not a 24-hour service. If water is coming out overnight, shut it off at the main and call us when we open.

3. Estimates and quotes

Estimates for planned work are free. A diagnostic visit for a problem that is already happening carries a service call fee, and that fee comes off the repair if you go ahead with it.

You get a written quote before work starts, and the number you approve is the number you pay for the work described. A quote is valid until the expiry date printed on it.

Prices are subject to change due to potential material price increases, or a change in conditions or scope of work.

That line is on every quote and on no invoice. A quote is a price offered before the wall is open; an invoice is what the work actually came to.

4. Changes in scope

Nobody knows what is behind a wall until it is open. If we find something the quote did not account for — a pipe in worse condition than it looked, work someone did before us that has to be undone, a fitting that is no longer made — we stop and tell you what we found and what it changes.

We do not bill above an approved price without your agreement. Additional work is quoted and approved the same way the original was.

5. Scheduling, access and cancellations

We confirm every booking by phone before we come out. Arrival windows are windows rather than appointment times — traffic and the job before yours both move them, and we call if we are running behind.

On the day we need someone aged 18 or over on site to let us in and approve the work, reasonable access to the fixtures and to the shutoff, and somewhere to park. If we cannot get in, or cannot reach the work, a trip charge may apply.

Tell us as early as you can if you need to move or cancel a visit. There is no charge for a cancellation with reasonable notice.

6. Insurance

We carry insurance for the work we perform. A certificate of insurance is available on request — email admin@optimalplumb.com or call the office and we will send it over.

If your building or managing agent needs to be named as a certificate holder, tell us before the visit. Buildings often will not let a contractor through the door without it, and it takes a day or two to arrange.

7. Permits and building rules

Where work requires a permit or a filing we will tell you before we quote it. Permit and filing fees are additional unless the quote says otherwise.

In apartment buildings, co-ops and managed properties, approval from the building — alteration agreements, working hours, water shutdowns, elevator bookings — is arranged by the owner or the managing agent. We will supply whatever paperwork the building asks of us, but we cannot obtain the building’s permission on your behalf.

8. Our warranty

We warranty our workmanship for two weeks from the day the work is completed. If something we did fails within that time, call us and we will come back and put it right at no labour charge.

Parts, fixtures and equipment carry the manufacturer’s own warranty, which runs for its own term and is usually a good deal longer than ours. We will register it where registration is required, and help you make a claim on it.

The workmanship warranty does not cover:

• Conditions that were already there and were not part of what we were asked to fix.
• A different fault in the same system — old plumbing that gives out somewhere else after we repair one section.
• Damage from freezing, misuse, accident, or work done by somebody else after we left.
• Blockages caused by what goes down the drain — wipes, grease, roots and the like.
• Parts or fixtures you supplied yourself. We will fit them, but we cannot warranty them.

Where a quote or an invoice states a longer warranty for a particular job, that longer term applies to that job.

9. Existing conditions and restoration

Old pipe, old valves and old fixtures can fail when they are disturbed, however carefully the work is done. Where we can see that something is doubtful we will tell you before we touch it, and let you decide.

We are responsible for our own work. We are not responsible for conditions that were already present or for work done by others, though we will point out anything we notice.

Opening a wall, a ceiling or a floor is sometimes the only way to reach a pipe. Patching, tiling, plastering and painting afterwards are not included unless the quote lists them.

10. Paying for work

Regular service calls are billed after the work is completed, and payment is due on receipt of the invoice unless you hold a credit account with us.

We accept credit and debit cards, bank transfer (e-check), cash and check. You can pay online from the invoice we email you, or from your customer portal.

Where a card processing fee applies it appears as its own line on the quote or the invoice, so that you see it before you approve or pay rather than afterwards.

11. Deposits on projects

Projects — remodeling, new construction, and work that needs materials bought in ahead of time — may require a deposit of between 50% and 100% of the quoted price. Where a deposit is required, the amount is shown on the quote before you approve it.

We order materials and schedule the work once the deposit has cleared. The deposit is applied against the final invoice.

If you cancel a project after materials have been ordered or work has begun, we deduct the materials and the work already done and return the balance of the deposit to you.

12. Credit accounts

Customers granted a credit account on net 30 day terms must pay service invoices within 30 days of the date the work was completed.

Terms may be extended to 45 days on particular invoices where that has been discussed and agreed with us in advance. An extension applies to the invoice it was agreed for, and does not change the terms on your account generally.

Credit is granted at our discretion. We may reduce or suspend it, and ask for payment before further work, if an account falls behind.

13. Overdue invoices

We would far rather talk to you than chase you. If an invoice is going to be late, call the office and say so — an arrangement made in advance is always better than the schedule below.

Where no arrangement has been made:

• After 45 days, a finance charge of 2% per week is applied to the overdue balance.
• After 90 days past due, the invoice is forwarded to a collection agency. A collection cost of 35% of the balance is added to the account at that point, together with any legal fees and court costs incurred in recovering it.

We may also pause work in progress and hold new bookings on an account that is past due.

If any charge in this section is more than the law allows in the circumstances, it is reduced to the maximum the law allows, and the rest of these terms are unaffected.

14. Photographs and job records

We photograph conditions before and after the work as part of the job record. The photographs sit in your file and are used for the quote, the invoice, and any warranty question that comes up later.

We do not publish photographs of your property or use them in advertising without asking you first.

15. How we contact you

Quotes, invoices, receipts and appointment confirmations are sent by email from admin@optimalplumb.com and info@optimalplumb.com, and some of them carry a private link to a document or a payment page. Those links are personal to you — treat one the way you would treat a statement.

Please keep your email address and phone number current with us. An invoice sent to an address that no longer works is still an invoice that was sent.

We use your details to do the work and to bill for it. We do not sell them.

16. Limits

Our responsibility is for the work we carried out, and it is limited to putting that work right or to the amount you paid us for it.

We are not responsible for indirect or consequential losses — lost income, lost time, or damage that follows on from a fault rather than from our work itself.

Nothing here limits any responsibility that cannot be limited by law.

17. If something is wrong

Call us first. Most of what we get told about is something we can come back and fix, and we would far rather do that than have you live with it.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, and any dispute that cannot be settled between us belongs in the courts of Bronx County, New York.

18. Changes to these terms

We update this page from time to time. The terms that apply to a job are the ones in effect on the day the work was agreed, and the effective date is shown at the top of this page.

19. Talk to us

If any of this is unclear, or you want the certificate of insurance, or you would like terms discussed before a job, call the office. We are easier to deal with in advance than in arrears.