Important information and Terms & Conditions
NJPS Tree Service Pty Ltd is a registered Australian company (ACN 620376892, ABN 86949710411). Our business is managed and operated by Owner operator/Arborist (AQF Level 5 & AQF Level 3 Arboriculture) and Owner/Office administrator. Owner operator has been operating business for over ten years.
Customer phone contact hours: 9am – 2:30pm Monday to Thursday
Although our office staff is present out of these hours to process administration work, phone is not monitored out of these hours. If you contact us out of these hours, please leave a message or send us an email, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. If you would like to speak to our arborist direct, please contact our office and our arborist will contact you when he is not at job site. We do not give our arborist’s direct contact number to customers for safety at job site.
Please read important information below. By accepting quote and making a booking, you are accepting our terms and conditions.
Assessment & Quote for practical arboricultural services (pruning, removal and other practical tree work)
Because all jobs are different in size, tree’s health status, situation and location of trees, access, required time, required equipment & methods (by professional climbing or use of licensed EWP operation, skills required to bring down branches/trunks) and staffing, it is important for us to see the actual trees and situation for assessment so that we can give you an accurate quote.
At NJPS Tree Service, our inspection is carried out by Qualified AQF Level 5 Arborist and we prepare comprehensive, professional quote for practical tree work. Prepaid fee may apply to quote visit depending on location, type of work, scale of work, administration time required to produce a quote etc. (please enquire). Exemption applies to approved residential customers, approved regular customers or approved commercial customers. If you are a new commercial customer, please contact us directly. Prepaid fee for site visit for quote (if applicable) is payable by credit card or bank transfer. Once receiving this payment, we will issue a receipt and confirm visit date. This fee becomes non-refundable if you cancel site visit within 3 business days prior to scheduled visit.
If your quote case has complexity or requires comprehensive tree or site assessment to produce a quote, investigations, research, communication with council or any relevant authority due to its complexity, and/or involves consultation elements, different fees (consultation fee) apply. If your case falls into this category, we will advise you of fees at the time of enquiry if possible, otherwise after initial visit, prior to producing quote. For out of our service areas in Brisbane city council area or other council areas, there may be a travel fee charged. Please enquire if we can service your area upon enquiry.
Assessment for arboricultural consultation, tree assessment and arborist report
For Tree consultation, assessment and arborist report, different fee structure applies for site visit, consultation and assessment which is explained upon enquiry.
Site visit
Site visit for quote or arboricultural consultation & assessment is done by our Qualified arborist/owner operator Nick (AQF Level 5 & AQF Level 3 in Arboriculture), who also carries out the practical job. He can explain, answer your questions, and offer any recommendations during site inspection. For our record and to produce accurate quote, in most cases we would take photos of trees and areas.
Site visit for residential customer or rental properties
We request the owner of the trees/property (payer) to meet our arborist on site upon quote or arboricultural assessment. If the owner lives interstate or outside of Brisbane/local area, or for any other reasons, the owner cannot meet on site upon quote or arboricultural assessment, we will require to be able to communicate over the phone (not just by email) with the owner unless there is an appointed local legitimate representative (e.g., real estate agent). We do not deal with tenant directly when it comes to job request for rental properties and all communications have to be with owner or real estate agent.
Site visit for commercial customer
We request one of company representative to meet our arborist on site for quote for practical tree work or arboricultural assessment (if meeting is required) to avoid miscommunication.
When neighbour or multiple parties are involved
We must ask all parties involved to be present upon quote (e.g. husband & wife, partners, neighbour/s if it involves neighbour/s) to avoid misunderstanding between involved parties of request of job details. When this is not possible, we must arrange a quote based on the request from the representative of all parties involved.
Neighbour’s tree
If the tree you want to get work done is in neighbour’s property, please communicate with your neighbour before arranging quote. It will cause more problems if you arrange quote without communicating with your neighbour and just provide your neighbour with quote. We require consent form filled in by both tree owner and neighbour who is requesting a quote before we can arrange a quote visit. Consent form confirms that tree owner agrees with arranging quote and access to property. It also confirms that all involved parties have discussed and agreed with payment arrangement. Once this is received, our office will contact both tree owner and the neighbour who is requesting a quote to verify details and schedule quote visit. Fees may apply to quote visit depending on location, scale of quote etc. Another Consent form is required upon booking to confirm all arrangements. Please note that prepayment of tree work will be required in full if the cost is shared between tree owner and neighbour who requested the quote. If the tree owner does not reside at the property, prepayment for tree work will be required even if the owner is paying in full.
Quote for residential customer
After quote visit, our office will contact you within 3 business days (unless advised otherwise upon site visit) by email. If quote involves complexity or involves consultation elements, it will take extra time to prepare for quote and you will be advised. Validity of quote is 14 days unless agreed otherwise. An unauthorized use, copy or distribution of quote is prohibited, and will invalidate its contents.
Quote for Commercial customers, landlords & property managers
We will produce a written quote by email generally within 3 business days (unless advised otherwise upon site visit) of attending the site. If quote involves complexity or involves consultation elements, it will take extra time to prepare for quote and you will be advised. An unauthorized use, copy or distribution of quote is prohibited, and will invalidate its contents. Validity of quote is usually 14 days however it may change depending on a type and situation of required job.
Quoted price
Tree work by a qualified arborist is not cheap. This is because Arborist is a professional trade, and work involves special skills & techniques, height, dangerous and physical works, use of professional heavy machinery and so forth. Price is determined by access, tree location and surrounding situation, tree status, methods to be used, machinery and staff requirements, amount of green waste produced and other factors. Our arborist will work out price to present a quote to you by considering all factors involved to complete requested job safely. Quoted price is best price we can offer after all consideration.
Quote validity
Quote is valid for 14 days. If booking is received after 14days, quoted price will be reviewed and in some cases, price will need to be requoted. Quoted price is based on current cost involved at the time of quote issue date and subject to change depending on when booking is made and when customer would like to get quoted job carried out. Unauthorised use or distribution of our quote will invalidate its contents.
Documents, emails and other correspondences produced by NJPS Tree Service
Unauthorised use, copy or distribution of any documents including Quote, Invoice, report, email and other documents or correspondences produced by NJPS Tree Service are not permitted. Unauthorised use will invalidate the contents of documents. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation to protect us, a legitimate arboriculture business operated by a qualified arborist.
Payment – Residential customer
Deposit is required upon booking and balance payment is required on the day of job completion. Customers are required to be at job site when the job is about to finish so that work can be checked, and payment can be finalised. If no one can attend site on job date at the end of job to finalise payment, full payment is required upon booking/prior to job date. This also applies to when the owner does not live on site.
Payment – Landlord
In the case that the owner lives interstate or outside of Brisbane/local area (or for any other reasons), and the owner cannot meet with arborist face to face on site at the time of quote and job date, full payment is required upon booking to schedule job. This does not apply to interstate/nonlocal owners who have a legitimate representative on their behalf such as real estate agent.
For landlord who has property manager appointed, all payments including deposit and balance will be invoiced to you via property manager and balance payment is required within 7days of job completion either to property manager or directly to NJPS Tree Service. If property manager is paying from rental funds on behalf of owner, balance payment must be paid on closest disbursement date after job date. For balance payment, owner must pay shortfall if there is any shortfall in available rental funds held either to property manager or directly to NJPS Tree Service. Due date will not be extended even if there is shortfall in available rental funds held by property manager. We accept payment by Cash, Eftpos, and Credit card (Visa or Master card only) or bank transfer if payment is to be made by property manager.
Payment – Commercial customer
NJPS Tree Service accepts payment by bank transfer for approved commercial customer. Company credit card is also accepted for commercial customer. Deposit is required upon booking unless approved otherwise and balance payment is required on the day of job completion or within seven days of job completion for approved commercial customer. Company representative is required to be at job site when the job is about to finish so that work can be checked.
For a new commercial customer, we may ask for full payment upon booking/prior to job date if the customer does not have payment history with us or does not pass credit check. We may ask for reference and carry out credit check for the company to determine whether we have to collect full payment upon booking, or upon job completion, or can offer 7days term payment.
Deposit for practical arboricultural services (pruning, removal and other practical tree work)
We require deposit for all customers (unless approved otherwise) for tree works at the time of booking. Please see below for details of deposit.
For landlord who has appointed a property manager whom we have work history with, deposit will be waived if the total quoted price is less than $2000 considering average available rental funds held at real estate agent.
For commercial customer, we require deposit unless approved otherwise by us.
Quoted price up to $1999.99 inc GST: $500 deposit at the time of booking
Quoted price from $2000 inc GST and over: 50% of quoted price as a deposit at the time of booking, unless specified otherwise in the quote
Deposit payment can be made by either (1)Bank transfer directly to NJPS Tree Service’s bank account (No surcharge), (2)Credit card over the phone directly to NJPS Tree Service (No surcharge). (3)Bpay via MYOB AUSTRALIA PTY LTD PAYBY SERVICES (online invoice payment. 2% surcharge applies which will be added to balance), (4)Credit card online via MYOB AUSTRALIA PTY LTD PAYBY SERVICES (online invoice payment. Surcharge currently 1.8% applies as of June 2022 which will be added upon processing and transaction fee currently $0.25 per transaction as of June 2022 which will be added to balance). If paying deposit by bank transfer, please use invoice number and your name as a reference and provide a proof of bank transfer of deposit payment.
Deposit is for scheduling purpose and it is refundable if you notify us of cancellation at least 3 business days (during business hours 9am – 2:30pm Monday to Thursday) prior to initial scheduled job date. Penalty may apply if you notify cancellation within 3 business days prior to scheduled job date depending on situation (e.g. when cancellation is notified and how much travel and administration were involved prior to cancellation.) If you cancel on the day of scheduled job date, penalty will apply, which is loss of deposit or minimum to cover travel, administration and wages cost, depending on time of cancellation. Receipt will be issued for deposit payment for your record. By paying deposit, you are accepting quote, and you have read, understood, and accepted our terms and conditions.
If quoted price includes any purchase of materials or hire of special machinery, deposit amount will be different from above listed and cancellation notice of minimum 5 business days (during business hours 9am – 2:30pm Monday to Thursday) prior to scheduled job date is required. This will be advised upon quote.
Deposit and balance payment for Arboricultural consultation, assessment and report
We require either upfront full payment or deposit for above services prior to engagement and site visit, depending on type of services you require. Balance payment (if deposit requirement applies) is due upon completion prior to releasing document. Please enquire for detailed fee structure for above services.
Late fee or non-payment fee
For any customers, if full payment is not made upon completion of job or any set due date, Late fees 2% daily will be charged for outstanding amount. Late fee will be calculated from first day of overdue however we will try to communicate first when payment is not finalised on completion or by due date. If customer does not agree to pay overdue amount plus late fee/non payment fee incurred, we will advise you of necessary debt collection and legal procedures we will have to go through.
Price or job details alteration
Once quote is agreed and accepted by you and booking is made, we cannot accept negotiation by you to alter the price or job details. If any additional work is requested after acceptance of quote, we have to provide you with further quote for additional work requested.
Once work is commenced, you are liable for full/balance payment. There is no refund once job is carried out and completed as agreed in the quote.
Please consider financial situation prior to booking
We are aware that tree work by a qualified arborist is not necessarily cheap because arborist is a specialized professional trade which requires qualification, specialized knowledge, use of commercial heavy machinery and vehicles, and so forth. Arboricultural work involves special skills & techniques, height, dangerous and physical works, use of professional machinery. It is important for you to make a booking only after you consider your financial situation. We charge late fee for late payment or non-payment upon completion and currently do not offer any after pay or instalment arrangement.
If sharing cost with neighbour
If you share the cost with neighbour, you must agree and sort out financial arrangement with neighbour before arranging quote visit & before making a booking and advise us of payer’s details at the time of quote request & booking by filling in our consent forms. Once you accept quote and make a booking, we cannot alter price even if you or your neighbour do not have enough funds to pay. Prepayment of tree work will be required in full if the cost is shared between tree owner and neighbour who requested the quote. We only deal with one party (usually organizer of quote and booking) to collect payment. This means that if you are an organizer (whether you are a neighbour or tree owner), we have to ask you to collect shared cost from another party prior to job date so that full payment can be made prior to job date (latest by 3 business days prior to job date). This is to avoid situation that one party changes mind and decides not to pay, which makes another party be liable for entire cost. We recommend shared cost arrangement to be at least discussed and agreed on before requesting a quote visit. If full payment is not received by due date before job date when sharing cost with neighbour, booking will be cancelled.
Acceptance for quote and Terms & conditions
As a part of quote, we send you an Acceptance form for quote and Terms & conditions. We have to ask you to sign and return Acceptance form upon booking together with deposit payment. Electronic signing form is also available for easier signing process.
Booking, rescheduling and cancellation by you
To make a booking, please contact us by phone or email. We will send you booking details and invoice for deposit payment (if invoice is not yet sent with quote). By paying deposit, you are accepting quote, and you have read, understood, and accepted our terms and conditions.
Please make a deposit payment at the time of booking. If the job involves neighbour/s (e.g. you requested quote and made a booking on behalf of your neighbour for works on trees which are located in neighbour’s property.), we have to ask you and all parties involved to fill in a consent form upon booking which confirms your neighbour (owner of the tree) agrees with the work requested, and also confirms who is paying for the job.
Job date cannot be confirmed till deposit and Acceptance form are received.
If your plan changes and you need to reschedule or cancel, please contact us as soon as you know. Please contact us for any change or cancellation latest 3 business days (during business hours 9am – 2:30pm Monday to Thursday) prior to your scheduled job date. In case the job involves a hire of special equipment or purchase of any materials, which is advised upon quote, any change or cancellation must be notified at least 5 business days (during business hours 9am – 2:30pm Monday to Thursday) prior to your scheduled job date.
If you cancel within 3 business days but before scheduled job date, cancellation penalty may apply which is loss of part or entire deposit to cover travel for site inspection, time for site inspection by Level 5 Arborist and administration fee. Situation will be reviewed and penalty amount will be confirmed upon cancellation and penalty amount is subject to vary for each case.
If you cancel on the day of the job for any reasons other than bad weather or a reasonable reason, we will need to charge cancellation fee, which is loss of deposit or minimum to cover travel and wages cost, or maximum call out fee (maximum call out fee is $850), plus materials purchased or hired if any, depending on time of cancellation. Cancellation fee/call out fee varies depending on what’s involved in the job and what time on the job date cancellation is notified. This is because we organise staff (subject to job size) who travel from home to depot to attend your booking, and we prepare for equipment prior to job date, and we hold a spot for your booking, and purchase or hire materials if any. Last minutes cancellation affects our staff’s schedule and their wages, our schedule, travel and preparation cost, and possibly other customer’s schedule.
Notify your neighbours once you make a booking – this applies to all customers including commercial customers
Once you make a booking with us, it is your responsibility to notify your neighbours (side, back, front and any neighbouring properties which could get affected by tree works) or residents if the job is for complex, or any relevant sections of company for commercial properties, of date of scheduled tree works for possible machinery noise, dust/saw dust, possible limited access on part of the street, and any other possible inconveniences while the work is undertaken. We appreciate your understanding of importance of you communicating with your neighbours to avoid any issues and thank you for your cooperation with this matter.
Reschedule or cancellation by us
Under unforeseen circumstances which could prevent us from carrying out job safely (e.g. wet weather*, strong winds*, extreme heat*, emergency job bookings such as storm damage, sudden illness or injury of arborist and staff, sudden resignation of staff, native/protected animals found in the tree during the job which need to be removed professionally, unforeseen machinery problem etc.), sometimes we reluctantly have to postpone, reschedule or cancel your booking. This rarely happens but happened in the past. We understand you make a special arrangement for us on the day of the booking to let us have access to get the job done, however it is very important for us to be able to carry out job safely. If the unforeseen circumstances happen and we have no other choices than rescheduling or cancelling your booking, we will advise you as soon as possible and consult you for rescheduling date where possible. We try our best not to affect your booking, however if this unfortunately happens to your booking, we would really appreciate your understanding and support.
*Wet weather and strong winds, or extreme weather such as extreme heat, could affect ability to climb trees or use machinery safely, and affect performing tree felling or bringing down trees/branches in safe manners. These conditions also could affect performing works under Work Health and Safety regulations. Wet weather could soften ground more than usual which could lead to unexpected damage underground or surroundings. We will advise you and reschedule if we suspect any conditions that could affect carrying out work safely. We cannot be responsible for any loss (e.g. your time, your wages due to be away from your workplace etc.) upon rescheduling or cancellation, and any damage caused when we advised and recommended rescheduling or cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances, but you did not agree and still asked us to carry out the job.
Council approval – Protected vegetation
If you think your property may have protected vegetation or you are not sure about it, you as a landowner must contact your local council to confirm if your land has any protected vegetation and apply for permit if necessary. If we suspect the tree you would like to get work on requires council approval, we will ask you if you have permit and produce approval or reference number given by council to you for our record, and if not, we must ask you to obtain one prior to the requested job can be commenced. If you are not sure, please ask us about it upon quote, and please contact your local council about protected vegetation and find out whether you need a permit. We can check status of protected vegetation with council at the time of quote when necessary, and if further investigation is required by communicating with council, we can assist with fee. If you need an approval and not get one before tree work is done, it is an illegal work and owner could get prosecuted which comes with an expensive fine, compliance order and replanting (more than what you cut down!) and reporting to council for certain period of time, so please make sure you check with your local council or ask us if you are not sure what to do. We follow council regulations and communicate with council when needed so that both our customers and we have no problem with carrying out tree work. If you require our assistance to communicate with council, we can assist you (Fee applies).
Pruning/Trimming: To keep structural integrity of the trees, any pruning work must not leave tree unbalanced where possible. We will not carry out any work which is not within Australian standard or legislations. For further details of pruning/trimming work as part of your requested work, please refer Notes section on the quote.
Stump grinding: Stump grindings are left on site to backfill the hole as a usual procedure. For further details of stump grinding work as part of your requested work, please refer Notes section on the quote.
Poisoning stump: Although we use commercial poison, effectiveness could be reduced if it rains straight after poisoning before poison gets absorbed, or location of stump or surrounding area have regular water contact. Poisoning can control regrowth but it may not 100% guarantee to prevent regrowth depending on weather, situation, species and other factors. For further details of poisoning stump as part of your requested work, please refer to Notes section on the quote.
Machinery track marks, weight and use of machinery: Use of machinery could make temporary track marks on ground. For further details about machinery use, please refer to Notes section on the quote.
Insurance
We hold current policies for Public liability insurance (arboricultural work specific), Professional Indemnity Insurance (as a qualified Arborist), Work cover accident insurance (Arborist/tree work specific), and Commercial machinery & vehicle insurance. Certificates of currency are available to present upon request.
Before work commencement on the day
Please ensure there are no cars or other obstacles parked or left where and around the area we are going to work on, and access point, including driveway, between tree area to where machinery is parked. If you have locked gates which we need an access through, please leave it unlocked for an access. Also, please make sure your pets are kept in a safe place as we will need an access in & out of your yard during the work.
If possible, we prefer to meet you on site on the day of the job prior to commencement so that we can go through details of works to be carried out as quoted. If this is not possible, we will follow what we quoted.
After work is completed
We have to ask you to check the job completed on site before we leave site at the time of payment. If you cannot be at present on site upon completion, we will send you some photos of work completed. Please check the completed job on the day if you cannot be at present upon completion. We are confident in what we do, but if you need to discuss about completed job, we have to ask you to contact us on the day of completion or next day by phone to our office on 0400 264 028. We cannot accept a request to fix our work if you do not contact us within a day of completion. Also, we cannot accept a request to fix our work if we think your request is not reasonable or not within the job agreed as per quote. If your request is additional work (not the work quoted), additional fees apply.
When we send job completion photos because you cannot be on site upon job completion including landlord, please note that angles of photos taken upon completion may not be exactly same as photos shown on the quote although we try our best to take photos in similar angle as much as possible. This could be because of sunlight/weather situation, time of photos taken, or types of job involved (e.g. often tree removal work or stump grinding work will not produce photos upon completion which are exactly same as photos in the quote. For pruning work, completion photos may not be taken from the exact same angle because we take photos from angles which shows result or work best. If work involves large areas and large number of trees, we will not take photos of all trees but provide you with example.) If you are concerned about this, we have to ask you or your representative to visit site when job is nearly completed, instead of requesting photos upon completion. We will not re visit site just for the purpose of taking more photos after job date because you want photos to be taken from exactly same angle as photos in the quote and if you require this service, it will incur travel and further administration fee (minimum $220) which is payable prior to re visit.
Photos, video of us without consent
We do not accept anyone to take photos or video of us during practical work or arboricultural assessment or put images or video on social media site or any publications without our consent. This also applies to any passer-by. If any photos or video of us is taken without our consent, we have a right to collect them and if necessary, suitable action will be taken.
Other renovation projects
If you have other renovation projects going on such as painting, building, landscaping, or any major renovation, please make sure you plan well so that other renovation projects do not affect tree work or vice versa. If you plan to paint externally, we strongly recommend that tree work gets carried out before painting work to avoid any damages to new paint. If you plan to remove tree and put new turf or get landscaping done, it is best to get tree work done before them. If you plan to have other renovation project at or around the same time as tree work, please speak with us before making a booking. We cannot be responsible for any damage to your other renovation projects if you have tree works and other projects to be carried out on the same day or if you have new external paint and did not allow enough time to completely dry before tree works. For external painting, we must ask you to carry out tree works before painting job.
Communication
Our preferred method of communication is by phone, and email if communication needs to be in writing. Text messages are used when we cannot get through to customers by phone call and used for reconfirmation of appointment or booking.
We have experienced some customers communicate with us in unacceptable manners such as speaking rudely when we cannot schedule quote visit or booking to mutually suitable date/time or throughout the process of quote to completion of job, abusive or rude call or email, threatening us on job completion to avoid payment, intimidating during work for job not listed in quote, false accusation to receive discount or avoid payment, bribing to do work which is against regulations, not accepting our recommendation for practical work on site by a qualified arborist, ignoring our communication and so forth. We do not accept any of unacceptable attitude by customer to us. We try our best to communicate with customers in friendly, polite, respectful and helpful manners and we expect the same in return so that we can complete tree work or arboricultural assessment safely and satisfactory, and you have a great outcome.