Terms of use and of business

The pages here describe a cleaning service and set out general information about ovens, hobs and extractors. They are not advice about your particular appliance. Nothing on the site forms a contract until a booking is agreed.

The rate card is the rate card. Any figure discussed before the cooker has been described is an estimate of the hours, not a fixed quotation for the job.

Work is charged at £60 an hour including VAT, with a minimum charge of £120 covering the first two hours. A half day of £240 covers four hours and a full day of £480 covers eight.

Time is counted from arrival to the point the kitchen is put back together, and it includes the time racks and trays spend soaking, because that time is spent on your job whether or not somebody is scrubbing during it.

A clean covers the visible and reachable surfaces of the appliances agreed at booking. Oven interiors, doors and glass, racks, trays and runners, hob surfaces and burner parts, extractor housings and washable filters, and the surrounding surfaces that get splashed in the process.

It does not cover repair. Cleaning is not an electrical or gas inspection, and nothing here is carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer. If something is found to be broken, worn or unsafe during the clean it will be pointed out and left alone, and you can get the right trade in to deal with it.

Ovens that have been left a long time can have permanent marks under the grime: pitted enamel, crazed or bloomed door glass, worn door seals, discoloured aluminium, scorched trays. Those are uncovered by a clean, not caused by it, and they will not come out however long the job runs.

Where a part is already damaged or perished, it is left as it is and you are told. Nothing is dismantled beyond the parts a manufacturer intends to be removed for cleaning.

A booking is confirmed with a deposit of 50 per cent of the estimated time, with the balance due on completion once you have seen the work.

Cancelling or moving a booking with reasonable notice costs nothing and the deposit carries over or comes back to you. A wasted visit, where nobody is there, the kitchen cannot be reached, or the cooker is not the one described, may be charged for the time held.

If the job turns out to need materially more time than the estimate, the extra is agreed with you before it is worked, not added to the invoice afterwards.

Access to the kitchen, mains power and hot and cold water are needed on the day. Somewhere to park within reasonable carrying distance of the door helps, since the kit comes in and out of a van.

The floor and the surrounding units are protected before work starts and the area is cleaned down afterwards. It is mucky work, and leaving a bigger mess than the one we came for is not the deal.

Hembury Contracting holds public liability insurance and a copy of the certificate is available on request.

Liability is limited to the fee paid for the work, except where the law does not allow that limit.