Terms of Business

The spirit of these terms

Most trade terms run to pages in order to say four things. We will do the work we said we would do, properly. You will pay what we agreed, when we ask. If we find something unexpected we will stop and talk to you before spending any more of your money. And if either of us wants to stop, we say so and settle up fairly. Everything below is those four sentences with the detail filled in, in plain English on purpose.

1. Who we are

Prana Property Care is the trading name of a small independent family business. We do repairs, decorating, joinery, storage, gardening and outdoor work, stove installation, smart home and security work, and ongoing home care plans, in and around Godmanchester in Cambridgeshire. Where these terms say "we" or "us", that is who we mean.

Email [email protected] or ring 07733 070 080. If you ever need to send us something formally, our address for the service of documents is c/o 50 Bluegate, Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire, PE29 2EZ. It is a postal address only. We work in your home, not from premises, so there is nothing to visit.

We are not a limited company. Legally this is a self-employed business, which means we look after our own tax and National Insurance, and you are not taking anybody on as an employee by asking us to hang a door. We are not registered for VAT either, which clause 4 covers. If any of that changes as the business grows we will update this page, and tell anybody holding a live quote before it affects them.

2. What things cost

You get a fixed price, in writing, before we start. We do not bill by the hour and there are no call-out fees. The price does not move unless the job itself changes, and if it does we agree the change with you in writing before we do any more work.

If we open something up and find more than either of us expected, we stop, show you what we have found, and agree what happens next. Nothing extra gets added to your bill without you saying yes first.

Curious what one actually looks like before you ask for one? Download a specimen quote (PDF), watermarked and with invented names and figures so nobody mistakes it for a real one. One page, plain English, and it includes the bit where we talk the customer out of something. Real ones are just as short.

Quotes stand for 30 days. Everyday bits like filler, sealant, screws, sandpaper and basic white paint are already in the price and never itemised. Materials bought specifically for your job are listed at what they cost us, plus a small handling charge for fetching, storing and the inevitable offcuts, and you will see that charge written down in the quote.

3. Coming to look, and the minimum

Coming to look at a job so that we can price it is free, and it stays free whether or not you go ahead. There is no call-out fee and never has been.

Once we are actually working there is a minimum of around £110 for a visit, because a van, the travelling and an hour of the diary cost the same whether the job takes ten minutes or three hours. We will always tell you when a job falls under it, and will usually suggest saving it up alongside something else rather than paying the minimum for the sake of it.

The exception is the Home Health Check, which is a survey you commission and which produces a written report. That is a piece of work in its own right and is priced as one, which is a different thing from us coming out to quote.

4. VAT

We are not registered for VAT, so there is none to add and none will appear on anything we send you. If that ever changes we will tell you before it affects a quote you are holding.

5. Deposits and staged payments

As simple as the job allows.

Under £750: no deposit at all. You pay when it is finished.

£750 or more: a quarter up front to confirm the booking and hold your dates, the rest on completion.

Over £2,500: the quote sets out payments tied to points in the work, so you are never paying a long way ahead of what has actually been done. There is always a final payment left outstanding until you are happy the job is finished.

Anything made to order or non-returnable gets paid for before we order it: made-to-measure joinery, a particular tile, a chosen stove, a specific paint. Everything else we buy goes on the final invoice. We will tell you which is which before you commit to anything.

6. Paying us

Invoices are due within 7 days. Bank transfer, card or cash, all through our Revolut Pro business account, with the details on the invoice itself. If you would rather pay by card we send a secure payment link straight to that account, so your card details never pass through our hands. Cash is welcome on the smaller jobs if you prefer it. Care plan fees are collected monthly in advance by Direct Debit, handled for us by GoCardless. Clause 10 sets out exactly how that works.

A word on fraud, because it happens to trades a lot. We will never text you asking for payment details, never ring out of the blue for your card number, and never email you to say our bank details have changed. If you get a message like that it is not from us. Ring the number you already have and check.

If an invoice goes unpaid past 30 days we may charge statutory interest and reasonable recovery costs where the law allows it. We would much rather talk first. If money is going to be tight, say so and we will work something out.

7. Our guarantee

If anything goes wrong as a result of our workmanship within twelve months of the work being finished, ring us and we will come back and put it right at no cost to you.

Worth saying plainly: this is our own promise, not an insurance-backed warranty sold by a third party. It is worth our word and our still being here. We would rather earn a reputation than sell you a certificate.

It does not cover normal wear and tear, or damage, or a product failing under its own manufacturer's warranty. Where a manufacturer's warranty applies we will help you chase it rather than leave you to it.

8. Insurance

We carry public liability insurance suitable for the work we do. Ask and we will show you the certificate.

9. Work that belongs to somebody else

Some work is regulated by law and we do not touch it. Gas belongs with Gas Safe registered engineers, and unvented hot water cylinders with someone G3 qualified. On the electrical side we do the work that is not notifiable, which since 2013 in England includes sockets, spurs, lights and switches on existing circuits. New circuits, consumer units and anything inside a bathroom stay with a registered electrician. We will tell you plainly when a job needs one, and if you like we will introduce someone from our network and coordinate around them.

Those specialists take you on as their own customer, carry their own insurance and registrations, and are responsible for their own work rather than us. We only ever suggest people we would happily have in our own homes. And once you have met them, they are yours: keep the number and ring them directly next time. We have no interest in standing between you and a tradesman you have come to trust.

10. Home care plans

Rolling monthly, no minimum term and no tie-in. Either of us can end it with 30 days' notice in writing. If a visit cannot happen we move it rather than write it off.

How the monthly fee is collected. By Direct Debit, monthly in advance, through GoCardless. You set the mandate up yourself on their secure page, which means we never see your bank details and never hold them. The first collection is usually about a week after you sign the mandate.

The Direct Debit Guarantee applies, and it is worth reading. We have to tell you the amount and the date before every single collection, and GoCardless send that notice three working days beforehand. If a payment is ever taken in error, your bank must refund it immediately. You can cancel the mandate at your bank whenever you like, although telling us as well saves everybody a confusing week. If the price is ever going to change we tell you first, in writing, before anything moves.

What a visit is. Half a day of our time, covering the checklist for your plan and as many of the small jobs on your list as sensibly fit. Anything larger that we spot or you ask for is quoted separately in writing, at the same prices anybody else would pay, and you are never obliged to say yes. Materials are not included in the monthly fee; they are itemised as they would be on any other job.

Annual inclusions arrive annually. Where a plan includes something yearly, such as the Annual Home Health Review on Full Stewardship, it falls due on the anniversary of joining rather than at the start. It is part of a year of care, not a joining gift.

If you leave in the first year. Your visits do not arrive evenly across the twelve months you are paying for. Somebody who joins in March, has the spring visit in April and cancels in May has paid two months and received a visit worth a good deal more than that. So if you cancel within twelve months, we add up the visits you actually had at our ordinary published prices, subtract everything you have paid, and if there is a difference you pay it.

What a visit is recharged at. Our published half-day rate, currently £245, because half a day is the smallest unit in which anybody who was never a member can book a list of small jobs. It is published with everything else.

Two limits on all of this, both in your favour. You will never pay more than a non-member would have paid for the same work, and we will always show you the sum. And if the difference comes to less than £100, we write it off rather than send somebody an invoice for leaving.

Two worked examples, both on Seasonal Care at £45 a month. Leave after two months having had one visit and you have paid £90 against £245 of work, so there is £155 to settle. Leave after nine months having had two visits and you have paid £405 against £490, a difference of £85, which is under the hundred and so there is nothing to pay.

None of this affects your legal right to change your mind within 14 days, which is covered in the next clause and which we will not argue with.

11. Changing your mind

Moving or cancelling a booked visit. At least 48 hours' notice and there is nothing to pay. If we have already bought materials for your job, those are yours to pay for and yours to keep, and we will hand them over.

The 14 day cooling-off period, which covers everything we do. If you are a consumer you have a legal right to change your mind within 14 days of agreeing, and that applies to a one-off job exactly as much as to a care plan. We have no premises for you to come to, so every agreement we make is either reached in your home or settled at a distance by message, and both carry the same right.

The 14 days run from the day you accept a quote, or from the day you agree a care plan.

If you ask us to start inside those 14 days. You can, and people often want to. If you then change your mind we can charge for what had already been done by that point, and nothing beyond it. On a care plan that means any visit we had already made. On a one-off job it means the work done and the materials bought.

How to do it. Tell us, in whatever form suits you: a message, an email, or a phone call. There is no form to fill in, no notice period to observe and we will not ask you why.

12. Working in your home

We treat your house the way we would want ours treated: dust sheets down, tidy as we go, and a proper clean at the end. In return we ask for reasonable access at the times we have agreed, and a heads-up about anything we should know, whether that is the alarm code, a cat that bolts, or where we can actually park.

13. If something goes wrong

Tell us. We would far rather hear about it than have you quietly putting up with something. We will come back to you within one working day, and have it put right within the week. If it needs a part ordering or a specialist bringing in, we will tell you honestly how long it will actually take rather than give you a date we cannot keep. None of these terms takes away any right you have as a consumer.

14. The legal bit at the end

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If any part of them turns out not to be enforceable, the rest still stands. Last updated in 2026, and the current version always lives on this page.