Quote and agree work with garden customers

You do not need a licence to quote for garden work. Consumer law does apply once a household hires you. Before you take your first booking, set up your quote, your written terms and your cancellation process.

The rules protect consumers, meaning individuals who buy for purposes mainly outside their own trade. A householder is a consumer. A customer that is a business, such as a property management company, is not.

The customer has a right to cancel without giving a reason when the contract is off-premises or at a distance. An off-premises contract is one you make while you and the customer are both physically present somewhere other than your business premises. The customer's home is the usual example, so a job you agree during a visit to their garden counts.

There is one exception for off-premises contracts. If the payment the customer has to make is £42 or less, the information and cancellation rules do not apply. The exception does not cover distance contracts.

A distance contract is a booking made with no face-to-face meeting, under an organised phone, email or website system for selling services. Both conditions must apply: the absence of a meeting alone is not enough. The summary below shows the rule, the exceptions and what happens to a deposit.

Set up your quote and contract

Work through these steps before the first booking. Then repeat steps 2 to 6 for every household job.

Take and keep a deposit

A deposit is a payment under the contract, so the cancellation right covers it. A customer who cancels in time gets it back, whatever your terms say.

Set the deposit at a level that reflects costs you cannot avoid, such as plants or materials you order for the job. A term that lets you keep a deposit whatever the reason is likely to be unfair. Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 tests the fairness of deposit terms. For the test and examples, see Charge no-show fees and keep customer deposits

Meet the standards for the work

Your quote does not change what the customer can expect. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 writes standards into every consumer service contract, and a term that removes them has no effect. A line on your quote saying all work is at the customer's risk does not limit your duty of care and skill.

Handle common problems

These situations come up often in garden work:

• if you quoted at the customer's home and they accepted later by phone or email, assume the right applies unless you have checked that it does not
• if a customer cancels in time after you have ordered plants or materials, you cannot add your own cancellation fee and can keep only the proportionate payment for work done after an early start request
• if a customer specifically asks you to visit for an urgent repair, such as making a storm-damaged fence safe, the urgent work falls outside the right, but other services agreed on the same visit do not
• if the customer says the finished work is poor, they can ask you to repeat it or to reduce the price

For poor-work remedies in full, see Consumer rights compliance for service providers.

What to do next

For the full off-premises rules, including the information list in detail, see Distance and off-premises selling requirements. Check your written terms against Avoiding unfair terms in consumer contracts. For cover for work in customers' gardens, see Business insurance: what you need.

For the rules on waste, pesticides, hedges and trees, see Meet your gardening and landscaping duties. The whole start-up path is in Start a gardening or landscaping business.