Terms and Conditions

These are our terms of trade.  They’re something our insurer insists on to limit their likelihood of having to pay out a claim, but also, they’re good practice to have so we’re all on the same page about our working relationship.

It is important that you read these terms in full, but we also want to bring the following key points to your attention:

• Our rates vary depending on the size and type of client and the type of work required. As a purpose-driven organisation, at our discretion we may choose to offer special rates for not-for-profits and other community organisations.
• While we sometimes offer to do work at low-or-no-cost for community organisations, it is at our discretion when it aligns with our impact strategy and workflow planning. To avoid any embarrassment (yours) please don’t ask us for this to occur, our answer will be no.
• We pride ourselves on being culturally responsive with high standards of social responsibility.  Equity (the social kind) is about the risks you’re willing to take and the sacrifices you’re willing to make, our practice is one of equity and inclusion and we expect the same of anyone that we work with.  We understand that this is a learning journey, and everyone is at different stages of theirs so your practice may look a little different to ours, but the important thing is that you’re actively trying to be equitable and inclusive of all people and their needs.  If this isn’t you, then we cannot work together.

General

What some of the things mean:

1. “We” or “Us” means Leigh Development Holdings Limited (which is our legal, registered company name), including our directors and shareholders, and our contracted workers operating on behalf of the company. Sometimes we’ll type “Leigh Development” which is our trading name, or “LD” which is the acronym we use when we get tired of typing the full name of the business.
2. “You” or “Client” means the person or entity buying Services from us.
3. “Services” means what we have said we will do that you will pay us for. “Services” could be coaching (including our video course content), advisory, business support solutions and consultancy, or specialist research and communications.
4. “Agreement” means what services we (Leigh Development) said we would do for payment, and you (the client) said you would do to enable us to do this.

Culturally responsible workplace

We are a tangata Tiriti organisation that recognises te tino rangatiratanga of hapū as expressed in He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni and as affirmed in te Tiriti o Waitangi.

What this means is that we will pull out all the stops to ensure that we will do what is right by Māori as tāngata whenua of Aotearoa, and as was agreed to in He Whakaputanga and te Tiriti o Waitangi. We do this because we believe that what is good for Māori is good for everyone, and we believe it is our responsibility to help disrupt the narrative to the contrary.

We champion diversity and inclusivity practices, and actively promote and support working with other organisations that demonstrate positive engagement with whānau/hapū/iwi.

What this does not mean, is us representing ourselves as experts in cultural competency.  We guide, but we do not instruct.  In all cases, we will defer to the voice of lived experience and we will advise you to do the same.  Consultation and co-design mean to extend the invitation to plan the party, not to attend it after you’ve decided on the theme.

Pricing

We are a New Zealand registered company and all of our pricing is in NZD and compliant with NZ tax legislation.  We are GST registered and so all our invoicing will include a GST component which must be paid by you.  Unless we specifically state otherwise, all our pricing is exclusive of the GST component.

Quotation

Any quotation we have made for the supply of Services is not a binding offer.  We reserve the right to change or withdraw any quotation without notice at any time.

Change of Rates

We may change any previously notified hourly rate for casual work that we have agreed to, at any time on 14 days’ written notice to you.

No deductions

You will pay the full amount stated on the invoice or statement issued by the due date. All payments by you will be full, free and clear of any deduction, withholding, set-off, counterclaim or other claim. 

Cancellation

We understand that life happens, and you can’t plan for illness or emergency situations, if you have a booked coaching session and you cancel within 24-hours of the scheduled start time then wherever possible we will reschedule this within the next 7-days. If you cannot reschedule within the available time slots, then we reserve the right to charge you for the cancellation of this session.

For all other agreed services, where cancellation occurs before we start our work any deposit paid may be refunded at our sole discretion.  No refund will be made where cancellation occurs within 24-hours of the time set for performance of the Services.  If cancellation occurs after we have started the work we reserve the right to invoice you for work that has already been done where:

1. the amount of any deposit paid is not enough to compensate us for that work; or
2. you have not paid a deposit.

Payment

It is important that you pay us on time.  We are a small business, not a bank, and we also have people we need to pay. If you find yourself in the situation of not being able to pay a bill on time or in full, please talk to us before the due date so we can sort something out. We understand that shit happens, but don’t shit on us or we will need to bring in outsiders to sort this out – and that’s totally not our preferred option.

We have variable billing cycles, which are agreed with all clients in advance of commencing work:

1. monthly billing, for coaching only, with invoice payments due on the schedule agreed with client and always in advance of work being undertaken.
2. fortnightly billing, for coaching only, with invoice payments due on the schedule agreed with client and always in advance of work being undertaken.
3. short-term/phase projects, invoice will be sent for 50% of the cost upfront, payable in advance of work commencing. Towards the middle of the project, a final invoice will be issued for the balance of the cost due within 7-days from the invoice date.
4. casual work, invoice sent on schedule agreed with client for work completed. Invoice payable within 7-days from the invoice date.

We reserve the right to not release our work to you until the account has been paid in full. 

Expenses

Any agreed additional expenses we incur will be invoiced in advance and we reserve the right not to progress the associated Services until we receive these payments. 

Solvency

If you, or your organisation become insolvent, or bankrupt, or cease to trade, then full payment for all unpaid bills and services will become due immediately.  

If your organisation is a limited liability company, then your company’s directors are personally, jointly and severally liable of an unpaid bills and services from us.

Late payment

Penalties and interest

If we have to spend time chasing you for payment then we’re going to add a late payment fee to your account. That will be at the rate of 2% of the total amount you owe us.  We also reserve the right to charge simple interest at 1.5% per month from the due date until payment.

Debt collection

If penalties and interest don’t inspire you to pay then your accounts will get sent to a debt collector, and our lawyer, and you will be liable for all debt collection and legal costs incurred.

Working with us

Performance and time

We will do our best to deliver the Services within the time specified by us but dates we give for performance are indicative only, sometimes life happens, and things come up that prevent us delivering to schedule.  If things don’t go to plan, we will re-evaluate our timeline and update you.  We will always do our best job and finish it properly to the high standard that we would expect of other professionals – and we think we set the bar pretty high here. 

The right to ask questions

If you’re unsure whether our advice is right for you, don’t be afraid to ask us why. If you don’t ask questions, we reserve the right to assume that everything is clear. We also practice what we teach and so we will ask you a lot of questions to get proper understanding, these allow us to get all the facts to support the best outcomes.

Services to be supplied

You acknowledge and agree that the Services are limited to those set out in the invoice, or other similar document issued by us.  Unless we agree otherwise in writing, any additional work requested will be billed at our casual hourly rate.

Declining Services

Sometimes things come up that we have differences of opinion with.  We reserve the right to decline any request for work that we consider is contrary to our professional standards (see the key points at the beginning of our terms). If you object to us declining any work under this clause, then we have the right to terminate this Agreement with immediate effect.

Copyright

Our intellectual property rights remain in place for any materials or resources that we have shared with you as part of aiding delivery of the services.  You may not share this with any other party without first obtaining written agreement from us to do so.  If we find that you have breached this condition, then we reserve the right to invoice for release of intellectual property rights alongside the associated costs of developing the resources.

Unless otherwise agreed, we retain intellectual property rights in all original work we have prepared on your behalf as part of the Services until the Price is paid in full.

YOUR OBLIGATIONS

Information:

• You will provide us with any relevant information or material required to enable us to perform the Services.
• Where information you give us is incorrect and we are required to undertake additional work we reserve the right to charge for such additional work. 
• Requests for changes to text must be made in writing, either by email, on a shared cloud-based document (e.g., Google Doc), notes on PDF or Word file, or scanned written notes on hard copy.  We cannot guarantee that textual changes requested orally will be implemented.

Third Party Rights

You warrant that:

• you own any material you provide to us, in whole, and are entitled to provide that material to us; and
• any material you provide to us is yours and does not violate any existing intellectual property rights including, without limitation, copyright, trademark, or any other proprietary or contractual rights.

Problem resolution

If you have a problem with any part of our work (delivery, quality, interactions) then it is your responsibility to bring this to our attention.  If you don’t let us know, we can’t fix it.

Health and Safety:

 If we need to come to your place of work, it is your responsibility to ensure that all safety measures have been taken to comply with all applicable health and safety laws. Prior to us attending your place of work to perform the Services you will:

• Inform us of all applicable health and safety rules and regulations that may apply at the site;
• Notify us promptly of any risk, safety issues or incidents that may arise or may have arisen at the site that are relevant to our provision of the Services.

Right to delay or cancel

If we are concerned about the presence of any hazards or risks at the site we may, in our absolute discretion, delay the performance of some or all of the Services or cancel any order by notice in writing to you. This clause also applies to cases of illness, particularly when this relates to COVID-19.

OUR OBLIGATIONS

We will perform the Services to the best of our ability using our level of experience and skill, and we will adhere to all our required obligations under NZ Law.  

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that while at your place of work our team members comply with any health and safety requirements and other reasonable security requirements made known to us by you.

Business purposes

any services provided by us are for business purposes only, by engaging us you acknowledge that the provisions of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 will not apply and are expressly excluded.

Limitations

Urgent costs more

Look, we know that sometimes things get overlooked and deadlines get missed.  We are efficient because we plan out our workflow. If we have to add extra work into a time slot, or if we have to chase you for critical information to meet a deadline, then we will pull out all the stops to deliver on time, but we don’t work outside of our standard business hours (that’s whānau time, no exceptions), so we can’t guarantee that we’ll meet the deadline.  There is an additional 50% premium charge on this as we’re working with less time to deliver more work.

If this becomes a pattern of behaviour then we’ll speak to you about changing our agreement, which is likely to include an increase in pricing and hours, so we can plan more efficiently for future workflow.

Liability

We will not be held liable for negative outcomes.  We are highly experienced and will guide you and your business to the best of our ability using our expertise, but we cannot be held responsible for how you apply our guidance, or any negative outcomes that may occur because of this.  We feel it’s important to note this because every single business is different, and what will work for one may not work for another, for many different reasons.  We cannot be held responsible for how your stakeholders react. 

Events outside our control (force majeure)

We will not be liable for failing to perform any of our obligations under these Terms and Conditions as a result of circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

Waiver

If we are delayed in enforcing any part of these Terms and Conditions, they remain in force.  Any waivers will be specified in writing and relate to the particular transaction referenced only.

Severability

If any court rules any part of this agreement invalid, all other parts remain in effect

Privacy and records

We will uphold our requirements under the Privacy Act 2020 and any associated legislation. Any person can make a request to view and edit the information held by us about them under this legislation, by contacting our privacy officer via email at “accounts(at)leighdevelopment.co.nz”.

Any information we collect will be held for the required timeframe as specified by law (refer to Archives and Records Association of NZ for linked recordkeeping legislation). Any information we collect about our clients that is not legally required to be held for a minimum timeframe, will be archived six-months after the end of our working relationship, before being destroyed.

Security

All files are stored online in a password protected system that is accessible only to approved users for projects/client work.  We require all team members to have appropriate security measures and software on their computers and mobile devices, including 2FA, to access these files.

Electronic Communications

You consent to receive commercial electronic messages from Us.  If you wish to opt out of receiving these messages tell us in writing and we will remove you from the mailing list.

Confidentiality

We pride ourselves on our ability to keep your confidence and we trust in you to do the same.  All commercially sensitive information must be kept confidential during and after the term of our agreement, except for when the law requires us to disclose this. 

By entering into the agreement with us, you also give us permission to disclose to third parties when it is relevant to the work we’re doing together (such as your accountant or other advisors) including other subcontractors who will also be bound by this agreement.

Additional permissions

You give us permission to use your organisation as a case study on our website and social channels (with your approval of the copy once it is written).

And because we are skilled networkers and connectors, unless you specifically ask us not to, you agree that we can introduce you to other incredible people that we believe will be able to support you in growing your impact.