The agreement between us

1. Who we are

FlatOut NZ is a partnership between Daniel Bell and Rocky Lin, trading in Christchurch, New Zealand. In these terms, "we", "us" and "FlatOut" mean FlatOut NZ, and "you" means the person who accepts our quote. Our contact details are at the bottom of this page.

2. What we do

We arrange move-out services — moving, end-of-tenancy cleaning, rubbish removal and storage. We scope the job, quote you a single price, and engage contractors to carry out the work.

Your agreement is with us, not with the contractors. We are responsible to you for the services, and we pay the contractors ourselves. You don't deal with them on money and you don't need to chase them.

3. Quotes

Submitting an enquiry doesn't commit either of us to anything. We'll arrange a time to come and look at the property, and we may give you a verbal estimate at that visit.

An estimate is not a quote. The binding price is the written quote we send you afterwards, once we've confirmed availability and cost with the contractors. A quote is valid for 14 days and becomes an agreement when you accept it in writing — by email, text, or through our customer portal.

If what we find on the day is materially different from what we scoped — significantly more rubbish, a property in much worse condition, access that isn't as described — we'll stop and talk to you before doing the extra work. You'll get a revised quote and you can accept it or decline it. We won't do extra work and bill you for it without asking first.

4. Payment

Our prices are a single all-in figure covering everything in the quote. We are not currently registered for GST, so our prices include no GST component.

• Jobs of $500 or less: paid in full two days before the job starts.
• Jobs over $500: a 50% deposit three business days before the job starts, or at the time of booking if you book inside that window. The balance is due 14 days after the deposit.

If payment isn't received by the due time, the job doesn't go ahead. We'd rather tell you that in advance than have contractors turn up to a job we can't pay for.

Overdue balances carry a $30 administration fee and interest of 2% per month on the outstanding amount. These cover what late payment actually costs us to chase and are not a penalty. If an amount stays unpaid we may pass it to a debt collection agency, and you'd be responsible for their reasonable recovery costs.

5. Changing or cancelling

Plans change when you're moving out, and we'd rather know early than have a contractor turn up to an empty flat.

• More than 48 hours before the job: cancel or reschedule at no cost, and any deposit is refunded in full.
• Within 48 hours: we may keep up to 50% of the job price, because contractors have held the slot and in peak season we can't refill it.
• On the day, or nobody can give us access: the full price is payable. The contractors have travelled and the time is gone.

If we have to cancel or can't deliver on the agreed date, you get a full refund of anything you've paid, and we'll help you find another option if we can.

6. Access and your responsibilities

You'll need to make sure we can get into the property at the agreed time, and that you're entitled to arrange the work — so if you're organising it for a flat, that your flatmates know.

Please remove anything valuable, fragile or irreplaceable before the job, and tell us about anything that needs special handling. For rubbish removal, tell us if there's anything hazardous — paint, chemicals, gas bottles, batteries — because those can't go in a standard load and may need separate disposal at extra cost.

We can't dispose of anything that isn't yours to dispose of. If you're unsure whether something belongs to the landlord or a flatmate, check before the job.

7. If something goes wrong

Tell us. Call or text 027 408 6895 or email admin@flatoutnz.co.nz, and please do it within seven days of the job so we can sort it while everyone still remembers the detail.

We'll give the contractor two working days to put right anything below standard. If that isn't possible or isn't good enough, we'll arrange for someone else to fix it, or refund you for that part of the job.

Your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and the Fair Trading Act 1986 apply and nothing in these terms limits them. If you're buying as a business rather than as a consumer, the Consumer Guarantees Act doesn't apply to that purchase.

Beyond those rights, and except where we've been negligent, our total liability for any one job is limited to the amount you paid us for it. We're not liable for indirect losses — for example a bond withheld by your landlord, or losses from a delayed move — unless they were caused by our own failure to do what we agreed.

Our contractors are required to hold their own insurance and to show us the certificate before they take a job. That said, your claim is with us, not with them.

8. Your information

We collect and use your personal information as set out in our privacy policy, which includes sharing what's necessary with the contractors doing your job. By accepting a quote you agree to that.

9. Age

Our services are for people aged 18 and over. If you're under 18, a parent or guardian needs to enter the agreement instead.

10. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The version that applies to your job is the one in force when you accepted your quote, and the version number and date are at the top of this page. Changes we make later don't affect a job you've already booked.

11. Which law applies

These terms are governed by New Zealand law, and the New Zealand courts have jurisdiction. Before anyone goes near a court, though, we'd much rather talk — most things are sorted with a phone call. The Disputes Tribunal is an option for smaller claims if we can't resolve something between us.