These terms apply to every quote we issue and every report we prepare under the Ground Check name. The quote you accept sets out the scope and the price for your site; if anything in the quote differs from this page, the quote applies.
Who you are dealing with
Ground Check is a registered business name of Australian Ground Sciences Pty Ltd. That company is the party you contract with, it issues the invoices, and its engineers prepare and sign the reports.
Quotes and acceptance
- Quotes are valid for 30 days from the date issued.
- A standard site classification is quoted at the published fixed fee. “Standard” means two boreholes to 2.5 m with normal access for our equipment. If the site turns out to need more, we tell you before doing it and quote the difference.
- You accept a quote by replying to it or by asking us to proceed. Acceptance by a builder, designer or agent on an owner's behalf binds the person who instructed them.
- Nothing is booked, and no fee is payable, until a quote is accepted.
Site access and what we need from you
- You arrange for us to get onto the site on the agreed day, with access for the drilling rig or hand equipment described in the quote.
- You tell us, before we drill, about anything you know to be underground: services, tanks, drains, old structures. We locate public utilities where required, but we cannot see what has not been recorded.
- You tell us roughly where the building, pool or wall is going. Boreholes are positioned on that basis.
- If we cannot get onto the site or cannot drill for a reason on your side, a return visit is charged at the rate on the quote.
What the report is, and is not
- A report describes the ground at the borehole locations on the day we drilled, and the engineer's interpretation of what that means for the structure described to us. Ground between and beyond boreholes may differ.
- A site classification is prepared under AS 2870 for a residential footing. It is not a geotechnical investigation for a basement, a heavy structure or a slope unless the quote says so.
- A report is not a contamination assessment, a structural design, a survey or a flood or bushfire assessment.
- If the ground exposed during construction differs from the report, stop and call us. A site inspection may be needed and, if so, is quoted separately.
- The report is prepared for the client named on it and for the purpose stated. It may be given to your builder, designer, certifier and council for that purpose. Use by anyone else, or for another purpose, is at their own risk unless we agree in writing.
Turnaround guarantee (Sydney site classifications)
For a standard site classification on a site in the Sydney metropolitan area — the Sydney Metro zone on our pricing page — we complete the report within 5 business days of your acceptance of the quote, or the report is free. Geotechnical reports, investigations and retaining-wall work are scoped site by site and carry a timeframe in the quote instead, as do site classifications outside that zone; no guarantee attaches to either.
- It covers a standard site classification. Geotechnical reports, investigations and retaining-wall work are scoped site by site and get a timeframe with the quote instead.
- The site is in the Sydney metropolitan area — the Sydney Metro zone on the pricing page. Other zones get a timeframe with the quote too.
- The five business days run from when you accept the quote. Business days are Monday to Friday, excluding NSW public holidays.
- We can get onto the site. If access is not available on the day we book, or we are turned away, the clock pauses until we can drill.
- The invoice is paid before the site visit, as it is on every job. Days an invoice is outstanding are not counted.
- The scope is the one you accepted. If the ground turns out to need more holes, deeper holes or extra laboratory testing, we quote that first and the clock restarts when you accept it.
- If we miss it, the report is free: we do not invoice it, and where it has already been paid we refund it.
An accelerated turnaround of 3 business days or less is available on the same conditions for $300 + GST, added as its own line on the quote. It applies only where we have confirmed the date in writing before you accept. If we do not meet a date we have confirmed, the acceleration fee is not payable, and is refunded where it has been paid.
Payment
- No payment is taken when you accept a quote online. We invoice once the site visit is booked.
- The invoice is payable in full before the site visit. Fieldwork is not carried out, and the report is not released, until payment is received.
- Prices are in Australian dollars and exclude GST unless stated.
- Where a job is cancelled after the site visit has taken place, the fieldwork and any laboratory testing already done are payable.
Liability
We carry professional indemnity and public liability insurance and stand behind our work. Our liability to you for any claim arising from a report is limited, to the extent the law allows, to re-performing the service or refunding the fee paid for it, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing in these terms excludes rights you have under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded.
Records
We keep the report and the field and laboratory records behind it for at least seven years. Personal information is handled as described in our privacy policy.
Questions
Email info@groundcheck.com.au.
Ground Check — ABN 88 663 770 947