Terms & Conditions

At a glance

This summary is for convenience — the full terms below are what applies.

• Who you're dealing with. George Stephens, trading as GWS Plumbing & Bathrooms — a VAT-registered sole trader based in Dartford, Kent. You deal with George directly.
• How a job becomes booked. We give you a written quotation, valid for 30 days. Paying the £100 holding deposit accepts the quote and books your slot. Paying it places an order with an obligation to pay the quoted price.
• Your right to change your mind. You can cancel, with a full refund including the deposit, at any time up to 14 days after the day you pay the deposit — or, where we are supplying fixtures or materials, up to 14 days after the day the last of them is delivered to you, whichever is later. After that, the deposit is non-refundable.
• Paying. Stage payments as set out in your quotation, tied to stages of the work — never to dates. The £100 deposit comes off your final payment.
• If we find something unexpected. Hidden problems (rot, unsafe pipework, unsuitable walls) are quoted as a separate variation and agreed with you in writing before any extra work or cost.
• Our guarantee. All our workmanship is guaranteed for 12 months from completion, on top of your legal rights, which are never affected.
• If something goes wrong. Tell George. We fix genuine problems first and argue about paperwork later.

Part A — Using this website

A1. Who we are. This website (gwsbathrooms.co.uk) is operated by George Stephens, trading as GWS Plumbing & Bathrooms ("GWS", "we", "us"). Our business address is Instone House, Instone Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 2AG. We are registered for VAT — number 486 0121 03. You can contact us at [email protected] or on 07376 641877. Gas work is carried out only by Gas Safe registered engineers (gassaferegister.co.uk); registration details are provided before any gas work starts.

A2. Information, not offers. The content of this website — including price bands, example projects, and articles — is general information to help you plan. It is not a quotation and not a contractual offer. Every job is priced individually, and only a written quotation from us states a price we are offering to work at.

A3. Design and visualisation tools. Any images produced by our online design or visualisation tools are illustrations only. They are not technical drawings, do not represent a confirmed specification, and do not form part of any contract. Photos you upload to our design tools are handled as described in our Privacy Policy.

A4. Accuracy and prices. We take care to keep this website accurate and current, but we do not promise that all content is free of errors or that the website will always be available. All prices and price bands shown on this website include VAT and everything we always charge for, such as waste removal. Product images and prices for fixtures shown or linked on this site are indicative and are confirmed in writing before anything is ordered.

A5. Our content. The text, photographs of our work, and design of this website belong to us or our licensors. You are welcome to browse, print, and share pages for personal use; please do not reproduce our content commercially without asking.

A6. Links. Where we link to suppliers or other third-party websites, those sites are outside our control and we are not responsible for their content or terms.

A7. Reviews. Reviews and testimonials shown on this site are from customers of completed GWS jobs. Before publishing a review we check it against our job records — a quotation reference or a verified Google or Checkatrade review; we do not write, commission, or pay for reviews, we do not edit them, and we do not suppress unfavourable ones. Where we display an overall rating from Google or Checkatrade, it is the current rating as at the date shown, and the underlying reviews can be checked on those platforms.

A8. Cookies. This website uses cookies and similar technologies. Essential cookies run the site; anything else (including advertising and analytics cookies) is set only with your consent, which you can give or withdraw through the cookie banner. Our Cookie Policy explains each cookie we use.

Part B — Terms of business (our work in your home)

These are the terms on which we carry out bathroom renovation, plumbing, and related work for consumers. They apply together with your written quotation. If the quotation says something different from these terms about the scope of works, materials, price, or payment schedule, the quotation wins for that job. Nothing in a quotation can reduce your rights under clause 6 (cancellation), clause 12 (guarantee), or clause 14 (our responsibility), or your legal rights.

1. Who we are, and who you are

1.1 "We" are George Stephens, trading as GWS Plumbing & Bathrooms, a sole trader. Our business address is Instone House, Instone Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 2AG. VAT number: 486 0121 03. Phone: 07376 641877. Email: [email protected].

1.2 "You" are the customer named on the quotation, contracting as a consumer (not in the course of a business). If you are contracting in the course of a business (including as a landlord or managing agent): clause 6 and Schedule 1 (cooling-off) do not apply; references to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 are read as the equivalent implied terms under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982; and clause 14 applies subject to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

2. The contract

2.1 Your contract with us is made up of: (a) your written quotation, including its scope of works, itemised materials, expected duration, and payment schedule; and (b) these terms.

2.2 The contract is formed when you accept the quotation. You accept it by paying the £100 holding deposit through the Stripe link on the quotation (or by telling us in writing to go ahead, if we agree a different route with you). Paying the deposit places an order with an obligation to pay the quoted price, payable in stages as the quotation sets out.

2.3 Please check the quotation covers everything we have discussed and agreed — if anything important we said to you before you booked is missing from it, tell us and we will confirm it in writing. Things we say to you about us or the work that you take into account when deciding to go ahead form part of the contract, as the Consumer Rights Act 2015 provides. We are always liable for anything said fraudulently.

2.4 We give you these terms and the Schedule 1 cancellation form with your quotation — on paper, or by email where you are happy to receive documents that way — before you pay the deposit, so you have them before you are committed. Keep them with your copy of the quotation: together they are your record of the contract.

3. Quotations

3.1 Our quotations are free and are valid for 30 days from the date of issue. After 30 days we may need to re-price, mainly because material prices move.

3.2 The quotation states the full price, including VAT at the applicable rate, itemises the fixtures and materials we will supply, and states the expected duration of the work. Fixture selections shown in the quotation are indicative until confirmed — we confirm the final product, colour, and finish with you in writing before ordering anything. The quotation identifies any item that will be made to your specification or clearly personalised (see clause 6.4).

3.3 The quotation is based on what we could see and what you told us. It assumes normal site conditions — for example, that walls, floors, and existing pipework are in serviceable condition and that there are no concealed hazards. Clause 9 explains what happens if that turns out not to be true.

4. Booking and start dates

4.1 When your deposit is received, your project is entered into our diary and we agree a start date with you, confirmed in writing.

4.2 We will do everything reasonable to start and finish on the agreed dates. Renovation work is sequential, and occasionally an earlier job overruns or a supplier fails us; if your dates need to move, we will tell you as soon as we know and agree new dates with you. Dates are our genuine best estimate, not a guarantee — but see clause 5.3 (your right to a full refund if we cannot start within a reasonable time) and clause 14 (which does not let us walk away from losses we cause you carelessly).

5. The holding deposit

5.1 The holding deposit is £100, paid via Stripe. It secures your slot in the diary and is deducted from your final payment — it is not an extra charge.

5.2 The deposit is non-refundable, with one exception: if you cancel within your statutory cooling-off period (clause 6), we refund it in full along with anything else you have paid. Nothing in this clause affects any rights you may have against your card issuer, including under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

5.3 If we cancel the contract other than for the reasons in clause 13 or 16, or if we have not started within 30 days of the agreed start date (for reasons other than clause 16 events or delay you asked for or caused) and you no longer want to proceed, we refund everything you have paid in full and pay you a further £100 as compensation for the lost booking — matching what we keep when a customer cancels late.

6. Your right to cancel (cooling-off)

This clause applies because our contracts are normally agreed in your home or remotely (by phone, email, or WhatsApp). It reflects the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

6.1 You may cancel the contract, without giving any reason, at any time up to the end of 14 days after the day the contract was formed (the day you paid the deposit) or, where we are supplying goods (fixtures or materials), up to the end of 14 days after the day the last of those goods comes into your physical possession — whichever is later.

6.2 To cancel, just tell us clearly — an email, WhatsApp message, or phone call to the details in clause 1.1 is enough. You can use the cancellation form in Schedule 1, but you do not have to.

6.3 If you cancel within the cancellation period, we refund everything you have paid, including the deposit, within 14 days of you telling us, using the same payment method you used.

6.4 If you want us to start within the cancellation period (for example, an urgent job, or ordering materials straight away so a start date holds), you must request this expressly in writing (email or WhatsApp message is fine), stating that you: (a) ask us to begin the work and/or order materials before your cancellation period ends; (b) understand that if you then cancel, you must pay for what has been supplied up to that point, in proportion to the total price; and (c) understand that once the work has been fully performed, you lose the right to cancel. We will not start work or order materials within the cancellation period unless we have received that written request. Separately, where an item in your quotation is made to your specification or clearly personalised (for example a made-to-measure shower screen or a cut-to-size worktop), we will tell you in writing before ordering it: once ordered, that item has no right to cancel and you must pay for it, though the rest of the contract can still be cancelled.

6.5 If goods we supplied have already been delivered to you when you cancel, you make them available for us to collect (or return them, if we agree that instead); any return or collection cost we charge will have been stated in the quotation. We may reduce your refund for those goods only to reflect any loss in their value caused by handling beyond what a shop would allow.

6.6 The cooling-off right does not apply to urgent repairs or maintenance you specifically ask us to visit and carry out — though the cancellation right still applies to any extra work beyond the urgent repair done on that visit, and to any goods we supply on that visit other than replacement parts necessarily used in making the repair.

6.7 After the cancellation period has passed, cancellation is governed by clause 7.

7. Cancelling or postponing after the cooling-off period

7.1 If you cancel after the cooling-off period but before we start, the £100 deposit is retained and any stage payment already made is refunded, less our actual, evidenced costs for materials already ordered for your job that we cannot return or reuse. We will always try to return or reuse materials first, and the deposit and any costs we deduct will together never exceed our actual, evidenced losses from the cancellation.

7.2 If you need to postpone, tell us as early as you can. We will move your job to the next slot we reasonably can, at no charge for a first postponement with at least 5 working days' notice. A third postponement, or a postponement with less than 5 working days' notice, may be treated as cancellation under clause 7.1 — we will warn you in writing and give you 5 working days to confirm a new date before treating it that way, and we will not do so where the postponement is for reasons genuinely outside your control.

7.3 If you cancel once work has started, you must pay for the work done and materials supplied up to that point, in proportion to the total price, plus the costs in clause 7.1. Anything you have paid beyond that is refunded.

8. Price and payment

8.1 The price is fixed for the scoped work in the quotation. We do not add anything to it except variations you have agreed in writing under clause 9 or 10.

8.2 Payment is made in stages as set out in your quotation. Stage payments are tied to stages of the work, not to calendar dates, and the schedule in the quotation states which. We will tell you in writing when a stage is reached; if you believe it has not been, tell us within 2 working days and we will walk the stage with you before payment falls due. The £100 holding deposit is deducted from the final payment.

8.3 Completion. The work is complete when it is finished apart from minor snagging items that do not prevent normal use of the bathroom. We will walk the finished job through with you and agree any snagging list in writing. The final payment is then due, less a fair amount agreed with you reflecting the cost of the listed snags, which becomes due when they are done. If the bathroom is in normal daily use, or a walkthrough has not taken place within 5 working days of our invitation for reasons that are not ours, the work is treated as complete and the snagging process continues after payment. Nothing in this clause limits your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, including your right to require us to re-do work not done with reasonable care and skill or to a price reduction.

8.4 If a stage payment is not made when the stage it relates to is reached, we may pause the work until it is — except to the extent you are withholding a reasonable amount genuinely in dispute over defective or incomplete work, in which case we will meet you on site to resolve it before pausing. Where a payment is more than 14 days overdue we may charge interest on it at 4% a year above the Bank of England base rate, accruing daily from the due date until payment. We will always talk to you before either.

8.5 All payments are made by card (via Stripe) or bank transfer, against an invoice or payment link identifying the job. We do not take cash discounts and we do not offer to waive VAT — VAT at the applicable rate is charged on every job, and every payment goes through our books.

9. Unforeseen work

9.1 Bathrooms hide their problems behind tiles and under floors. If, once work is under way, we find something the quotation could not reasonably have allowed for — for example rotten joists or boards, unsafe or corroded pipework or wiring, walls unsuitable for the specified finish, leaks from concealed pipework, or suspected asbestos — we will:

• (a) stop the affected part of the work and show you what we have found;
• (b) give you a written variation quote for the additional work, or where possible more than one option; and
• (c) proceed only once you have agreed the variation in writing.

9.2 We never carry out additional chargeable work without your written agreement first.

9.3 We do not handle asbestos-containing materials. In homes built or refurbished before 2000 we work on the assumption that asbestos may be present and take care before disturbing likely materials. Where we suspect asbestos, the affected work stops and a competent asbestos surveyor must assess it; any removal is then carried out by a contractor appropriately licensed or trained for that type of material, at your cost, before we can continue. Any resulting delay is not our responsibility, though we will re-plan the diary with you in good faith.

9.4 If work we find under this clause must be done for the job to be completed safely, lawfully, or to a workmanlike standard, and we cannot agree a variation (or, for asbestos, you choose not to instruct a specialist) within 14 days, either of us may end the contract by written notice. You then pay for the work done and materials supplied up to that point, in proportion to the total price, and we refund anything you have paid beyond that. If the additional work is optional, we simply complete the original scope.

9.5 A variation you agree with us in your home or remotely carries its own 14-day cancellation right under clause 6, running from the day you agree it. Our written variation quote includes the cancellation information and a copy of the Schedule 1 form, and asks whether you want the variation work to start straight away — if you do, clause 6.4 applies to it.

10. Changes you ask for

10.1 You can ask to change the specification at any time. Changes requested after materials are ordered or work has started may affect the price and the timetable; we will quote the change in writing, and it takes effect only when you accept it in writing.

10.2 Small no-cost adjustments are simply agreed as we go — we will confirm anything that affects price or duration in writing.

11. Materials

11.1 Materials we supply. We supply the fixtures and materials itemised in the quotation. Prices shown for fixtures are the retail prices at the time of quoting; if a listed item becomes unavailable, we will agree a like-for-like substitute with you in writing at no extra cost unless you choose an upgrade.

11.2 Materials you supply. If you choose to supply fixtures or materials yourself: (a) you are responsible for their suitability, quality, completeness, and on-time delivery; (b) any warranty on those items is the manufacturer's or retailer's, not ours — our guarantee covers our workmanship in fitting them, not the items themselves; and (c) if our team cannot work because your items are missing, incomplete, damaged, or unsuitable, we may charge the reasonable, evidenced costs of the lost time or re-visit, and the timetable moves accordingly. We will always warn you before any such charge arises.

11.3 Materials we have supplied but not yet fixed into your home remain our property until the stage payment covering them is made, and we may remove unfixed materials if the contract ends. Once materials are fixed or installed they become part of your home and belong to you — our remedy for unpaid sums is the payment process in clause 8, never removing fitted items. We remain responsible for materials on site until handover, except where damage is caused by you or by third parties not engaged by us.

11.4 Waste from the job is removed and disposed of lawfully by registered waste carriers, and we keep the waste transfer notes, which we can copy to you on request.

12. Our work, and our guarantee

12.1 We carry out all work with reasonable care and skill, as the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires, and in line with applicable Building Regulations. Work that must legally be done or certified by a registered person — gas work (Gas Safe registered engineers) and notifiable electrical work under Part P of the Building Regulations (electricians registered with a government-authorised competent person scheme, who self-certify the work to building control) — is only ever carried out by people holding the correct registration, and you receive the certificates (clause 12.6). All plumbing work is carried out in accordance with the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999; where an installation is notifiable to the water undertaker, we make the notification (or self-certify through an approved contractor scheme) and do not start that element of the work until consent is in place.

12.2 We may use trusted subcontractors on your job, and our subcontractors count as "us" throughout these terms. Every person on your job works to our standard, and we remain fully responsible to you for all of the work as if we had done it ourselves. Your contract is with us alone. For the purposes of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 we act as contractor (or principal contractor where more than one contractor is on site) and take on the client duties that would otherwise fall on you as a domestic client.

12.3 Our guarantee. All our workmanship is guaranteed for 12 months from the date of completion (as defined in clause 8.3). If a genuine defect in our workmanship appears in that period, we return and put it right at no cost to you. The guarantee is given by George Stephens, trading as GWS Plumbing & Bathrooms, of Instone House, Instone Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 2AG; to claim, contact us as set out in clause 15.1; it covers work at the property named in the quotation; and a written copy is available on request. It may also be relied on by any joint owner or occupier of the property, and continues for the benefit of a new owner if the property is sold during the guarantee period.

12.4 The guarantee covers our workmanship. It does not cover: fair wear and tear; misuse, accidental damage, or alterations by others; blockages or damage caused by things put into the system by anyone other than us or those working for us; defects in customer-supplied items (clause 11.2); or manufacturing faults in fixtures — those are covered by the manufacturer's warranty, and we will help you pursue the manufacturer where we supplied the item.

12.5 This guarantee is in addition to your legal rights, and nothing in these terms affects them. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 you are entitled to work carried out with reasonable care and skill and to goods that are of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and as described — and those rights last as the law provides, not just 12 months.

12.6 Certificates. On completion we give you all certificates the job generates — electrical installation or minor works certificates, Building Regulations compliance certificates issued through the relevant competent person scheme, Gas Safe notification for any gas appliance installed, any water-fittings certificate, and manufacturer warranty registrations for fixtures we supplied. If a certificate arrives after completion (some schemes post them directly), we chase it and forward it to you.

13. Access, and what we need from you

13.1 You agree to give us reasonable access to the property on the agreed working days, and to water and electricity for the work.

13.2 Please clear the bathroom and the access route of personal items before we start. We protect floors and adjacent areas as standard.

13.3 Decisions we ask for during the job (tile positions, exact fixing heights, and similar) need answers within a reasonable time — usually the same working day — or the timetable may move.

13.4 If our team faces behaviour that a reasonable person would consider threatening or abusive, or site conditions that are unsafe, we may suspend work until the issue is resolved. If the issue is serious or continues after we have raised it with you in writing, we may end the contract. You may likewise end the contract if we seriously breach it and do not put it right within a reasonable time of you telling us in writing. On either ending, you pay for work done and materials supplied to that point (the deposit being applied to that amount), and we refund anything beyond that.

14. Our responsibility to you

14.1 Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for: death or personal injury caused by our negligence; fraud; or anything else the law does not allow us to exclude or limit. Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights.

14.2 We are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for loss that was not foreseeable when the contract was made, or for loss caused by events genuinely outside our control (clause 16) — though where such an event affects the job we will do what we reasonably can to limit its effect on you.

14.3 If our work damages your property — while we are on site, or afterwards as a result of something we did — we repair it or pay the reasonable cost of repair. Between working days we leave the installation safe (capped, sealed and watertight so far as the stage of work allows), and we are responsible for damage caused by our failure to do so. We hold public liability insurance; details of our current cover, and certificates, are available on request before work starts.

14.4 We supply work and materials for domestic and private use. If you use your property for business purposes, we are not liable to you for loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity — but this does not exclude our liability for foreseeable damage to your property or possessions.

15. Problems and complaints

15.1 If anything is wrong — during the job or after it — tell George directly on 07376 641877 or at [email protected]. We acknowledge complaints within 2 working days, and our first move for any genuine defect is to come and look, quickly.

15.2 If you are not satisfied with our final response, we will tell you at that point about any dispute-resolution scheme available to you through our memberships (including any scheme available through Checkatrade) and whether we are willing to take part in alternative dispute resolution through an accredited ADR provider. We are not legally obliged to use ADR, but we will consider it in good faith for any dispute we cannot resolve directly — court is the last resort for everyone.

15.3 You can also check our reviews and raise issues through Checkatrade, where we are a verified member.

16. Events outside our control

16.1 Neither of us is responsible for failing to perform on time because of events genuinely beyond our reasonable control — for example fire, flood, extreme weather, epidemic, failure of a supplier where no reasonable alternative source exists, or incapacitating illness or injury of key people. Whoever is affected will tell the other promptly, and we will agree a revised plan. If such an event delays the job by more than 14 days while your bathroom is unusable (30 days otherwise), either of us may cancel, and you pay only for work done and materials supplied, with everything else refunded.

17. General

17.1 Privacy. We handle your personal information in line with our Privacy Policy. In short: we use your details to quote, do the job, invoice, and honour the guarantee; we share them only with the tradespeople working on your job, our payment provider (Stripe), and our professional advisers; and we never sell them.

17.2 If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest still applies.

17.3 If we do not enforce a term straight away, we can still enforce it later.

17.4 This contract is between you and us and, except as stated in this clause, nobody else has rights under it. The guarantee in clause 12.3 may also be relied on by any joint owner or occupier of the property, and continues for the benefit of a new owner if the property is sold during the guarantee period.

17.5 These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Any dispute can be dealt with by the courts of England and Wales; if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you may also use your local courts.

Schedule 1 — Model cancellation form

Complete and return this form only if you wish to cancel the contract within the cancellation period. You can also cancel by simply contacting us — this form is optional.