Hire terms

All our prices include GST. The figure you see is the figure you pay. Nothing gets added on top at handover and nothing gets added at the bottom of your invoice.

Delivery is free within 10km of Mallala. From 10km out to 35km it is a flat $100, which covers both the drop off and the pickup. Those are road distances, the same ones Google Maps gives you, not straight lines on a map. Past 35km we cannot help at the moment.

If you collect the machine yourself there is no delivery charge. See section 16 for what you need to tow it.

Your invoice is a tax invoice. It shows our ABN and states that the total price includes GST.

You book on this website. Pick a machine, pick your dates, tell us where it is going, and pay a $100 bond. That confirms it. The machine comes off our calendar and it is yours for those dates.

Here is where the money goes.

• $100 bond, paid when you book. Refundable. It is not part of the hire fee. See section 4.
• The hire fee and any delivery, due by 5pm two days before you start. We send a payment link with your confirmation. Pay it whenever suits. If you are booking inside those two days, the balance is due straight away, along with the bond.
• Nothing at handover. No card reader on the ute, no cash, no surprises on the day.

The balance is due two days out, not the day before, on purpose. It falls before the 24 hour cancellation window opens, so if a payment goes astray you still have time to sort it out or to cancel without a fee.

If the balance has not come through by then, we will try to reach you by phone, by text and by email. We would much rather sort it out than lose your booking. If we still cannot reach you we have to cancel and let the machine go, and section 5 sets out exactly what happens to your bond if it comes to that.

We do not add a card surcharge. The price you see is the amount that leaves your account.

Before you pay, we ask you to tick two boxes and type your name. Typing your name is how you sign it, and it does the same job as signing a docket on the bonnet of the ute.

The first box says you have read these terms. The second says you understand the three things that cost money: the bond, the fee if you cancel inside 24 hours, and the fact that you are responsible for damage you cause.

We keep a record of that moment. It has the date and time, the exact version of these terms you were shown, the figures that were on the screen in front of you, and the name you typed. We email you the lot straight away so you have your own copy. If we ever disagree about what was agreed, neither of us has to rely on memory.

We do not pre-tick anything. If a box is ticked, you ticked it.

We keep that record for 7 years. See section 19.

We hold a $100 bond. You pay it when you book, by card, and it is the same for both machines.

It is not part of the hire fee. It sits there as a bond and it comes back to you. Your hire fee and any delivery are separate, and they are due by 5pm two days before you start.

When it comes back. In full, to the card you paid with. We check the machine over the same day it comes back, and we send the bond back within 3 business days of the end of your hire period. timeframe to be confirmed Your bank usually takes a few days after that to show it on your statement, and that part is their timeframe, not ours. If we do have to take something out of it, the rest still goes back inside that time. We do not sit on your money while we wait for a quote.

What we can take out of it, and nothing else:

• a late cancellation fee under section 5, and only in the circumstances set out there
• hire fees, delivery or late fees you have not paid
• the cost of the fuel, if it comes back with less in it than it went out with
• the cost of cleaning it, up to $50, if it comes back needing more than a hose off. We send you the photos of how it came back. fee to be confirmed
• $50 for a wasted trip, if we turned up and could not deliver, or could not get to it to collect it. That is less than a 60km round trip and an hour of our time actually costs us. fee to be confirmed
• the cost of repairing damage you are responsible for under section 13
• what you owe us for a machine that was stolen, where that comes down to how it was secured, under section 15

How we take it. We tell you first, in writing, with the figures and the reason, and photos or the repairer's invoice. If you do not agree with it, say so and we will work it out. We do not decide on our own that you owe us something, and we do not treat our own records as the final word. If a repair comes in cheaper than we first thought, you get the difference back.

We never keep it as a punishment. Every one of those deductions is a real cost we actually wore.

Plans change and so does the weather. Tell us as early as you can and we will do what we can.

More than 24 hours before your start time. Change your dates or cancel outright, no fee. The full $100 bond comes back, and so does anything else you have paid.

Inside 24 hours. Moving it is free. If we have another date open, take it and there is no fee at all, and that is what we would rather you did. If you cancel outright, we keep $100 out of your bond and refund everything else.

Moving a booking, then cancelling it. Moving your dates is free and there is no limit on how often. But if you move a booking when you are already inside 24 hours of the start, and then cancel it, we treat that as cancelling the original date.

Why $100. We have two machines. Inside a day we almost never fill an empty slot, so a late cancellation costs us most of a day's hire. That is $150 or $190 for a day, and a lot more for five. The $100 is less than what we lose on every hire we do. It is a share of a real cost, not a punishment, and it is the same figure whichever machine you booked.

We will not charge it, even inside 24 hours:

• if we manage to re-let your slot. We will tell you within 2 business days after your hire date whether we managed to, and if we did, the whole $100 goes back without you having to ask for it. If we have not lost anything, we are not keeping anything.
• if the CFS has declared a Total Fire Ban for the district your address is in, or the Bureau of Meteorology has a Severe Weather Warning or a Severe Thunderstorm Warning current for that district on your hire day
• if the machine you booked is not available and we cannot offer you the other one instead
• if you are cancelling because of something we did, or because of your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. See section 18.
• if something genuinely serious has happened to you. Ring Brad. He is a bricklayer from Mallala, not a call centre.

If your balance is not paid. Your hire fee and any delivery are due by 5pm two days before you start, which is before the 24 hour window opens, so a missed payment still leaves you time to cancel without a fee. If it has not come through, we will try to reach you by phone, by text and by email. If we have still not heard from you by 5pm the day before you start, we cancel the booking and let the machine go. If that happens we keep $100 out of your bond only if we cannot re-let the slot. If we do re-let it, the whole $100 comes back. We will never cancel you for a missed payment without trying to reach you first.

Once the machine has been delivered or collected, your hire has started. On a 5 day hire we refund the days you have not used.

If we have to cancel on you, for a breakdown or anything else, we send every dollar back within one business day and we will do what we can to sort you out another option. Your bank takes a few days after that to show it, which is their timeframe rather than ours. There is no version of this where we keep your money and you get no mower.

Before a machine goes out we need:

• your current Australian driver licence, so we can check it against the booking
• the booking to be in your own name, and the bond to have come from a card in that name
• you, the person who made the booking and ticked the boxes, to be the one taking the handover. Not a housemate, not a neighbour.

We write your licence number and its expiry date on the hire docket and tick that we sighted the original. We do not photograph your licence and we do not keep a copy of it.

Your hire starts the moment we hand the machine over or drop it at your address, and it runs for the period you booked. The start time and the time it is due back are both written on your hire docket. Check them before you sign.

A 24 hour hire is a genuine 24 hours from that start time. Not a business day, not until close of business. A 5 day hire is 120 hours from that start time.

That is deliberate. You get the morning and the evening as well as the middle of the day, which is when most people actually get their mowing done.

We have two machines. When one comes back late we usually have to let the next person down, so this one matters to us.

There is a 2 hour grace period after your due back time. length to be confirmed After that, each extra day or part of a day is charged at that machine's normal 24 hour rate. A John Deere Z225 back a day late is another $190. A Sabre 38 inch is another $150.

That charge is the hire we have actually lost, not a penalty on top of it. We will not roll your hire over into another paid period without speaking to you first.

If you are running behind, ring us. If we can move things around we will, and more often than not we will wear it. What we cannot do is fix a problem we do not know about.

You are responsible for everyone who operates the machine while it is with you, and for what they do with it.

Anyone who operates it must:

• be 18 or over
• have been shown how the controls work, either by us at handover or by you
• not be affected by alcohol, drugs or medication that affects their ability to operate machinery
• have read the safety information that goes out with the machine

These are mowers. Use them to mow grass, at the address on your hire docket, in daylight.

Please do not:

• use the machine on a slope steeper than the limit in its operator manual. We will point that limit out at handover and the manual goes out with the machine. A zero-turn steers and brakes through the same two wheels, so it slides on inclines and on wet grass.
• use it to clear rocks, sticks, rubbish, building debris, thistle, blackberry or scrub. A domestic deck throws whatever it hits.
• tow anything, unless we have told you the machine is rated to tow, and then only within that rating.
• use it in the rain, in a thunderstorm, or after dark.
• take it to a different address without telling us first.
• modify it, remove a guard, or bypass a safety switch.
• use it on land you do not have permission to be on.
• use it in a way that breaks any law, or any council rule that applies where you are.

Damage caused by using a machine in one of those ways is damage you are responsible for. See section 13.

You cannot hire the machine out to anyone else, lend it out for money, or use it to mow for paying customers.

Mowing your own block is what it is for. Giving a neighbour a hand for nothing is fine. Being paid to mow with it is not.

Two reasons. We need to know who has the machine and where it is, which is why the booking, the card and the person taking the handover all have to be the same person. And hiring it out to someone else is a re-supply, which changes how the Australian Consumer Law applies to that hire. Neither of us wants to discover that after something has gone wrong.

The machine goes out with a full tank of unleaded petrol. Bring it back full.

If it comes back short, we fill it and take the cost of the fuel out of the bond. We charge what the fuel cost us. We do not mark it up and we do not add a handling fee on top.

Putting the wrong fuel in a mower is an expensive mistake and it is not fair wear and tear. If you are not certain what it takes, ring us before you fill it.

What you are responsible for. Damage caused by you, or by anyone who used the machine while it was with you. Hitting rocks, stumps or hidden metal. Running it out of oil. The wrong fuel. Tipping it over. Ground it was never meant to be on. Anything on the list in section 10.

What you are not responsible for. Fair wear and tear. Blades going blunt from ordinary mowing. Mechanical failure that was not caused by the way the machine was used. Anything that was already wrong with it when you got it.

That is why we photograph the machine before it leaves and again when it comes back, and why we walk around it with you at handover. If you spot something before you start, point it out and we will note it on the docket. Take your own photos as well if you want to.

If you are responsible for damage, you pay what it costs to put right, up to a maximum of what the machine was worth immediately before it was damaged. You will not be charged more than that. You will not be charged for the hire income we lose while it is off the road, or for any other flow-on cost.

One thing worth saying out loud. The $100 bond is not the most you can be up for. It is the first $100 we recover, because it is already sitting there. If a repair costs more than that, you are responsible for the rest of it, up to what the machine was worth before it was damaged. You will never be charged more than that, you will never be charged for the hire income we lose while it is off the road, and you will never get a bill without the repairer's invoice attached.

Stop the machine and ring us straight away on 0467 837 928. Do not try to fix it yourself and do not keep using it. Pushing on with a machine that is playing up turns a small repair into a big one, and it can be dangerous.

If the machine fails through no fault of yours, you have not lost your money. Whichever suits you best, we will swap it for the other machine if that one is free, extend your hire by the time you lost, or refund you for that time. If it is a major failure you can end the hire and get a full refund.

Those are your rights under the Australian Consumer Law and nothing in these terms takes them away. See section 18.

Ring the police first, then ring us. Report the theft to police within 24 hours and give us the report number.

While the machine is with you, keep it secure:

• locked in a shed or a garage overnight wherever you can
• otherwise out of sight from the street and away from the front boundary
• never left on a verge or a nature strip
• never left with the key in it

If the machine is stolen because it was not secured the way we have asked, you are responsible for what it was worth. If you secured it as agreed and it was stolen anyway, you are not. Where you do owe us for a stolen machine, the bond comes off that first and we invoice you for the rest. See section 4.

The one that matters most is the key. Take it out and take it inside. That single habit prevents most of these.

We agree a delivery window with you and ring when we are on the way.

For us to deliver we need:

• you, or the person who made the booking, at the address to take the handover, sign the docket and show ID
• clear access for a ute and a trailer
• gates unlocked and dogs secured
• somewhere flat and firm to unload

If we get there and cannot deliver because nobody is home or we cannot get access, that trip is wasted and we take $50 out of your bond for it. fee to be confirmed That figure is less than a 60km round trip and an hour of our time actually costs us. We will rebook the delivery and we will not charge the delivery fee twice. The same $50 applies if we come to collect and cannot get to the machine.

If you are collecting the machine yourself from Mallala, you need a trailer rated for its weight and your own tie down straps. Ring us before you come and we will tell you exactly what it weighs and how it loads.

If we need to recover a machine, for example because a hire has ended and it has not come back, we will give you reasonable notice first and we will only come on to your property where we have a lawful right to.

Any insurance we hold is for our own business. It does not cover you, it does not cover the way you use the machine, and it does not cover a claim someone else makes against you. Please do not assume the machine is insured for whatever you are about to do with it.

While the machine is with you, you are responsible for looking after it, and for loss or damage caused by how it is used, stored or secured. That does not extend to fair wear and tear, to a mechanical failure that is not your doing, or to anything that is our fault.

Your home and contents policy or your farm policy may or may not cover equipment you have hired in. It is worth a two minute phone call to your insurer before you book.

Our machines and our hire service come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. You are entitled to a replacement or a refund for a major failure, and to compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. You are also entitled to have the machine repaired or replaced if it is not of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure.

When you enquire we collect your name, phone number, email, suburb, and whatever you type into the message box. When you hire, we also write your licence number and its expiry on the docket.

When you book, we also collect the address the machine is going to, the dates you booked, and the record of the terms you accepted with the date and time on it.

We never see your card number. Payments go through Stripe, our payment provider, which handles the card details. All we see is your name, the last four digits, and whether it worked.

We use all of that to answer you and to run your hire. We do not sell it and we do not pass it to anyone else, unless the law requires it, for example a police report after a theft.

We sight your licence and write the number down. We do not photograph it and we do not store a copy of it.

We keep enquiries that never turn into a hire for 12 months, then we delete them. We keep hire agreements and the record of the terms you accepted for 7 years, because a hire agreement can be argued about for years afterwards and the tax office has its own rules about business records.

Once you have hired from us we have to keep that hire record, so that one we cannot delete. Anything else, ring us and we will take it out.

We will not send you marketing unless you have asked us to. If you have, every message will carry an easy way to stop it.

The terms that apply to your hire are the ones on this page on the day you book. If we change them later, the change applies to bookings made after that, not to yours.

The version that applies to your hire is the one we emailed you when you booked. That is the one with your name and the date and time on it, and it stays the one that applies even if we change this page tomorrow.

The version number and date sit at the top of this page so you can tell which set you agreed to.

Ring Brad on 0467 837 928. Most things get sorted in one conversation, and we would much rather hear about a problem than find out about it later.

If a charge or a bond deduction looks wrong to you, ring us before you ring your bank. We can usually fix it the same day. A chargeback takes weeks and neither of us gets anything out of it that a five minute phone call would not have sorted.

If we cannot sort it out between us, you can take it to Consumer and Business Services SA at cbs.sa.gov.au.

These terms are governed by the law of South Australia.