Terms and Conditions

These Terms & Conditions apply to any work performed by Food Forest Abundance, LLC (“FFA”), and its independent contractor Designers, according to the Scope of Work below and are incorporated into the design order (“Order”) provided by you (“Customer”); and shall govern unless expressly modified or excluded in writing by both parties. Upon Customer’s provision of their Order; the Order, together with these Terms & Conditions, form a binding contract between the parties. The Order refers to a purchase of a design via the FFA website and becomes effective upon the payment of the prescribed design fee published on the FFA website.

 

Scope of Work

 

FFA shall carry out and complete food forest and/or garden designs in a workman like manner and shall have no obligation to execute any additional work unless otherwise agreed in writing between the parties. FFA’s scope of work shall include the following services only:

 

  1. A conceptual design of a food forest and/or garden according to permaculture design principles;
  2. A design plan for the above conceptual design
  3. A written narrative describing the conceptual design
  4. An “owner’s manual” for care and maintenance of the design once installed
  5. A plant list
  6. An initial consultation between the Designer(s) and the Customer for a maximum of 1 hour prior to commencing the design work
  7. A draft consultation between the Designer(s) and the Customer for a maximum of 1 hour
  8. A final consultation between the Designer(s) and the Customer for a maximum of 1 hour after the design has been drafted, to allow review and minor amendments to the design.


The design plan and narrative are collectively referred to hereinafter as the Design Documents.

 

The conceptual design and Design Documents shall only be prepared to include a land area which is no more than the area of design purchased by the Customer. The Customer shall be responsible for nominating the areas to be designed in consultation with the FFA nominated Designer. FFA uses independent contractors to perform the design work and is responsible for the selection of the Designer for each Customer’s design and asserts only that the Designers have been certified as Permaculture Design Consultants trained in the practices of permaculture as a design science. No other representations are made by FFA as to the skills, qualifications and experience of the Designers.

 

FFA and its Designers are not certified landscape architects and may or may not hold additional landscape design qualifications.  The food forest designs provided are conceptual and make use of methods derived from the practice of permaculture. Any and all liability for the design transfers from the Designer to FFA once the design has been approved by FFA’s Executive Vice President and at that point the Design Documents become the sole and exclusive property of FFA. The contract with the Customer is concluded when FFA sends the Design Documents and Owner’s Manual to the Customer by email. At that point, ownership of the Design Documents transfers to the Customer.

The Designer may include various earthworks, rainwater collection systems, ponds, fences, arbors, raised bed gardens, greenhouses and other structures within the conceptual design. The actual construction of these systems and structures may require the Customer to conduct further architectural or engineering design work in order to comply with local building codes or regulations. It is the Customer’s responsibility to determine the need for this additional design work and to have it completed by qualified practitioners in order to satisfy compliance with the relevant codes and regulations.

 

FFA and its Designers are not providing medical advice in the use of any plants that may be described as having medicinal properties. Any information regarding plants that are proposed as having medicinal properties is derived from anecdotal and historical uses of the plants and the Customer should seek medical advice from a qualified medical practitioner before using any plant or part thereof for medicinal purposes.

 

After the design is done and the Design Documents have been sent to the Customer, FFA is no longer responsible for, held liable, or in any other ways involved when it comes to the Customer’s selection and use of an installer for their design. The Customer may choose to do the installation themselves, select their own contractors to do the installation or request the nomination of an FFA affiliated installer. FFA affiliated installers are independent contractors and it is their sole discretion on whether they will accept the Customer as their client. The FFA affiliated installer is responsible for providing the Customer with any proposal that the Customer may seek for the installation work and the Customer is then responsible for choosing whether to accept the proposal or not. Any contract between the FFA affiliated installer and the Customer is entered into solely at the discretion of the Customer and the FFA affiliated installer. FFA may receive a referral fee from the affiliated installer.

 

There is no guarantee by FFA or its Designer(s) on installation or installation timeline after the design process is completed. Should any additional input be required from the Designer after the Customer has received the Design Documents, FFA will charge a separate consultation fee for the Designer to consult with the Customer and/or their installation contractor.

 

Permits and Regulatory Compliance


The Customer has the sole responsibility to obtain any permits or consents required for work to be performed on their property, or any approvals that may be required by a Home Owners’ Association (HOA) or any other regulatory agency. In some cases, the Scope of Work performed by FFA may require various agencies or associations to approve the design as part of a Site Development Plan or zoning ordinance before any installation can occur and hence the design itself may require agency or governmental review.

 

FFA cannot legally perform design work in areas such as, but not limited to, conservations areas, wetlands, national parks, areas under any form of environmental protection or zoning, community or property easements, public properties outside of your personal property lines or property not owned by the Customer. The Customer is solely responsible for conducting research as to whether there are restrictions or protections on their property, as well as, but not limited to, local or state laws, HOA standards, council restrictions, prohibited animals or activities, or community covenants. It is the responsibility of the Customer to make FFA and their Designers aware of aforementioned requirements. Failure to do so may increase the overall cost to the Customer should corrections need to be made in order to be compliant with laws, codes, zoning, or other regulations. FFA, its Designers and affiliated installers will accept no liability for damage to such areas caused by the Customer’s work or the Customer’s failure to inform FFA of such restrictions.

 

Customer represents and warrants to FFA that all permits and consents have been obtained prior to the scheduled commencement of any work by FFA for any work that might be subject to permits or consent.

 

Payment

 

The Customer makes payment for 100% of the cost or 4 interest-free installments with ShopPay, subject to approval, of their Order at the time of placing the Order on the website, unless other payment terms are specified in writing by FFA. Any change in payment terms can only be authorized in writing by FFA’s Executive Vice President or higher level of authority within FFA. FFA is responsible for making payment to the Designer for their services.

 

No part of the design fee may be used or applied for other purposes such as consultation or installation. Upon payment of the design fee, the fee is considered “earned” by FFA. Under no circumstance will a refund be issued by FFA once the Designer has furnished the Design Documents to FFA. A maximum of 50% of the design fee may be refunded at the point where the initial consultation has been completed. 

 

Site visits are non refundable.

 

Designs purchased over a year ago are non refundable.

 

Payment by the Customer at the time of order placement on the FFA website is considered an acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.

 

Working hours

 

FFA Designers are expected to attend work emails during business hours between 8am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 8am to 12pm on Fridays. Designs bought after 12pm on Friday will be assigned to a designer the following week.

 

Customer Representation and Obligations

 

The Customer warrants that they are authorized as the owner of the property to contract with FFA to perform the design work.

 

The Customer warrants the site is free of underground condition including, without limitation pipes, cables, stumps, sprinklers, invisible fence, sewage drains and waste materials except as specifically disclosed to FFA in. Where latent/underground problems exist FFA shall be entitled to charge for additional work/supplies/equipment necessary to complete the work or may suspend the work until the condition has been remedied. Customer shall provide the Contractor with electricity and water.

 

The Customer warrants that they have obtained all required permits and approvals for work to be performed on their property, including any HOA approvals.

 

Completion

 

FFA will use commercially reasonable efforts to complete a project in the time frame promised. However, FFA and Designers and Installers shall not be liable for any delay in the completion of the work. Various plants recommended by Designers may be subject to seasonal availability and planting requirements and FFA has no control over their availability.

 

FFA is only obligated to perform the work specified in the Scope of Work clause above. The proper maintenance of the installed plants and structures shall be the obligation of the Customer following completion of the work by the installer, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Customer and the installer to perform ongoing services under a separate contract.

 

Warranties and Exclusions

 

FFA does not warrant any plants supplied by the Customer’s nominated installer as FFA has no control over the care and maintenance provided by the Customer or their maintenance contractor. The Customer is responsible for determining the warranty on any plants that may be provided by the original plant producer/grower and whether such warranty transfers to the Customer via any installer.

 

FFA, its Designers and affiliated Installers shall not be liable for any damage caused by Acts of God (including, without limitation, extreme cold or drought, flooding, storms, rain, etc.). THE WARRANTY SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION IS STRICTLY LIMITED TO ITS TERMS AND IS (TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW) IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, GUARANTEES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARISING BY OPERATION OF LAW, COURSE OF DEALING, USAGE OF TRADE OR OTHERWISE, SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

 

Damages

 

Under no circumstances shall FFA its Designers and affiliated Installers be liable for any special, incidental, or consequential damages. The Customer has the responsibility to determine whether their nominated installer/contractor has appropriate licenses, bonding and insurances for the work being performed and whether the insurances are sufficient to cover any anticipated damages to the Customer or their property. FFA, its Designers or affiliated Installers will be held harmless/liability waiver if the customer is injured attempting to DIY an install or assist on a professionally facilitated installation.