Terms and conditions for a glazier

A glazing business needs terms that cope with the parts of the job that go wrong: the unit that arrives cracked, the opening that has moved since you measured, the out-of-hours board-up that turns into a full replacement, and the customer who says the misting was there from day one. I draft customer terms around how your business actually works, for a fixed fee of £995 in five working days.

Who this is for

Glaziers and glazing contractors in England and Wales: emergency glazing, replacement sealed units, toughened and laminated glass, splashbacks, balustrades, mirrors and shopfronts. Most sell to homeowners and also to businesses such as shopfitters, letting agents, pub operators and main contractors. Consumers and business customers are treated very differently in law, so one set of terms has to be written with both in mind.

What matters in a glazier's terms

Made-to-measure glass and cancellation rights

Most glazing for homeowners is agreed at the customer's home or over the phone, which brings it within the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and a fourteen-day cancellation right. Glass cut or a sealed unit manufactured to the customer's specification falls within the exception for goods made to the consumer's specification. Stock handles, hinges, blinds and trickle vents usually do not. Your terms and your order paperwork should identify which parts of the order are bespoke and still give the cancellation information, because where it is missing on work that does carry the right the period can extend by up to twelve months.

Emergency call-outs and board-ups

A broken shopfront at ten at night is a different contract from the replacement unit you fit the following week. Under the same regulations, an urgent repair the consumer has asked you to carry out sits outside the cancellation right, but only for that work, so the glazing order that follows stands on its own footing. Price the call-out, the board-up and the making good as separate lines. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans drip pricing, so an out-of-hours or congestion charge shown to a consumer has to be in the headline price, not added at the end.

Breakage, storage and getting the glass to the opening

Glass breaks in the van, on the stairs and on the bench. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 goods are at your risk until the consumer has them, so a unit smashed on a homeowner's driveway is yours to replace whatever the terms say. For business customers, risk passes with property under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 unless you agree otherwise, which matters when a shopfitter asks you to deliver units to site weeks ahead of fitting. The terms should say who stores them, who insures them, and what happens when the opening has moved since survey.

Guarantees, misting and certification

Sealed units mist, and the complaint tends to arrive long after the invoice. Your terms should state what you guarantee, for how long, and whether the guarantee on the unit is back-to-back with the manufacturer's, and should distinguish condensation between the panes from condensation on the room side, which is usually ventilation. They should also record who is responsible for any notification or certification required under the Building Regulations, and what access is needed for the survey. A guarantee to a homeowner sits alongside their rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 rather than in place of them.

Deposits, payment and unpaid commercial invoices

Bespoke units are ordered and paid for before they are fitted, so a deposit covering the manufacturing order is reasonable. Say what happens to it if the customer pulls out after the glass is cut, and keep it proportionate, because a charge designed to punish cancellation is the kind of term a consumer can challenge as unfair. Retention of title is close to useless once a unit sits in a frame that forms part of the building, so lean on payment timing. For business customers the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives interest at 8% over base rate plus fixed compensation.

Damage to the surround and limits on liability

Taking an old unit out cracks tiles, plaster and paint, and a shopfront job that overruns can close a business for a day. The terms should set out what making good you include, that redecoration around a new frame is excluded unless quoted, and that indirect losses such as lost trading are not your responsibility. A liability cap with consequential loss excluded does real work against business customers and is judged for reasonableness under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. It cannot exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, and it cannot cut down a consumer's statutory rights.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

If the customer supplies the measurements and the glass does not fit, who pays?

That depends on what your terms record before the glass is cut. A clause placing responsibility for customer-supplied sizes on the customer, backed by those sizes appearing on the signed order, puts the cost of a re-cut where it belongs. Where you carried out the survey, the risk is yours, which is one reason survey visits are worth charging for.

How long should I guarantee a sealed unit for?

That is a commercial decision rather than a legal one. Most glaziers mirror the manufacturer's warranty on the unit itself and give a shorter period on their own workmanship. Whichever you choose, the terms should say what is covered, what brings the guarantee to an end, and that it sits alongside the customer's statutory rights.

I glaze for main contractors on commercial sites. Does that change my terms?

It does. The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 applies to construction contracts between businesses, implying a right to adjudication, payment notice rules and staged payments where the work runs for 45 days or more, and banning pay-when-paid. Your terms need to work with that regime rather than cut across it.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Terms and conditions for a window and door installer
• Terms and conditions for a locksmith

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.