Grass cutting payments

Question

Our parish council has a large number of patches of grass cut by a contractor who invoices monthly. It's a rather convoluted contract because some areas are left to wildflowers, some have the grass collected etc.

The contractor does a good job overall but sometimes has to leave an area uncut because of, for instance, parked cars. The invoice usually comes in the same, and some councillors feel it should not be paid because the contractor should knock a bit off for the small area uncut. Others say that we are not paying per square metre and that the contractor still has to take their team and equipment out even though one area is missed. "But it's tax payers' money" comes the reply.

I was wondering how other councils approach this: do you have a complicated contract ("area x must be cut 2cm tall every other week...") which is checked rigorously, or do you more or less leave it to the professional judgement of the contractor to cut specified areas as and when necessary? If areas are missed do you expect them to deduct cost accordingly? Thanks.

Answer 1

For my council we have one large area rather than lots of little ones but the contract simply specifies the frequency of the cut and the area to be cut and doesn't differentiate if the contractor is unable to cut one area because of something outside of his control (parked cars for example).   We certainly don't deduct amounts in such circumstances.  If he doesn't turn up or doesn't undertake the cut in the manner specified in the contract e.g. comes every four weeks instead of every two for example, that would be a different matter and one that needed further discussion.

Comments

Thanks for the reply. It would be really useful to have other people's experiences too. I guess most parishes have grass cutting contracts in place.

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Whilst a contract is required for such things as grass cutting it is subject to so many variables being at the mercy of our weather. Whilst X number of cuts is contracted a modicum of leeway should be afforded by both parties and it should be looked at over the annual period of the contract not what didn't happen last week. Grass chooses when it grows and is outside the power of any PC. Trust your contractor and take the view of swings and roundabouts of the bigger picture. That way you will have a happy PC, community and contractor who values and nurtures your employment. Of course if they take the proverbial- get rid