Terms and conditions
Last updated 27 August 2026. These apply to work carried out by Sentry Sprinkler Protection Limited unless we have signed something different with you, in which case that wins.
1. Who you are contracting with
Sentry Sprinkler Protection Limited, registered in England and Wales, company number 14247310, registered office 37 Dickens Drive, Kettering, Northamptonshire NN16 9EG. Full details are on the company information page.
2. Quotations
A quotation is valid for 30 days unless it says otherwise and is based on what we could see during the survey. Fire suppression systems are largely concealed, so if opening up reveals something the survey could not, such as corroded pipework, an undersized main, or a system that does not match its record drawings, we will tell you before doing the work and price it separately. We do not carry out chargeable extra work without telling you first.
Prices exclude VAT unless stated. This website does not publish prices and nothing on it is an offer capable of acceptance. A binding price comes from a written quotation issued after a survey.
3. Access, and what we need from you
We need safe access to plant rooms, valve sets, tanks, risers and inlets, along with keys, permits and any site induction. If we cannot reach the system on the agreed date for a reason that is not ours, we may charge for the visit.
Testing risers and running pumps moves water and makes noise. Tell us about tenants, stock, live production or anything else that needs protecting, and we will plan around it, including working out of hours.
4. What a test can and cannot tell you
A service or test records the condition of a system on the day it was inspected, against the relevant standard. It is not a warranty that the system will not subsequently fail, and it does not make us the responsible person.
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 that duty sits with whoever controls the premises and cannot be transferred to a contractor. Where we report a defect and it is not remedied, responsibility for the consequences of leaving it stays with you.
5. Certificates and records
We issue a certificate and a record of the work for every completed visit. Where a system fails, the certificate records the failure and what is needed to put it right, because a certificate that only ever says "pass" is worth nothing to your insurer.
6. Payment
Invoices are due 30 days from the date of invoice unless agreed otherwise in writing. We do not operate pay-when-paid terms and would not be able to enforce them if we did, as section 113 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 makes them ineffective.
On late payment we may charge interest and recovery costs under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, and we may suspend performance under section 112 of the 1996 Act after giving at least seven days' written notice.
7. Construction contracts and adjudication
Fire protection systems are named in section 105(1)(c) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, so most of our work is a construction operation and our contracts are construction contracts.
That gives both of us a statutory right to refer a dispute to adjudication at any time, and brings in mandatory payment provisions including payment notices and pay less notices. Where these terms are silent or fall short of the Act, the Scheme for Construction Contracts applies automatically. We are not trying to contract out of any of that, and could not.
8. Insurance and liability
We hold public liability and employers' liability insurance. Certificates are available on request and we would rather send them before you ask.
Our liability for a claim arising from a piece of work is limited to the greater of the price of that work or the amount recoverable under our insurance for it. We are not liable for loss of profit, loss of business, or loss of contracts, and we are not liable for damage arising from defects we reported to you and were not instructed to repair.
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited. Any attempt to do so would be void under section 2 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.
9. Cancellation
Tell us as early as you can. Cancel a booked visit with less than two working days' notice and we may charge for time already committed, because an engineer and an out-of-hours slot were held for you.
If you are an individual contracting away from our premises rather than a business, you have a statutory right to cancel within 14 days under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. If you ask us to start within that period and then cancel, we may charge for what has already been done.
10. Subcontracting
We may use subcontractors for parts of a job. Where we do, the work stays our responsibility and we remain your point of contact.
11. Complaints
If something is wrong, our complaints procedure sets out how to raise it and how quickly you will hear back.
12. Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction, without affecting either party's statutory right to adjudication.
13. Changes
We may update these terms. The version that applies to your job is the one in force when we quoted it, and the date at the top of this page shows when this version was published.