CHARGES AND PAYMENT TERMS

Most of the research undertaken is charged for on an hourly or daily rate basis. Please contact me for details of current rates.  There is no charge for travel to the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies but a reasonable charge is made for travel costs when travelling to other record offices. Other charges incurred in obtaining documents such as copies of birth, marriage and death certificates or photocopying documents will be charged at cost.

For new clients, unless a total price can be identified in advance, (usually only feasible for small packages of work or if a Family Tree Package is purchased), it is suggested that at the outset it is worthwhile just paying for a few hours research. This is usually sufficient to find out some details about your family and from there a plan be agreed about how much further research is required if any. For larger research jobs this typically involves agreeing a cost or time limit so that you retain control over expenditure. This limit will not be exceeded without prior agreement but it can be topped up as necessary if further work is required. Each report would detail all the costs incurred for the work undertaken.

It is appreciated that it is impossible to predict at the outset exactly how much work will be entailed to research a full family history – each family is unique and much depends on factors such as the rarity of the surname, whether the family stayed in the same area and whether relevant records are still in existence. Some information can be found very quickly whereas for those more elusive ancestors a lot of digging is necessary! With a degree of luck it is often possible to trace English ancestors back to the eighteenth century or before but obviously this cannot be guaranteed. Occasionally it may not be possible to find any relevant information - in such cases you will be advised as soon as this becomes evident to avoid incurring additional costs but charges will still be made for time spent on the research. This applies to work undertaken on Family History Packages as well as bespoke research.

Time charged will include all the research undertaken and report writing and time spent communicating with the client by telephone and email. 

PAYMENT TERMS

For commissions under £100, payment is required in advance. For larger sums a 50% deposit can be paid with the balance due on completion of the work. Payment can be made by cheque or by bank transfer. Alternatively payment can be made by credit card or debit card via PayPal.