Contractor Terms

Effective September 27, 2026 · Version 2026-09-27 · Groundwork Design Co.

These Contractor Terms (“Terms”) are an agreement between Muthler Landscaping & Construction LLC, a Pennsylvania limited liability company that operates Groundwork Design Co. (“Groundwork,” “we,” “us”), and the business that opens a contractor account or orders a plan from us (“you”). You accept these Terms when you check the box to create an account, accept them in the portal, or send us a design request. The person who accepts confirms they’re authorized to bind the business.

These Terms are for contractors and other businesses. Homeowners who buy a design directly from us are covered by our Design Services Terms instead.

1. What we do, and what we don’t
2. Engineering, permits and codes are yours
3. Your information and the site
4. Takeoffs are estimates
5. Your client and your work
6. Your branding on plans
7. Orders, turnaround and revisions
8. Payment
9. Who owns the plans
10. Warranty disclaimer
11. Limit of liability
12. Indemnity
13. Your portal account
14. Changes to these Terms
15. General Notes on every plan
16. General
17. Contact and notices

1. What we do, and what we don’t

We prepare landscape and hardscape design drawings, layouts, material lists and quantity takeoffs (each a “Plan”) from the photos, measurements and information you send us.

• We are not licensed architects, landscape architects, professional engineers or professional land surveyors, and we don’t offer or provide architecture, landscape architecture, engineering or land surveying services.
• Plans aren’t sealed, stamped or certified, and they aren’t engineered. A Plan isn’t a survey. It doesn’t locate property lines, easements, setbacks or utilities, and it doesn’t establish elevations.
• We prepare Plans without visiting the site, from what you provide.
• A Plan isn’t a permit set. Whether a permitting office will accept it is between you and that office. If it requires sealed or engineered drawings, getting them is your responsibility.
• You won’t present a Plan, or let anyone else present it, as the work of a licensed architect, landscape architect, engineer or surveyor.

2. Engineering, permits and codes are yours

You are responsible for:

• getting every permit, inspection and approval the project needs, and building to the building codes, zoning, stormwater, HOA and other rules where the project is built;
• hiring a licensed professional engineer, or another licensed professional, wherever the law or good practice calls for one. That includes: retaining walls over 4 feet tall measured from the bottom of the footing (or lower, where local rules say so); any wall with a load above it, such as a driveway, parking area, structure, pool or slope; tiered walls; walls near a property line, structure or utility; decks, pavilions, roofs and other structures; pools; and grading or drainage that affects neighboring property or public systems; and
• following each manufacturer’s installation requirements for the products you use.

Any engineering flag we put on a Plan is a courtesy, not a complete list. Grading and drainage shown on a Plan are conceptual design intent, not an engineered drainage or stormwater design. Any footing, framing or structural information on a Plan is design intent for you and your code official to confirm. It isn’t an engineered design.

3. Your information and the site

Plans rely on what you give us: photos, measurements, surveys, descriptions and your client’s wishes. You’re responsible for making that information accurate and complete, and for verifying every dimension, grade, elevation, property line, setback, easement, soil and site condition before you build. Before any digging, call 811 (in Pennsylvania, PA One Call) as the law requires. If something on site doesn’t match the Plan, stop and tell us before you build that part. If the mismatch comes from our drafting error, we’ll correct the Plan at no charge.

4. Takeoffs and material lists are estimates

Quantities, material lists and takeoffs are estimates to help you bid. Check them before you order or price the job, and add your own waste, overage, compaction and contingency. We aren’t responsible for your bid, your pricing, material costs, or the quantities you order.

5. Your client and your work

You contract directly with your client. You’re solely responsible for your contract and pricing, workmanship, means and methods, jobsite safety, the warranties you give your client, and your own licenses, registrations and insurance, including complying with Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act and similar laws wherever you work. We have no contract with your client and owe your client no duty. We won’t contact your client, or use your Plan or your client’s information to solicit them, unless you ask us to.

6. Your branding on Plans

If you ask, we’ll put your company name and logo on a Plan so you can present it to your client as part of your design package. You’re responsible for your logo and for anything you add to or change on a Plan. You won’t remove or change the General Notes in section 15, and you won’t add anything that says or suggests a Plan was prepared by a licensed architect, landscape architect, engineer or surveyor.

7. Orders, turnaround and revisions

Turnaround is 7 business days (5 with rush) after we have complete site information. Business days don’t include weekends or U.S. federal holidays. Turnaround times are good-faith targets, not guarantees. If we miss a rush target, we’ll refund the rush fee, and that is your only remedy for a late Plan.

A Single area Plan includes one round of revisions and a Full yard Plan includes two, requested within 60 days of delivery. A revision is a change to the delivered design within the original scope. New areas, a new concept, and changes caused by new or corrected site information are extra; we’ll quote them before we start.

You can cancel a request at no charge before we start drawing. After we start, we’ll invoice for the work done, up to the full price.

8. Payment

We invoice each Plan at the price shown when you order, plus any add-ons or extra work you approve. Invoices are due on receipt. Plan files unlock for download once the invoice is paid, unless we’ve set up your account otherwise. Prices don’t include taxes; you pay any that apply. Past-due balances may be charged 1.5% per month or the highest rate the law allows, whichever is lower, and you’ll pay our reasonable costs of collection, including attorney’s fees. If you dispute a charge with your bank or card issuer instead of contacting us first, your license to use that Plan is suspended until the dispute is resolved.

9. Who owns the Plans

We own the Plans and all copyrights and other rights in them, including our drawings, details, templates and layouts. Once you’ve paid for a Plan in full, you get a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use it for one project at the one site it was drawn for, including sharing it with your client, suppliers, subcontractors and permitting officials for that project. You may not reuse a Plan for another site, resell it, or use it to train software. Until a Plan is paid for, you have no license to use it.

You give us permission to use the photos and information you send us to prepare your Plans, and you confirm you have the right to share them. We may show Plans in our portfolio and marketing with your client’s name and address removed. Ask, and we’ll leave yours out.

10. Warranty disclaimer

We’ll prepare Plans with reasonable care. OTHER THAN THAT PROMISE, PLANS, TAKEOFFS AND THE PORTAL ARE PROVIDED “AS IS.” TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE DISCLAIM ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR WORKMANLIKE QUALITY, AND ANY WARRANTY THAT A PLAN MEETS THE CODES, PERMIT REQUIREMENTS OR SITE CONDITIONS OF YOUR PROJECT.

11. Limit of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows:

• our total liability for all claims relating to a Plan, these Terms or the portal, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), warranty or otherwise, is limited to the fee you paid for that Plan;
• we aren’t liable for lost profits, lost jobs, delay, rework, material costs, or any indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive damages, even if we were told they were possible;
• your exclusive remedy for a Plan with an error is for us to correct it or, if we can’t, to refund what you paid for it; and
• any claim against us must be filed within one year after the Plan is delivered. You agree that this is a reasonable time.

12. Indemnity

You’ll defend, indemnify and hold harmless Muthler Landscaping & Construction LLC, Groundwork Design Co., and their owners, employees and contractors from all claims, lawsuits, damages, losses, fines and costs (including reasonable attorney’s fees) brought by your client or anyone else that arise out of or relate to the project, your work, your use of a Plan, or your breach of these Terms, INCLUDING CLAIMS THAT ALLEGE OR ARISE FROM OUR OWN NEGLIGENCE, except to the extent a court finally decides the loss was caused by our gross negligence or willful misconduct, and except where the law doesn’t allow it.

13. Your portal account

Keep your login private. You’re responsible for everything done under your account, and you’ll tell us right away if you think someone else has used it. We can suspend or close an account for nonpayment, misuse, or a breach of these Terms. We keep your files private and take reasonable steps to protect them, but no system is perfectly secure, so keep your own copies of anything you need. We’ll email you about your account and your requests.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. An update applies to requests you send after the new version is posted, and the portal will ask you to accept it the next time you log in. Each request is governed by the version in effect when you sent it.

15. General Notes on every Plan

Every Plan carries these General Notes, and they’re part of these Terms:

GENERAL NOTES

1. This plan is a design drawing by Groundwork Design Co., the design studio of Muthler Landscaping & Construction LLC, a design-build contractor. It was not prepared, sealed or certified by a licensed architect, landscape architect, professional engineer or land surveyor. It is not an engineered drawing, a survey or a permit set.
2. The contractor shall verify all dimensions, grades, elevations, property lines, setbacks, easements, utilities and site conditions before construction, and shall call 811 before digging.
3. Retaining walls over 4 ft (measured from the bottom of the footing), walls with a surcharge, tiered walls, structures, and grading or drainage affecting adjacent property require design by a licensed professional engineer where required by code or good practice.
4. The contractor is responsible for permits, code compliance, means and methods, jobsite safety, and manufacturer installation requirements.
5. Quantities and material lists are estimates. The contractor shall verify them before ordering.
6. Grading and drainage shown are conceptual.

16. General

• Pennsylvania law governs these Terms, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any lawsuit about them must be brought in the Court of Common Pleas of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, or the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and both of us consent to those courts’ jurisdiction.
• These Terms, together with your request and our invoice, are the whole agreement about Plans and replace anything said before. If there’s a conflict, these Terms control unless we both agree otherwise in writing.
• If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, it will be enforced as far as the law allows, and the rest stays in effect.
• You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We are independent contractors; nothing here creates a partnership, joint venture or employment relationship.
• There are no third-party beneficiaries. Your client, in particular, has no rights under these Terms.
• Sections 1 through 6 and 8 through 16 continue to apply after a Plan is delivered or your account closes.
• Your click to accept is your electronic signature under Pennsylvania’s Electronic Transactions Act and the federal E-SIGN Act, and these Terms are as binding as a signed paper contract. We keep a record of when and from where you accepted.
• If we don’t enforce a term right away, we haven’t waived it.

17. Contact and notices

Groundwork Design Co. · Muthler Landscaping & Construction LLC · 913 Bellefonte Ave, Lock Haven, PA 17745 · (570) 397-9800 · info@muthlerlandscaping.com

Send legal notices to us in writing by mail to the address above, or by message in your portal account. We’ll send notices to you at the email on your account.