As our customer, you have the power and ability to enter into this contract on behalf of your company or organization. You agree to provide us with everything that I’ll need to complete the project – including text, images, and other information – as and when I need it and in the format I ask for. You agree to review my work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways and you’ll also be bound by any dates that I set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of the contract.
I have the experience and ability to perform the services you need from me and I will carry them out in a professional and timely manner. Along the way, I will endeavor to meet all the deadlines set but I can’t be responsible for a missed launch date or a deadline if you have been late in supplying materials or have not approved or signed off my work on-time at any stage. On top of this, I'll also maintain the confidentiality of any information that you give me.
Design
If I am designing your application I’ll create designs for the look-and-feel, layout and functionality of your website. This contract includes one main design plus the opportunity for you to make up to two rounds of revisions. If you’re not happy with the designs at this stage, you will pay me in full for all of the work that I have produced until that point and you may either cancel this contract or continue to commission me to make further design revisions at my standard design rates.
HTML and CSS Layout Templates
If the project includes HTML markup and CSS templates, I’ll develop these using valid HTML and CSS code. The landscape of web browsers and devices changes regularly and my approach is to look forward, not back. With that in mind, I will test all my markup and CSS in current versions of all major desktop browsers to ensure that I make the most from them. Users of older or less capable browsers or devices will experience a design that is appropriate to the capabilities of their software. I do not cater to people using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and cannot predict the behavior of that browser. I will also test that these templates perform well on Apple’s iPad. I will not test old or abandoned browsers, for example, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or 5.5 for Windows or Mac, previous versions of Apple’s Safari, Mozilla Firefox or Opera unless otherwise specified. If you need me to consider these older browsers, I will charge you at my standard old browser rate for any necessary additional design work, development and testing.
Text Content
I may have written a hundred blog posts but I’m not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy unless I specified it in the original estimate. I’ll be happy to help though, and in addition to the estimate, I will charge you at my standard copywriting or content input rate.
Photographs
You will supply me photographs in digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs I can suggest vendors of stock photography. Any time I spend searching for appropriate photographs will be charged at our standard discovery rate.
Changes and Revisions
I know from plenty of experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your first idea about how something should look, or how it might work. I don’t want to limit either your options or your opportunities to change your mind. The estimate/quotation prices at the beginning of this document are based on the amount of work I estimate I’ll need to accomplish everything that you have told me you want to achieve. If you do want to change your mind, add extra pages or templates or even add new functionality, that won’t be a problem. However, you will be charged accordingly and these additional costs will need to be agreed to before the extra work commences. This additional work will affect deadlines and they will be moved accordingly. We’ll be upfront about all of this if and when it happens to make sure we’re all on the same page before proceeding. I may also ask you to put requests in writing so I can keep track of changes. If the nature or functions of the project change significantly throughout the process, I reserve the right to deem the current project canceled. At this point, you will pay me in full for all the work I have done and maycommission me to complete the new project based on the new requirements. This will require a new quote and contract.
Technical Support
You may already have professional website hosting, you might even manage that hosting in-house; if that’s the case, great. If you don’t manage your own website hosting, or your current hosting environment does not support the solution I am providing, I can set up an account for you at one of my preferred, third-party hosting providers. I will charge you a one-off fee for installing your site on this server, plus any statistics software such as Google Analytics, then the updates to, and management of that server, plus any support issues will be up to you. I am not a website hosting company and so do not offer or include technical support for website hosting, email or other services relating to website hosting.
Legal Stuff
I can’t guarantee that the functions contained in any web page templates or in a completed website will always be error-free and so I can’t be liable to you or any third party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages arising out of the operation of or inability to operate this website and any other web pages, even if you have advised me of the possibilities of such damages. If any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason is unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. Phew!
Copyrights
You guarantee to me that any elements of text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork that you provide me for inclusion in the website are either owned by your good selves or that you have permission to use them.
When I receive your final payment, copyright is automatically assigned as follows: You own the graphics and other visual elements that I create for you for this project.
I’ll give you a copy of all files and you should store them really safely as I am not required to keep them or provide any native source files I used to make them.
You also own text content, photographs and other data you provided unless someone else owns them. I own the markups, CSS and other code and I license it to you for use on this project only. I love to show off my work and share what I have learned with other people, so I reserve the right to display and link to your completed project as part of my portfolio and to write about the project on websites, in magazine articles and in books about web design.
Payments
I am sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices that I send you promptly. As I’m also sure you’ll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule.
50% deposit upfront
30% installment once functionality and design has been agreed upon
20% balance once the application has been tested and everyone agrees it is ready to go live.
NB: If you are unable to supply all of the right content at this stage, it does not mean I have not done my job. Once the site has been tested and is ready to go live, either with your content or placeholder images and dummy text, I will issue the final invoice. Once the final invoice is paid I will hand over the keys and show you how to put your own content in once it’s ready. If the final invoice is not paid within the credit terms I have given you, I am under no obligation to keep the site on our testing server or continue with the project in any way.
But where's all the horrible small print?
Just like a parking ticket, you can’t transfer this contract to anyone else without my permission. This contract stays in place and need not be renewed. If for some reason one part of this contract becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts of it remain in place.