Between [name], [company] and [customer name].

So in short;

You ([customer name]), located at [customer address] (“You”) are hiring us ([company name]) (“Us or We”) to:

• Design and develop / refresh a web site

For the estimated total price of [total] as outlined in our previous correspondence.

In our discussions, we discussed adding the following phases to the project, but they are not included in this scope of work:

Of course it’s a little more complicated, but we’ll get to that.

What do both parties agree to?

You: You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company or your organisation. You’ll give us the assets and information we tell you we need to complete the project. You’ll do this when we ask and provide it in the formats we ask for. You’ll review our work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner, too. Deadlines work two ways, so you’ll also be bound by dates we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this contract.

We: We have the experience and ability to do everything we’ve agreed with you and we’ll do it all in a professional and timely manner. We’ll endeavour to meet every deadline that’s set and on top of that we’ll maintain the confidentiality of everything you give us.

The Details

Breakdown:

Below is a breakdown of each project phase, as well as an estimated date for completion of each phase:

Project Phase	Estimated date of completion	Percentage of effort
Design	January 1st, 2023	50%
Development	January 1st, 2023	40%
Testing/Launch	January 1st, 2023	10%

Each phase is assigned a percentage denoting roughly how much of the project that phase represents. Once we submit everything that is required of us for a particular phase, that phase is considered complete. In the event the project does not go to completion, you agree to pay an amount of the total fee that is proportionate to the percentage of the project already completed.

Throughout each project phase, we’ll be seeking your feedback. You agree to make yourself available to provide feedback. Although we’re going to work very hard to make sure you are completely satisfied, you agree that your approval is not needed for the purposes of considering a phase completed.

This project will be considered completed upon the completion of all phases listed above and delivery of the deliverables or ends on [PROJECT COMPLETION DATE], whichever occurs first. Anything outside these deliverables and phases list or after [PROJECT COMPLETION DATE] will be considered out of scope.

Design

We create a wireframe for the home page which you get a chance to amend. This is then built in draft on your Shopify/Squarespace platform or in a subdomain on WordPress.

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to review our work and provide feedback. We’ll have regular, possibly daily contact.

Text content

We’re not responsible for uploading text or images to your website or creating every page. Refer to proposal for included pages.

Graphics and photographs

You will supply graphic files in an editable, vector digital format including SVG, Adobe Illustrator (Ai) or EPS. You will provide high resolution digital photographs. 

Browser testing

You understand that browser testing no longer means attempting to make a website look the same in browsers of different capabilities or on devices with different size screens. You agree it does mean ensuring someone’s experience of a design should be appropriate to the capabilities of their browser or device.

We will test our work only in current versions of major desktop browsers including those made by Apple (Safari), Google (Chrome), Microsoft (Edge), and Mozilla (Firefox). We won’t test in older versions.

Delivery and backup

At the start of the project I will set up a Google sheet with detailed stages. Once your site is complete I will send you your final files. I am not responsible for storing them, they become your property.

Hosting for WordPress Sites

We’re a design company—not a hosting company—so we don’t offer support for website hosting, email, or other technical services. You may already have professional hosting and you might even manage that hosting in-house; if you do, great. If you don’t already have hosting, this will need to be arranged before we commence.

Technical support + maintenance

Once your site is launched, the updates, management and security of the site is up to you, however your package includes 2 weeks of post approval email support in case of technical issues, does not include design changes.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

You understand we don’t guarantee improvements to your search engine ranking, but that the websites we develop are accessible to search engines.

Licenses

The development of the site may require the use of software (such as  apps, add-ons, plugins, fonts & themes) that require licenses. You understand the cost of these is not included in the quote, but we’ll advise about these as soon as we can.

Changes and revisions

Included in the package you purchased is 2 sets of design amends using markup.io for comments; 1 at home page stage and the next once the site is complete to check through. Just before final approval you can check for any small text amends. If you change your mind, adding extra work won’t be a problem and we’re happy to be flexible. We’ll provide a separate estimate for any additional work that is out of scope.

Legal stuff

We carry out work in accordance with good industry practice and at the standard expected from qualified people with relevant experience. That said, we can’t guarantee our work will be free from errors. We won’t be liable to you or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if you’ve advised us of them.

Your liability to us will be limited only to the price stated in this contract. You won’t be liable to us or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if we’ve advised you of them.

Finally, if any provision of this contract shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this contract and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Phew.

Intellectual Property rights

You guarantee the written content you provide is original, or that you have the rights to use it. You also guarantee you have licences to use images which are owned by photographers or have been purchased from stock libraries. You agree to protect us from any claim by owners of copyrighted material. When our work requires licensed fonts or images from stock libraries, we’ll ask you to purchase them so you’ll be licensed to use them.

When you’ve paid us in full—and if this contract hasn’t been terminated—we’ll assign intellectual property rights to you as follows:

• You’ll own the graphic files we produce during your project. We’ll give you permission to use these files for any purpose.
  If a WordPress site: We’ll own the unique combination of elements which constitute the complete design. We’ll license it to you, exclusively and in perpetuity, for this project only.

Displaying our work

We love to show off, so we reserve the right to display any aspect of our work as long as doing so doesn’t breach any confidentiality agreement. This may include sketches, work-in-progress designs and the finished project on our website, in magazine articles, or in books.

Our preference is always to show our work and involvement in projects after they’re live, especially where a project aligns closely with our core values. In cases where we can’t publicly discuss our work, we’ll sign an NDA to clarify everyone’s expectations. This increases the total project fee by 30% as we’re changing the project’s visibility and the promotional value is significantly reduced.

We’ll also include a subtle credit link to our website in the footer of your site. We’re happy to remove this if you prefer, just let us know.

Payment options
Please tick the box of your choice of your previously agreed payment option.

❏ In project payment schedule 

You understand how important it is for a small business that you pay your bills promptly. Because we have reserved a certain block of time to complete this project for you, payments are taken ahead of each stage of work.

You agree to stick tightly to the following payment schedule.

Payment	Amount	Due Date + Terms
Booking deposit	£XXXX.XX	50% non-returnable commencement deposit.
Development deposit	£XXXX.XX	Due ahead of the development phase or 30 days after the project kick-off.
Final balance	£XXXX.XX	Due upon completion of the project before the website goes live.

Note: The project and corresponding schedules are only confirmed/reserved once both the contract has been signed and the booking deposit has been paid.

Our payment terms are seven days from the date of invoice. We issue invoices via email and our bank account details will be included. Our invoices will be in GBP. If your currency is different, you agree your payments will be the same value.

You agree to pay all charges associated with international transfers of funds. We reserve the right to charge interest on all overdue debts at the rate of 5% per month or part of a month.

❏ Payment plan

We want to support new businesses so if you are and require a payment plan to get yourself online (we will have agreed this in our previous correspondence). A payment plan will be set up using either Go Cardless or Stripe over the previously agreed amount of months. This does have a small fee associated with it depending on which service works better for your payment card method.

By signing this you agree to make the agreed number of payments.

Your payment plan details

[customer name] is setting up a payment plan using Go Cardless / Stripe (delete as appropriate) over a period of …………… months.

I agree to make all payments on …………… day of the month for …………… months.

Payment	Amount	Due Date + Terms
Payment 1	£XXXX.XX	Booking date
Payment 2	£XXXX.XX	Booking date + 1 month
Payment 3	£XXXX.XX	Booking date + 2 months

Project pauses

If a client deliverable — such as input, approvals, or payment — is late more than 10 business days the project will be considered “on hold.” Once the deliverable is received and the project is re-activated it will be rescheduled based on our current workload and availability. Just to say it loud and clear, it could be weeks to get you back in the system if the project is put on hold.

You may voluntarily choose to pause the project. To do this, let us know in writing that you want to pause and the duration of the pause. The project will then be rescheduled based on our mutual availability, which may not be immediately after the pause.

Both parties agree that if a pause lasts longer than two weeks, we may need to rescope the project, including changing the completion date for the project and dates phases are due.

When we have fixed deadlines, we arrange our schedule to devote specific time to your project. If you request project pauses that total more than 30 days over the project’s duration, you agree to pay an additional fee worth 5% of the total project fee.

If the requested pause lasts more than 60 days, this will be considered to be a project cancellation (see the “Cancellations” clause below).

Cancellations

We’re all hoping that our collaboration goes off without a hitch. After all, we trust each other, which is the reason we’re doing business together. However, in the unfortunate case that we can’t come to an agreement, here’s what needs to happen. Even if things go awry, we want to make sure we’re treating you fairly, and vice versa.

First of all, both parties agree to reasonably try to work things out so that the project is salvageable. If things can’t be worked out, either party can terminate this agreement by giving the other party 10 days notice. The project may also be cancelled by us if, after project commencement, you stop communicating with us for a period of 30 days.

If the project is terminated, any completed files and deliverables for project phases already paid for will be transferred to you under the terms of the “Intellectual Property rights” clause above. Because we have reserved time for the project, you may be charged an additional sum equal to 10% of the total project fee.

The small print?

Neither of us can transfer this contract to anyone else without the other’s permission.

We both agree to adhere to laws and regulations in relation to our activities under this contract and not to cause the other to breach any relevant laws or regulations.

This contract stays in place and need not be renewed. Although its language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of English and Welsh courts.

The dotted line

Signed by [name] on behalf of [company]

…………………………

Signed by [name] on behalf of [customer name]

…………………………

Date: [date]

Everyone should sign above and keep a copy for their records.