These are our terms of business for web development work and they also form the basis of our contracts. If there are any differences between these terms of business and the individual contract we sign together, then the contract takes precedence. This might be because we have agreed some special terms with you, or because we have agreed a newer version of the overall terms.
Summary
We’ll always do our best to fulfil your needs and meet your expectations, but it’s important to have things written down so that we both know what’s what, who should do what and when, and what will happen if something goes wrong. In this contract you won’t find any complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. We’ve no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret. What we do want is what’s best for both parties, now and in the future.
Briefly:
You (the customer) are hiring us (The Mustard Seed Creative Agency Limited, registered number 8013051) to do work for you for an estimated total price or an agreed hourly rate.
What do both parties agree to do?
You: You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company or your organisation. You’ll give us everything we need to complete the project as and when and in the format we need it. 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 the payment schedule set out in your contract.
Us: We have the 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.
Design
We create websites using certain industry-known software, including WordPress, the Genesis Framework, Gravity Forms and others. We will use the appropriate software in order to achieve what we’ve agreed with you.
The design of your website will be encompassed in a WordPress child theme for the Genesis Framework from StudioPress. This means that it needs the Genesis Framework in order to operate, and we’ll install that for you as well as the child theme we use. You can buy a lifetime support licence for the Genesis Framework directly, or via our affiliate links where will earn commission. You can run your website without a direct license, because our license allows us to create sites for our customers; but you won’t be able to get support directly from StudioPress in this case.
Depending on what we agree, we may use a pre-existing child theme from StudioPress or another supplier; a completely bespoke child theme that we develop especially for you; or some point in between where we customise an existing theme to your needs. For these bespoke and partially bespoke designs, we will customise the CSS and, if needed, the PHP of the child theme to achieve the design and functionality we’ve agreed.
Either way, we will use flexible layouts that adapt to the capabilities of many devices (for example, smart phones and tablets) and different screen sizes.
You can review our work and provide feedback. If, at any stage, you’re not happy with the direction our work is taking, you’ll pay us in full for the hours we’ve worked and the expenses we’ve incurred until that point and cancel the contract.
Text content
Unless we agree otherwise, we’re not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy. If you’d like us to write new content or input text for you, we can provide a separate estimate for that.
Photographs
You should supply photos and other graphic files in a suitable format. Logos should be in an editable, vector digital format that we can work with. You should supply photographs in a high resolution digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs, we can suggest stock libraries. If you’d like us to search for photographs for you, we can provide a separate estimate for that.
Browser testing
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. It does mean ensuring that a person’s experience of a design should be appropriate to the capabilities of a browser or device.
Desktop browser testing
We test our work in current versions of major desktop browsers including those made by Apple (Safari), Google (Chrome), Microsoft (Edge), Mozilla Firefox and Opera. We’ll also aim to ensure users of the most recent version of Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows get an appropriate, possibly different, experience. We do not design for older versions of Internet Explorer, nor for older versions of other browsers. You should find that your site will still load in older browsers, but expect significant differences in the appearance and overall functionality. If you need an enhanced design for an older browser, we can provide a separate estimate for that.
Mobile browser testing
We test our work in current examples of built-in browsers for Apple and Android devices. If you need us to test using specific mobile devices or browsers, we can provide a separate estimate for that.
Technical support and hosting
We’re not a website hosting company, so we don’t offer support for website hosting, email or other services relating to hosting. We can, however, offer to help set up and configure hosting relating to your website project, and if so this will be detailed on your estimate. Then the updates to, and management of, that server will be up to you.
Because we use database-driven software like WordPress, not every web hosting package is suitable (although most are). So, if you have an existing web hosting service you’d like to use, we’ll take a look and let you know if we see any problems. If it’s not suitable, we can recommend a web hosting company. If you sign up using our affiliate links, we’ll earn commission from that.
We build our websites using open source software like WordPress and commercially-supported software like the Genesis Framework. For the commercially-supported software, you may take out a support license with the supplier of that software and we encourage you to so so. We will let you know what support packages are available and which we recommend.
Security
We will set your new site up using appropriate best practices for security. This includes common-sense things like using really long, random passwords; and also technical things like installing SSL certificates and renaming database tables. We can also advise you on best practice and procedures to help ensure that your site remains secure – like keeping to those strong passwords and making sure your software is up to date. There are also many third-party resources available to you which are designed to help you keep your site secure.
However, it’s your site to do with what you want, so the responsibility for its security is yours.
Changes and revisions
We know that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your earliest ideas. We don’t want to limit your ability to change your mind. If we give you an estimated price for your project, it is based on the length of time we think we’ll need to accomplish everything you’ve told us you want to achieve. Because we charge by the hour, if you want to change your mind or add anything new then that won’t be a problem. We can give you a further estimate for the extra work involved and then just charge the agreed hourly rate for that extra work.
Legal matters
We can’t guarantee that our work will be error-free and so we can’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. 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.
Copyrights
Firstly, you guarantee that all elements of text, images, video, logos and any other artwork and content you provide are either owned by yourselves, or that you’ve permission to use them. You also give us permission to use them to do the work for you, and to create reasonable backup copies of them in case of incidents.
Then, when your final payment has cleared, copyright will be automatically assigned as follows:
- You’ll own any visual elements that we create for you for this project. We’ll give you source files and finished files as appropriate and you should keep them somewhere safe as we’re not required to keep a copy. You own all elements of text, images and data you provided, unless someone else owns them.
- We’ll own the unique combination of these elements that constitutes a complete design and we’ll license that you, exclusively and in perpetuity for this project only, unless we agree otherwise. Bear in mind that if the design isn’t completely bespoke, some or all of the elements in the design may be generic, open source or commercially copyrighted to other people and they will of course remain that way.
We love to show off our work and share what we’ve learned with other people, so we reserve the right, with your permission, to display and link to your project as part of our portfolio and to write about it on websites, in magazine articles and in books.
Payments
We’re sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices that we send you promptly. So, you agree to the following payment schedule.
Payment Schedule
We’ll agree to charge you an hourly rate, bill you in 15 minute increments, invoice you monthly in arrears and to allow a certain number of days nett for you to pay. The hourly rate and number of days nett will be set out in our contract. These four things mean as follows:
Hourly rate – this means the amount we charge you for an hour’s work, by any of our staff, for any work we do for you.
15 minute increments – our time keeping software logs 15 minute blocks of time. If we use part of a block, we’ll bill you for the 15 minutes. So, for example, if we spend 20 hours and 10 minutes on your project, we’ll charge you for 20 and a quarter hours.
Monthly in arrears – we will send you an invoice at the end of the month for the hours we’ve worked that month, plus any fixed charges (see below for those). If we’ve agreed a deposit, then of course we’ll invoice this beforehand. We save our invoices as a PDF and email them to you, and this counts as us having invoiced you.
Days nett – this means that you will pay our invoice, in full, within that number of days after the invoice date. If we have to buy items specifically for your project, such as special software licences, you must pay us for these more quickly – either up front or immediately on invoice, as we agree.
The small print
Just like a parking ticket, you can’t transfer this contract to anyone else without our 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.
Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of English courts.