Between the Business [Joseph Melville Freelance Web Design]
and You [the Client]
Summary
We (the Business) will always do Our best to fulfil Your needs and meet Your goals, but sometimes it is best to have a few things written down so that We both know what's what, who should do what and what happens if something goes wrong. In this Contract You will not find complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. We have no desire to trick You into signing something that you might later regret. We do want what's best for the safety of both parties, now and in the future.
In short
By confirming in writing, by email or by telephone, You [the Client], are hiring Us [Joseph Melville Freelance Web Design] (herein referred to as We or Us), located (up to and including 30 June 2011) at 132 Basingstoke Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG2 0ET (and from 01 July 2011, located at 32 Saint Peters Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 1PA) website http://www.josephmelville.co.uk to carry out website design, development, maintenance, marketing/promotion and/or branding work (herein referred to as the Work) for the estimated total price as outlined in the Provision of Service Quotation correspondence.
What do both parties agree to do?
As Our customer, You have the power and ability to enter into this Contract on behalf of Your company or organisation. You agree to provide Us with everything that We will need to complete the project (including text, images and other information as and when We need it and in the format We require). You agree to review Our work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner. Deadlines work two ways and You will also be bound by any dates that We set together. You also agree to keep to the payment schedule set out.
We have the experience and ability to perform the services you require and We will carry them out in a professional and timely manner. Along the way We will endeavour to meet all the deadlines set but cannot 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 Our work on time at any stage. On top of this We will also maintain the confidentiality of any information that You give Us, as governed by our Privacy Policy.
Design
In the case of website design and or development work, We endeavour to create designs for the look-and-feel, layout and functionality of Your website. This Contract includes one main design plus the allowance of a maximum of two design revisions, inclusive. If You are not happy with the designs at this stage, You will pay Us in full for all of the work that We have produced up to that point, and You may either cancel this Contract or continue to commission Us to make further design revisions at the daily rate set out in Our original estimate.
We develop using HTML for markup and CSS for styling. Often, We often also use dynamic functionality such as PHP, JQuery and XML technologies. The landscape of web browsers and devices changes regularly and Our approach is to look forward, not back. With that in mind We will test all our markup and CSS in current versions of all major desktop browsers to ensure that We 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. For people using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, this means a universal, typographically-focused design but no layout.
We do not test using old or abandoned browsers, for example Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or 5.5 for Windows or Mac, previous versions of Apple's Safari, Mozilla Firefox or Opera unless otherwise specified. If you need Us to consider these older browsers, We will charge you at the daily rate set out in our original estimate for any necessary additional design work, development and testing.
Text content
We are not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy unless stated in the original estimate. We are happy to help though, and in addition to the estimate We will charge at Our standard rate per hour for copy writing or content input.
Photographs
You will supply Us photographs, either in digital or printed format, if required for the Work. If You choose to buy stock photographs We can suggest vendors of stock photography. Any time that We spend searching for appropriate photographs will be charged at Our standard rate per hour.
Changes and revisions
We know that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial, as they often limit You to Your first idea about how something should look or how it might work. We don't want to limit either Your options or Your opportunities to change your mind.
The estimate/quotation prices we provide are based on the number of hours that We estimate We need to accomplish everything that You have told us You want to achieve. If You do want to change Your mind, add extra pages or templates or even add new functionality, that is not a problem but You will be charged the standard rate per hour set out in the estimate We gave You. Along the way We may ask You to put requests in writing so We can keep track of changes.
Technical support
If You don't manage Your own website hosting, we can set up an account for You. We will charge You a one-off fee for installing this site as well as the installation of a Content Management System. If You already have website hosting We reserve the right to ask for access credentials to put Your website 'live'; this information will be stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 as governed by Our Privacy Policy.
We are not a website hosting company and so do not offer or include technical support for hosting, email or other services relating to hosting.
Legal stuff
We cannot guarantee that the functions contained in any web page templates or in a completed web site will always be error-free and so We cannot 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 webpages, even if You have advised Us of the possibilities of such damages.
If any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
Copyrights
You guarantee to Us that any elements of text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork that You provide Us for inclusion in the web site are either owned by You, or that You have permission to use them.
When We receive your final payment, copyright is automatically assigned as follows:
You own the graphics and other visual elements that We create for You for this project. We shall give you a copy of all files and You should store them safely as We are not required to keep them or provide any native source files We used to make them.
You also own text content, photographs and other data you provided, unless someone else owns them. We own the markup, CSS and other code and we license it to You for use on only this project.
We reserve the right to display and link to Your completed project as part of our portfolio and to write about the project on web sites, in magazine articles and in books about web design.
Payments
We are sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices that we send you promptly. As we're also sure you'll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule.
Payments must be received and cleared within 30 days of an invoice being issued. We ask for a non-refundable deposit of 25% of the quoted figure upon acceptance of the Contract, with the remaining 75% after the work has been completed to a standard deemed satisfactory to the Client and invoiced, within the aforementioned timescale. We reserve the right to refuse work initially, if this deposit is not paid.
As in compliance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 and the amended Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002 (link), we understand and will exercise our statutory right to interest and compensation for debt recovery costs under the late payment legislation.
Miscellaneous
You cannot transfer this contract to anyone else without Our prior 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.
By entering into an agreement with Joseph Melville Freelance Web Design (this includes but is not limited to confirming in writing, by email or by telephone for Us to carry out Work for You), you are effectively signing agreement to this contract as stated above, under English law.
