tobyduncan.com > web design & hosting > pricing > sample contract
the contract...
{a sample}
[Date]
Between us, tobyduncan.com
and you [customer name]
I will always do my best to fulfil your needs and meet your goals, but sometimes it is best to have a few simple things written down so that we both know what is what, who is expected to do what, and what happens if things go wrong. In this contract you won't find complicated legal terms or large passages of unreadable text. I have no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret. I simply want what's best for the safety of both parties, now and in the future.
You ([customer name]) are hiring us (tobyduncan.com) located at [address] to [design and develop a web site] for the total price of [total] as outlined in our previous correspondence, and detailed in the final quote. Of course it's a little more complicated, but we'll get to that.
As my customer, you have the power and ability to enter into this contract on behalf of your company or organisation. You agree to provide me with everything that I need to complete the project including text, images and other information as and when we need it, and in the required format. You agree to review my work, provide feedback and sign-off approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways and you will also be bound by any dates that we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this 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’ll endeavour to meet all the deadlines we 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. Indeed I may ask you to agree an entirely new revised schedule if materials or sign off are significantly delayed. I will, of course, also maintain the confidentiality of any information that you give me.
...and now for the nitty-gritty:
In close consultation with you, I will create designs for the look and feel, layout and functionality of your web site. This contract includes one main design plus the opportunity for you to make up to two rounds of thorough 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 then you may either cancel this contract or continue to commission me to make further design revisions at the rate set out in The Quote.
If the project includes XHTML or HTML markup and CSS templates, I will develop these using XHTML 1.0 Transitional markup and CSS 2.1 & 3 for styling. I will test all of the markup and CSS in current versions of the major browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome and Opera).
I will not test these templates in old or abandoned browsers, for example Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or 5.5 or 6 for Windows or Mac, previous versions of Apple's Safari, Mozilla’s Firefox or Opera unless otherwise specified. If you need to show the same or similar visual design to visitors using these older browsers, I will charge you at the daily rate set out in the quote for any necessary additional code and its testing.
I’m no Shakespeare and I’m not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy unless specified otherwise in the original estimate. I am happy to help though; in this instance, and in addition to the quote, I will charge £50 per hour for copy writing or content input.
You will supply me photographs either in digital or printed 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 £50 per hour.
Fixed-price contracts are great for small businesses or individuals as you know where you stand: You should not feel limited 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 price quoted at the beginning of this document is based on the number of days that I estimate are needed 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, but I will, of course, need to re-quote for the job based on the revisions to the work load. Along the way I might ask you to put requests in writing so that I can keep track of changes.
If you have opted for the ‘One-Stop-Shop’ service (Development, Hosting & Updates) then you will be asked to sign a separate contract for the Web Hosting.
If you would prefer to have your site hosted elsewhere then I can set up an account for you at one of our preferred, third-party hosting providers. We will charge you a one-off fee of £50 for installing your site on your chosen server, along with any statistics software such as Mint or Google Analytics; after this point the updates to, and management of that server, plus any support regarding hosting issues will be up to you.
Alternately you may request that I simply hand over the finished files and leave all upload and hosting issues to your good selves.
Unless you have signed up for an Updates Contract with monthly payments then I will quote for one-off updates on a job-by-job basis. There is a minimum charge of £50 for one-off updates so it can pay to have several things changed at once.
If stuff which is way beyond the reasonable control of any of us (including, but not limited to Acts of God, severe weather, alien invasion, postal strikes, full scale thermonuclear war, telecommunications outage, service failures or natural disasters) temporarily make it impossible for either or both of us to stick to this Contract, then the Contract will be temporarily suspended during the force majeure period and we will not be liable to each other.
I can't guarantee that the functions contained in any web page templates or in a completed web site 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 web site and any other web pages, 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.
Phew.
You guarantee to me that any elements of text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork that you provide for inclusion in the web site 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 will 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 which were used in making them.
You also own text content, photographs and other data you provided, unless someone else owns them. I own the XHTML markup, CSS and other code and I license it to you for use on only this project.
I like to show what I have done, and share what I have learned with other people, so I also reserve the right to display and link to your completed project as part of my portfolio and to write about the project on web sites, in magazine articles and in books about web design.
I work hard to get things looking and working brilliantly: The end result (apart from making you happy) is a very good advertisement for the service I can provide, so I like to make it easy for others to find me. In return for letting me add a small, discrete link from your website to my own I offer a 10% discount which, if we have agreed to this, is detailed in the quote.
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.
Just like a parking ticket, you cannot 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.
Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of English courts. Oh and don't forget those men with big dogs.
Signed by and on behalf of tobyduncan.com
Signed by and on behalf of [customer name]
[Date:]
Everyone should sign above and keep a copy for their own records.