Between Designer's Name at Company Name and Customer's name
Summary
We will always do our 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 should 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. 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
You, Customer's name, are hiring Company Name located at [COMPANY'S ADDRESS] to design
and develop a web site for the estimated total price of £ [PRICE] outlined in our previous
correspondence. The agreed payment plan is at the end of the document.
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 organization. You agree to provide us with everything that we need to complete the
project including text, images and other information as and when we need it, and in the format that
we ask for. You agree to review our 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.
We have the experience and ability to perform the services you need from us 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 we 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 our work on-time at any stage. On top of
this we will also maintain the confidentiality of any information that you give us.
Details of the works
We 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 revisions. If
you're not happy with the designs at this stage, you will pay us in full for all of the work that we
have produced until 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.
HTML/CSS layout templates
If the project includes XHTML or HTML markup and CSS templates, we will develop these using
valid HTML5 markup and CSS3 for styling. We will test all our markup and CSS in current
versions of all major browsers including those made by Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla and Opera. We
will also test to ensure that pages will display visually in a similar, albeit not necessarily an identical
way, in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 for Windows as this browser is now past its sell-by date.
We will not test these templates in old or abandoned browsers, for example Microsoft Internet
Explorer 5, 5.5 or 6 for Windows or Mac, previous versions of Apple's Safari, Mozilla Firefox or
Opera unless otherwise specified. If you need to show the same or similar visual design to visitors
using these older browsers, we will charge you at the daily rate set out in our original estimate for
any necessary additional code and its testing.
Text content
We are not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy unless we specified it in the original
estimate. We'll be happy to help though, and in addition to the estimate we will charge you at £
[HOURLY COPY FEE] per hour, including a free initial consultation, for copy writing or content
input.
Photographs
If needed, you will supply us photographs either in digital or printed format. If you choose to buy
stock photographs we can suggest vendors of stock photography. Any time we spend searching for
or taking appropriate photographs will be charged at £Hourly Photo Fee per hour, after a free initial
consultation to determine if this is the best route to take.
Changes and revisions
We 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. We 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 number of days
that we estimate we'll 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
won't be a problem. You will be charged the daily rate set out in the estimate we gave you. Along
the way we might ask you to put requests in writing so we can keep track of changes.
Technical support
You may already have professional web site hosting, you might even manage that hosting in-house;
if that's the case, great. If you don't manage your own web site hosting, we can set up an account for
you at one of our preferred, third-party hosting providers. We 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.
We are not a web site hosting company and so we do not offer or include technical support for web
site hosting, email or other services relating to web site hosting. If you do require help with
anything beyond the design and development of your site, we'll be happy to help.
Legal stuff
We 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 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 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.
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 your good selfs, 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 will give
you a copy of all files and you should store them really safely as we are not required to keep them
or provide any native source files that we used in making them.
You also own text content, photographs and other data you provided, unless someone else owns
them. We own the XHTML markup, CSS and other code and we license it to you for use on only
this project.
We love to show off our work and share what we have learned with other people, so we also
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, which will be as follows, but may be revised based on further
conversations between us.
50% of total estimated fee upon agreement of initial design: £Deposit Fee
Remainder of fee payable not more than 14 days after receipt of finished product: £Remainder
of Fee
Interest accrued if payment is more than 14 days late is 5% of outstanding amount to be added
every 7 days, starting from 15th day after receipt of finished product.
But where is all the horrible small print?
Just like a parking ticket, you cannot 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.
Everyone should sign above and keep a copy for their own records.