Sample Contract
Between Nick Parry (Major Web Design) and {client_company}.
SUMMARY
I will always do my best to fulfill your needs and meet your expectations, but it is 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. I have no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret. What I do want is what’s best for both parties, now and in the future.
AGREEMENT
You {contact_firstname} {contact_lastname}, representing {client_company} (“You”) are hiring me Nick Parry (Major Web Design) (“I or me”) to design and develop a website for the estimated total price of {contract_contract_value} as outlined in our previous correspondence.
WHAT DO BOTH PARTIES AGREE?
You: You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company or your organisation. You’ll give me the assets (images, logos etc) and information I ask you I need to complete the project. You’ll do this, where possible, when I need it and provide it in the formats I ask for. You’ll review my work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner too. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this contract.
You’ll send each page of the website as a separate email to me, and the subject of the email will be the page title. All images that will be appearing on that page will be attached to the email if required for that page. The email for each page will also explain what you require. I will get to work once the deposit is received.
Me: I have the experience and ability to do everything I’ve agreed with you, and I’ll do it all in a professional and timely manner. I’ll endeavour to meet every deadline that is set, and on top of that, I’ll maintain the confidentiality of everything you give me.
DESIGN
I create ‘look-and-feel’ designs and flexible layouts that adapt to the capabilities of many devices and screen sizes. I create designs interactively and use predominantly WordPress CMS and also some HTML and CSS so I won’t waste time mocking up every template as a static visual.
You’ll have plenty of opportunities to review my work and provide feedback. I’ll either share a Google Drive folder or development/test site with you, and we’ll have regular contact.
If, at any stage, you change your mind about what you want to be delivered and are not happy with the direction my work is taking you’ll pay me in full for the time I’ve spent working with you until that point and terminate this contract.
TEXT CONTENT
Unless agreed separately, I’m not responsible for the content of every page on your website. By this I mean that all text and images will be sourced and provided by you. All text will be copied by me directly from emailed correspondence that you have sent me, and I will take it as read that it has been checked for spelling and grammar. If I spot an error, I will get in contact with you. I may format the text and images it to suit the style of the page/s but will not retype it. I am not responsible for the any errors that you send me.
GRAPHICS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
You should supply graphic files in a digital format, either jpg or png (in most cases). You should provide photographs in a high-resolution digital format, ideally over 1000px on the longest side (not exceeding 3000px). If you choose to buy stock images, I can suggest stock libraries. If you’d like me to search images for you, I 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. On that note, I test my work in current versions of major desktop browsers, including those made by Google (Chrome). I wouldn’t test in other older browsers unless we agreed separately. If you need an enhanced design for an older browser, I can provide a separate estimate for that.
MOBILE BROWSER TESTING
Mobile browser testing using popular smaller screen devices is essential in ensuring that a person’s experience of a design is appropriate to the capabilities of the device they’re using.
I wouldn’t test in Blackberry, Opera Mini/Mobile or certain other less popular mobile browsers unless we agreed separately. If you need me to test using these, I can provide a separate estimate for that.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Unless you subscribed to my hosting package, I don’t offer support for website hosting, email or other services related to hosting. You may already have professional hosting, and you might even manage that hosting in-house; if you do, great. If you don’t, I can set up a stand-a-lone account for you at one of my preferred hosting providers, this normally costs around £100 a year or approximately £9 a month. I can provide a separate estimate for this.
If you subscribe to my hosting package (which is more economical because I have a hosting account which allows me to add clients’ websites at a reduced rate) you would pay a yearly fee of £72 or a monthly fee of £6. If so, all the above hosting support and setup is included.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)
I don’t guarantee improvements to your website’s search engine ranking, but the web pages that I develop are accessible to search engines. I also recommend and build a structure a that is suited to the ‘bots’ ‘crawling’ webpages. They prefer proper main headings, sub-headings and paragraphs.
Every website that I build uses an SEO plugin, such as industry leader Yoast SEO. I simply use their recommended setup configuration and it does a good job. I can’t guarantee you will be on the first page in Google.
Much of how to get seen better online is to do with relevant webpage content, well written content, descriptive concise headings and also how you share your information on social media platforms (Facebook etc) as well as sharing links to your website on other webpages. Also bear in mind that other businesses have been online for longer than you, and they have established themselves on search engines. You are competing with hundreds of national businesses in your field; even locally there may be dozens of similar businesses.
CHANGES AND REVISIONS
I don’t want to limit your ability to change your mind. The price at the beginning of this contract is based on the number of days or weeks that I estimate I will need to accomplish everything you’ve told me you want to achieve, but I’m happy to be flexible.
I offer 3 free revisions of your project which means that after delivering the first draft, you can send me one e-mail with all the changes you would like to make and that counts as your first free revision. Once the final version of your website is delivered, I will send it for your approval and you can send me another e-mail with all the changes you would like to make – that counts as your second revision. You will still have an extra free revision just in case you need to send me another e-mail with the final set of changes.
Any additional revisions will be charged at a rate of £35/hour. If you wish to change your mind or add anything new, that won’t be a problem as I’ll provide a separate estimate for those additional days/weeks.
Once the website goes live, I can do 3 further small updates for you at no charge during year 1. This I refer to as ‘Updates’ on any invoice. This will be £0 in year 1, and £30 in following years. Small updates are things that would take me a few minutes to do. These 3 updates could be 3 small lists of changes sent via email. Such things as changing a list of prices on your pricing structure, adding new contact details, swapping out images, replacing a few lines of text. Updates do not include adding new pages, adding brand new content, adding new functionality, adding anything that is significantly different to what exists already, changing the style and look of the website, restructuring pages or rebuilding the website. If it takes hours for this kind of work it would be chargeable, at £35 per hour.
LEGALITY
I’ll carry out my work in accordance with good industry practice and at the standard expected from a suitably qualified person with relevant experience. With that said, I can’t guarantee that my work will be error-free. 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, even if you’ve advised me of them.
Your liability to me will also be limited to the number of fees payable under this contract, and you won’t be liable to me or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if I’ve advised you of them. Finally, if any provision of this contract shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason is unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this contract and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Just to be clear, “intellectual property rights” means all patents, rights to inventions, copyright (including rights in software) and related rights, trademarks, service marks, get up and trade names, internet domain names, rights to goodwill or to sue for passing off, rights in designs, database rights, rights in confidential information (including know-how) and any other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications (or rights to apply) for, and renewals or extensions of such rights and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which subsist or shall subsist now or in the future in any part of the world.
First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images or other artwork you provide are either owned by your good selves or that you have permission to use them. When you provide text, images or other artwork to me, you agree to protect me from any claim by a third party that I’m using their intellectual property.
I guarantee that all elements of the work I deliver to you are either owned by me or I’ve obtained permission to provide them to you. When I provide text, images or other artwork to you, I agree to protect you from any claim by a third party that you’re using their intellectual property. Provided you’ve paid for the work, and that this contract hasn’t been terminated, I’ll assign all Intelectual property rights to you as follows:
You’ll own the website I design for you plus the visual elements that I create for it. I’ll give you source files and finished files, and you should keep them somewhere safe as I’m not required to keep a copy. You own all intellectual property rights of text, images, site specification and data you provided unless someone else owns them.
I’ll own any intellectual property rights I’ve developed prior to or developed separately from this project and not paid for by you. I’ll own the unique combination of these elements that constitutes a complete design, and I’ll license its use to you, exclusively and in perpetuity for this project only, unless we agree otherwise.
DISPLAYING MY WORK
I love to show off my work, so I reserve the right to display all aspects of my creative work, including sketches, work-in-progress designs and the completed project on my portfolio and in articles on websites, in magazine articles and books. I also reserve the right to include a discreet copyright mark on your footer (e.g., Designed by Major Web Design).
PAYMENT SCHEDULE
I’m sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices that I send you promptly. As I am also sure you’ll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule.
To start this project, I require the first payment of £50 as a deposit. I won’t buy the domain (if required), set up hosting (if required) or start designing until the deposit is paid.
Once I have sent you the first draft of your website, you will be able to request your first set of changes or approve the first draft. I will then send you the second invoice of £100, do the changes you asked for and continue with the construction of your website. When I complete the project, you will receive the final version for approval, request the second and third sets of changes, and receive the final invoice of the remaining balance to put your website live.
I issue invoices electronically. All proposals are quoted in British Pounds and payments will be made at the equivalent conversion rate at the date the transfer is made. Any payments made in accordance with this agreement shall, once they are paid, not be refundable nor creditable for any reason whatsoever. You agree to pay all charges associated with international transfers of funds. The appropriate payment details will be printed on my electronic invoice.
PAYMENT DETAILS
You can pay using the following option:
– Via bank transfer – the details will be on each invoice.
Neither of us can transfer this contract to anyone else without the other’s permission.
We both agree that we will adhere to all relevant laws and regulations in relation to our activities under this contract and not cause the other to breach any relevant laws or regulations.
This contract stays in place and doesn’t need to 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 the English and Welsh courts.