Last updated: 18 August 2021
Modified from open-source Contract Killer

SUMMARY

I’ll always do my 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 agreement you won’t find any complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. I’ve 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. So in short;

You (“You or Client”) are hiring me (Essarem Digital) (“I or Me”) to:

• Complete the project or service as outlined on your invoice, receipt or Scope of Work.

Of course it’s a little more complicated, but I’ll get to that.

WHAT DO BOTH PARTIES AGREE TO?

You : You have the authority to enter into this agreement on behalf of yourself, your company or your organisation. You’ll give me the assets and information I tell you I need to complete the project. You’ll do this when I ask and provide it in the formats I ask for. You’ll review my 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 stick to the payment schedules provided.

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’s set and on top of that I’ll maintain the confidentiality of everything you give me.

GETTING DOWN TO THE NITTY GRITTY

HOURLY DEVELOPMENT

Most tasks will have a one week turnaround time once I confirm the scope of work and receive any additional information requested. Timelines for complex tasks or those requiring research or testing will be scheduled once received.

You may request tasks to be completed within 48 hours, subject to my availability. These urgent requests may attract a 50% rush fee, or for pre-purchased hours will drawn down at 1.5 the rate.

Pre-purchased blocks of hours expire within 6 months. I will give notice of outstanding hours before expiry, but appropriate notice must be given for requested tasks before the expiry date as outlined above.

CUSTOM WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

I develop websites that adapt to the capabilities of many devices and screen sizes. I create them iteratively and use predominantly HTML and CSS so I won’t waste time mocking up every template as a static visual. I may use placeholder visuals to indicate a creative direction (colour, texture and typography).

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to review my work and provide feedback. I’ll share either a Onenote, Dropbox, Google Drive folder or development site with you or we’ll have regular contact by either email or video chat.

MAINTENANCE PLANS

There is no minimum purchase or lock-in contract, all plans are charged monthly and be cancelled anytime before the next automatic billing.

Plans purchased that are inappropriate to the type of website, or that require maintenance or updates prior to the plan commencing, shall be refunded or credited toward the appropriate plan or service.

If you wish to upgrade or downgrade your maintenance plan, you may contact info@essarem.digital to organise.

Included support time for each month does not roll over, but if there is unused time I will recommend tasks that could be completed where relevant.

What if things need fixing?

If something goes wrong because of an update or change that I make, then I’ll get it fixed quick smart. If it can’t be fixed (plugin conflicts are super common) I’ll restore a backup and wait ’til the next release or month to update that plugin.

When the scans I run find problems with the site, I’ll report the details to you and let you decide the importance of getting them fixed. If they’ll take longer than the included time in your plan, you can purchase some discounted hours for me to get everything working as it should.

If something goes wrong for any other reason – a hacker got through, your host messed some things up, or you or your team got a bit carried away making changes – you can either choose to have me restore a backup for free, fix the problem with your included time, or if it’s serious, add some discounted hours to get it all sorted out.

TEXT CONTENT

Unless agreed separately, I’m not responsible for inputting text or images into your content management system or creating every page on your website. I partner with professional copywriting and editing services, so if you’d like me to create new content or input content for you, I’ll provide a separate estimate.

GRAPHICS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

You should supply graphic files in an editable, vector digital format. You should supply photographs in a high resolution digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs, I can suggest stock libraries. If you’d like me to choose photographs for you, I can provide a separate estimate.

HTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT AND PHP

I deliver pages developed from HTML markup, CSS stylesheets for styling and unobtrusive JavaScript for behaviours. If working on WordPress I may also modify or write custom PHP for functionality.

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.

For larger projects (usually custom website development), I test my work in current versions of major desktop browsers including those made by Apple (Safari), Google (Chrome), Microsoft (Edge), and Mozilla Firefox. I won’t test in older versions unless agreed separately. If you need an enhanced design for an older browser, I can provide a separate estimate for that.

For smaller hourly development tasks, I will only test in Google Chrome unless otherwise requested and estimated.

MOBILE BROWSER TESTING

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 test my development in:

Android: Google Chrome

I won’t test a specific devices, or other mobile browsers unless agreed separately. If you need me to test using these devices, I can provide a separate estimate.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

I’m not a website hosting reseller so I don’t provide website hosting, email or other services relating 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 recommend one of my preferred hosting providers. I can set up your site on a server, plus any statistics software such as analytics and will provide a separate estimate for that. Then, the updates to, and management of that server will be up to you, unless you opt to purchase one of my website maintenance plans or block of pre-paid hours.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)

I don’t guarantee improvements to your website’s search engine ranking, but the pages that I develop are accessible to search engines.

CHANGES AND REVISIONS

I don’t want to limit your ability to change your mind. The prices on your quotes or receipts are based on the time I estimate I’ll need to accomplish everything you’ve told me you want to achieve, but I’m happy to be flexible. If you want to change your mind or add anything new, that won’t be a problem as I’ll provide a separate estimate for the additional time.

LEGAL STUFF

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. That said, I can’t guarantee that my work will 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, even if you’ve advised me of them.

Your liability to me will also be limited to the amount of fees payable under this agreement 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 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.

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.

Phew.

First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images or other artwork you provide are either owned by yourselves, or that you’ve permission to use them. When you provide text, images or other artwork to us, 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 is 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 agreement hasn’t been terminated, I’ll assign all intellectual 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 (where applicable) 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. Except where you’ve chosen a template package, 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 I agree otherwise.

DISPLAYING WORK

I love to show off my work, so I reserve the right to display all aspects of my work, including sketches, work-in-progress designs and the completed project on my portfolio and in articles on websites, in magazine articles and in books.

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’m also sure you’ll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tight to the payment schedules as outlined in your Scope of Work or on this website.

I issue invoices electronically. My payment terms are 14 days from the date of invoice by direct debit. Requests for payments by credit card will be considered on an individual basis and will attract surcharge fees. All proposals are quoted in AUD and payments will be made at the equivalent conversion rate at the date the transfer is made.

You agree to pay all charges associated with international transfers of funds. The appropriate bank account details will be printed on my electronic invoice.

I reserve the right to charge late fees on all overdue debts at the rate of 5% or $25, whichever is greater, per month or part of a month.

BUT WHERE’S ALL THE HORRIBLE SMALL PRINT?

Just like a parking ticket, neither of us can transfer this agreement to anyone else without the other’s permission.

We both agree that we’ll adhere to all relevant laws and regulations in relation to our activities under this agreement and not cause the other to breach any relevant laws or regulations.

This agreement stays in place and doesn’t be renewed. If for some reason one part of this agreement becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts of it remain in place.

This agreement will be revised and updated regularly. For set price projects, you agree to the version as it stands on the date you sign or pay the initial deposit. For ongoing maintenance plans and hourly invoicing, you agree that payment confirms you have read and accepted the most recent version of this document.

Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this agreement is a legal document.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

I will work with you to resolve any outstanding deliverable or payment issues but if unable to do so, I reserve the right to engage debt collection or recovery through legal proceedings.

In the event that either of us wishes to cancel this project for any reason, I will be compensated for all work completed until that point (including on communications and project administration) and this agreement may then be terminated. I will provide a copy of any applicable working files upon final payment.

Any changes to project scope or to this agreement must be made in writing and confirmed by both you and me.

THE DOTTED LINE

By purchasing services from this website or paying my invoices you agree that have reviewed these terms and conditions and will abide by them. If at any time you no longer agree to these terms, you may request to cancel your service/s and Essarem Digital will refund monies minus compensation as outlined in Dispute Resolution.