Terms of business

Last updated 4 October 2026

These are the terms I work under. They are here so you can read them before you speak to me rather than after. The version that governs a specific project is the one I send you with your quote.

What you are buying

A website, built to the scope written in your quote. The quote lists the number of pages, the features included and the price. Anything not on that list is not included, and if you want it added I will tell you the cost before I start it, not after.

Paying

Half the fee before I begin the build, half on the day the site goes live.
Prices are in pounds. I am not VAT registered, so there is nothing to add.
The first half is not refundable once I have started work, because it pays for work already done. Before I start, you have paid nothing at all.
Invoices are due within seven days.

The free homepage concept

Before you pay anything, I design your homepage so you can see it. It costs you nothing and carries no obligation. If you do not like it, we stop there and neither of us owes the other anything. Until you pay the first instalment, that design remains mine.

Changes and revisions

Starter includes two rounds of changes, Growth three, Scale four. A round means you send me your comments in one go and I work through them. Sending three separate messages over three days counts as three rounds, so it is worth gathering your thoughts. Extra rounds beyond your allowance are £60 an hour.

Timings, and what stalls them

Ten working days for Starter and Growth, fourteen for Scale, counted from the day I have both your content and your approval on the design. The clock does not run while I am waiting on you.

If I go more than fourteen days without hearing from you, the project pauses and goes back into the queue. If a project is paused for more than ninety days, I treat it as ended and the deposit covers the work done to that point. If I miss a date we agreed in writing, and it was not caused by waiting on you, I take five percent off the balance for each week I am late.

What I need from you

Your text, your photos, your logo if you have one, and your login details for anything that needs connecting, such as a booking system. You confirm you have the right to use everything you send me. If a photo turns out to be someone else's and they come after it, that is on you, not me.

Refunds and cancellation

Before the build starts: you have paid nothing, so there is nothing to refund. The free homepage concept costs you nothing either way.
After you pay the first half: it is not refundable, because it pays for work already under way. If I end the project and you have done nothing wrong, I refund any part of it that covers work I have not done.
If I am late: when I miss a date we agreed in writing, and I was not waiting on you, I take five percent off the balance for each week I am late.
On launch: the second half is due on the day the site goes live. If something does not work as agreed, I fix it free during the fix period for your tier rather than refunding.
Care plans: paid monthly in advance through Stripe. Cancel with thirty days notice. I do not refund part months, and your site keeps running after you cancel.

Who owns what

On final payment, the website is yours. I assign the copyright in the design and the page code to you in full. Until final payment, it stays mine.
The domain name and hosting account are registered in your name from day one and you pay for those directly. They are yours whatever happens between us.
I keep the right to reuse the underlying components and techniques on other projects. That is how I keep prices where they are.
Fonts, stock photos and third party tools stay licensed under their own terms, not mine.
Unless you ask me not to, I may show the finished site in my portfolio and put a small credit line in your footer.

Third party costs

Some things I connect for you carry their own subscription, paid by you directly to that company. Booking systems and shop platforms are the usual ones. I will tell you what those cost before we agree the scope, and I do not take a cut of them.

After launch

I fix anything broken free for one week after launch on Starter and Growth, two weeks on Scale. That covers things that do not work as agreed, not new ideas. After that, changes are covered by a care plan or charged at £60 an hour.

Care plans run month to month. Either of us can end one with thirty days notice and your site keeps running regardless.

Where my responsibility ends

I will build your site properly and I stand behind the work. What I cannot promise is a specific number of enquiries, a Google ranking, or that a third party service will never go down. If something does go wrong and it is my fault, what you can recover is limited to the fees you have paid me for that project. Nothing here limits liability for death, personal injury or fraud, because the law does not allow that.

Ending the work

Either of us can walk away in writing. You pay for the work done up to that point. If you are the one ending it and I have already built the site, the balance is due. If I am the one ending it and you have done nothing wrong, I refund anything covering work I have not done.

The legal bit

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales deal with any dispute. You are buying as a business rather than as a consumer, so consumer cancellation rights do not apply.