Terms and Conditions
In the absence of a specific contract for your Web Site Design or Web Site Development project, this contract will apply.
Between us (Total Websites Ltd) and you (the customer)
Summary:
We'll always do our 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 contract you won't find any complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. We've no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret. What we do want is what's best for both parties, now and in the future.
So in short;
You are hiring us to design and/or develop a web solution for the estimated total price as outlined in our correspondence.
What do both parties agree to do?
You: You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company or your organisation. You'll give us everything we need to complete the project as and when and in the format we need it. You'll review our 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 schedule set out at the end of this contract.
Us: We have the experience and ability to do everything we've agreed with you and we'll do it all in a professional and timely manner. We'll endeavour to meet every deadline that's set and on top of that we'll maintain the confidentiality of everything you give us.
Getting down to the nitty gritty
Design
We create flexible layouts that adapt to the capabilities of many devices and screen sizes. We create designs iteratively and use predominantly HTML and CSS so we won't waste time mocking up every template as a static visual.
You'll have plenty of opportunities to review our work and provide feedback. We'll give you access to our project space and have regular, possibly daily contact.
During the web site development cycle we may at intervals place versions of your web site on one of our demonstration servers so that you may view and comment upon the web site’s progress, and approve design concepts and prototypes. When both we and you agree that the web site meets the criteria agreed upon at the time of accepting this contract, we will invoice you for the remainder of the amount due for the project.
Text content
We're not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy. You will need to supply this yourself.
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, we can suggest stock libraries. If you'd like us to search for photographs for you, we 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.
Desktop browser testing
We test our work in current stable versions of major desktop browsers including Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. We'll also test the previous release of Microsoft Internet Explorer to ensure Internet Explorer users get an appropriate, possibly different, experience. We won't test in other older browsers unless you specify otherwise. If you need an enhanced design for an older browser, we can provide a separate estimate for that.
Mobile browser testing
Testing popular small-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. We test our work on Android 4.x with both Google Chrome and Firefox.
We currently don't test iOS, Blackberry, Opera Mini/Mobile, Windows Phone or other mobile browsers.
Technical support
Website hosting, email and technical support not specific to installation or configuration of the finished product is not included. If you would like us to provide technical support, hosting or email services we can provide a separate estimate for that. At the conclusion of the project we will walk you through any features we have developed. Additional support will be charged at our standard rates or may be included with one of our web hosting plans.
Maintenance
We provide maintenance services, however any maintenance or updates are outside the scope of this project. When updates are required we can provide a separate estimate for that.
Changes and revisions
We know from experience that fixed-price contracts can often limit you to your earliest ideas. We don't want to limit your ability to change your mind. The price at the beginning of this contract is based on the length of time we estimate we'll need to accomplish everything you've told us you want to achieve, but we're happy to be flexible. We will often allow changes to elements we have not started working on and we will only charge if the changes result in more time spent in communication or implementation of the changes.
Deadlines
We believe in hitting deadlines, but we can only do this with your help. So we can’t be responsible for a missed deadline if you have been late with a down payment, slow to supply materials or not provided feedback to agreed timescales. We also can’t be responsible for deadlines missed due to circumstances completely beyond our control.
Further changes will obviously take extra time. We can agree on deadlines for those together, but we'll do everything we can to meet your needs
Legal stuff
We can't guarantee that our work will 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, even if you've advised us of them. Finally, if any provision of this contract shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this contract and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
Copyrights
First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images or other artwork you provide are either owned by your good selves, or that you've permission to use them.
The copyright for all material provided by us, such as HTML code, graphics, photographs and text, and software code (client and server side), will remain the property of us until we receive full payment, when they will become your property.
You acknowledge that we may accept jobs from other clients to develop projects with the same or similar functionality to the project, and that we may replicate and exploit all techniques, structures, designs and individual modules of program code used in the creation of the project.
We love to show off our work and share what we've learned with other people, so we reserve the right, unless otherwise specified, to display and link to your project as part of our portfolio and to write about it on websites, in magazine articles and in books.
Payments
We're 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 terms.
If at any time payment is behind schedule we will postpone work until payment is received.
An invoice for 50% of the price for the project will be provided on acceptance of the proposal. This invoice must be paid before the project can commence.
Once the project is complete and approved by the client the final 50% will be invoiced. Payment for this invoice shall be made within 7 days of the date of issue of the invoice unless otherwise arranged.
If you are responsible for withholding information for completion, the project is then deemed payable in full after 30 days from initial start date.
If at any point you would like to halt or postpone the project, the following will apply: If the total amount of work completed equals less than the 50% deposit paid by you, we will refund the portion of payment not used as a credit to your account. This is not refundable but can be used against any current or future invoices from us. If the total amount of work completed is more than the first 50% invoiced, we have the right to invoice the extra hours completed.
We reserve the right to charge compounding interest at 1.7% per month on any overdue invoices.
If we are forced to hand your account over to a debt collection agency for collection you will be liable for any collection and legal costs incurred.
GST
All prices are quoted in New Zealand Dollars and are exclusive of GST. GST is payable by New Zealand residents, this cost does not apply to overseas clients.
Assignment and Delegation
We may subcontract the performance of any of our responsibilities under this contract to another party.
You may not assign or transfer any of your rights or responsibilities under this contract to anyone else without our prior written consent.
Validity of the Agreement
This agreement stays in place and need not be renewed. If for some reason one part of this agreement becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts of it remain in place.
We reserve the right to cease immediately without liability to provide the service and to terminate this agreement if you should go into liquidation or bankruptcy, or if you fail to meet any obligation in accordance with this agreement.
This agreement shall be deemed to be an agreement made in New Zealand and shall be subject to, governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of New Zealand.