Summary:
ADHD Media will always do our best to fulfill 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 with some room for flexibility for both parties.
So in short;
You ([customer name]), located at [customer address] are hiring us (ADHD Media) located at [company address] to [design and develop a web site] for the estimated total price of [total] as outlined in our previous correspondence. Of course it’s a little more complicated, but we’ll get to that.
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 organization. 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 endeavor to meet every deadline that’s set and on top of that we'll maintain the confidentiality of everything you give us.
Design
We use agile development as opposed to delivering static comps. It is quicker for us to provide live web page mockups than create Photoshop (or other image type) static documents. Flexible layouts that adapt to the capabilities of many devices and screen sizes are hard to express as static image files. We create designs iteratively and use predominantly HTML and CSS so we won’t waste time mocking up every template as a static visual. We may use static visuals to indicate a look-and-feel direction (colour, texture and typography.) We tend to refer to those as design cues or elements.
You’ll have plenty of opportunities to review our work and provide feedback (we would prefer too much as opposed to too little). We will plan on regular status updates depending on the size and scope of the project. If you don’t like something speak up sooner than later. Especially for anything that is more of a foundational element. It’s a lot easier to change the bricks at the bottom before the house is built on top of it.
If at any stage you’re not happy with the direction our work is taking you’ll pay us in full for everything we’ve produced and delivered until that point and cancel this contract. All coding by us is done with reasonable effort to use current and accepted standards for web development at the time it was created. Our goal is to turn over code that can be maintained by other developers should the need arise for whatever reason. We want any choice to use us for maintenance to be because you want to, not because you have to… We hate the cable company “you don’t have a choice” mentality too.
Text content
We’re not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy although many times we do assist anyway. We can look into having someone assist you with that if you’d like. Please be aware that a client’s failure to provide content is the NUMBER ONE REASON websites launch late or look “incomplete” in our experience. Do not underestimate this critical task.
Photographs
You should supply graphic files in an editable, vector digital format (especially logos). 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. We often times help with this as well without specifically billing extra, just don’t expect us to spend endless hours looking for the perfect stock photos you are happy with for free, especially if you aren’t willing to get online and help.
HTML, CSS and JavaScript
Most web page types are served as HTML markup, CSS stylesheets for styling and JavaScript by the Content Management System selected for the project. We try to use the best available code libraries for any particular project.
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 and acceptable to the capabilities of a browser or device.
Desktop browser testing
We test our work in current versions of major desktop browsers including those made by
- Google (Chrome)
- Microsoft (Internet Explorer)
- Mozilla Firefox
- Enhanced support for other browsers would need to be negotiated separately.
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 in:
- iOS: Safari, Google Chrome
- Android 4.x: Google Chrome and Firefox
- We currently don’t test Blackberry, Opera Mini/Mobile, Windows Phone or other mobile browsers.
Technical support
We provide hosting for most of our clients for the purposes of keeping costs down. We've found that hosting with other companies costs our clients substantially more in the long run due to the increased costs associated in dealing with different systems and "shared" environments. Further we've found that most low cost hosting providers come with a lot of baggage that costs clients substatially in the long run. We've done it for over 7 years now and have maintained a few sites that were pretty darn busy. We've provided service that is on par or better than most of the big names out there. While we can't utterly guarantee your site will be up 24/7 and that you will be able to get a hold of us 24/7 (we are a small company after all), it's very unlikely your site would be down for an extended period of time and pretty darn rare for the server to be down period.
That said, the chances of a server software upgrade wrecking your site (for which a 24/7 hosting company like GoDaddy will say is your problem to deal with) without warning far outweigh the chances of our server actually being down and you being unable to get a hold of us quickly with today's technology. More times than not, your 24/7 hosting tech support will not cover the issue that caused your site to go down. We know, it's why we left these kinds of companies a long time. Lastly, our servers our provided by and HOUSED by Amazon Web Services, they aren't a stack of dusty computer towers located in our basement that lose connectivity if someone down the street hits a telephone pole (just so you'll know).
All we ask is that you be REASONABLE. We don't like our clients site being down anymore than they do. And again, in the long run of overall uptime for clients, we'll go head to head with any company that isn't charging less than $50-100/month for hosting. If you need nuclear football reliability, we can arrange it. Just know, that kind of reliability ISN'T covered in the $5.95 special most companies advertise no matter how "24/7" they claim to be.
Changes and revisions
We know from experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they 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. We’d prefer both parties remain flexible as this process is rather fluid in nature. As sites are built both client and developer come across things that can make the user experience and client return on investment better. We’re happy to add things and drop others where possible. We ask that you remember that we may have already tied up resources, so if it is a last minute decision to drop something, we are still incurring the expense because we may have turned down other projects. If you want to add something last minute our resources may be tied up with other commitments. We’ll do our best to accommodate when and wherever possible. We have no desire to make "changes and revisions" a mega-profit center. Whenever possible, we prefer changes that bring more value to both parties. An example of this might be you dropping a a feature that turns out to be unecessary and expensive and us being able to start an eager clients work ahead of schedule.
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 you or that you’ve permission to use them.
Then, when your final payment has cleared, copyright will be automatically assigned as follows:
- You’ll own the visual elements that we create for this project.
- We’ll give you source files and finished files and you should keep them somewhere safe as we’re not required to keep a copy. We keep copies, but can't assume any liability if we experience a data storage problem.
- You own all elements of text, images and data you provided, unless someone else owns them.
- We’ll own the unique combination of these elements that constitutes a complete design and we’ll license its use to you, exclusively and in perpetuity for this project only, unless we agree otherwise.
- We love to show off our work and share what we’ve learned with other people, so we reserve the right 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. Of course if there is a special circumstance where this is unacceptable let us know.
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 schedule.
[Payment schedule]
Warranty
Technology in today’s world is far from perfect. We trade perfection for the opportunity to have features undreamed ten to fifteen years ago. Most of the time the benefits far outweigh the downside. We’ll fix anything that is (or was) obviously defective at the time of delivery for a period of 90 days unless it was an unknown defect in open source type code. It is up to the client to point out these defects in a timely manner. We ask that clients be reasonable and not expect utter “perfection.” We go by the philosophy of the last 10% will cost 100% more. We strive to deliver a product that meets ALL of your needs and MOST of your wants. Our priorities are delivering the most value to the client at the lowest cost (not to be confused with low overall cost). Our priorities are as follows:
- Critical must haves
- High value / low cost
- High value / high cost
- Low value / low cost
- Low value
But where’s all the horrible small print?
Just like a parking ticket, you can’t transfer this contract to anyone else without 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 remains in place.
Although the language is simple, the intention is to create an understanding of expectations that can be read by non-lawyer types. This is not intended to be some iron clad agreement. It’s purpose is to set forth reasonable expectations for both parties and provide a general record of what both parties agreed to.
It’s so you understand we won’t come fix your computer or replace the battery in your cell phone if that is the reason your website is “not working” on your computer or mobile phone. It also helps to establish that we aren't charging you $10 everytime someone clicks a link about going to your website. There maybe some exceptions to everything outlined in this document, generally these will be documented in email or other correspondence.
IN SUMMARY… Lets all be reasonable and respectful of each other’s business needs. Life isn’t perfect and neither is business. There will always be bumps in the road. Do we want actually accomplish something that benefits us both or pay endless fees to lawyers to create fool proof agreements so we can turn around and pay them even more money to find loopholes in our favor when we need them. We’d rather that both parties work with each other in good faith, in fact, it is what we expect.
The dotted line
Signed by and on behalf of [company name]
Signed by and on behalf of [customer name]
Date [date]
Everyone should sign above and keep a copy for their records.
