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Service Agreement

I’ll always do my 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. 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.

Essmacdee (Sarah McDougall) and You, The Client.​

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You, The Client (“You”) are hiring me, Sarah McDougall, to design and develop a web site for the total price quoted.

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What do both parties agree to?


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 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 schedule set out on your invoice.

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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 I'll maintain the confidentiality of everything you give me.

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Design


I create look and feel designs, and flexible layouts that adapt to the capabilities of many devices and screen sizes. I create designs that are clean and minimal that are service and revenue centric for your brand, and user friendly for the site visitor. 

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You’ll have plenty of opportunities to review my work and provide feedback. I’ll share a development site with you and we’ll have regular contact.

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If, at any stage, you change your mind about what you want to be delivered and are not happy with the direction our 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. The time spent working on your project is calculated as a percentage of the total project price if the project is cancelled before completion.

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Text (copy) content


I am not responsible for writing content for your website and this should be provided by you with correct grammar and spelling. 

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Graphics and photographs


You should supply graphic files in an editable, vector digital format. You should supply photographs in a high resolution digital format.  

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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. I test my work in current versions of major desktop browsers including those made by Apple (Safari), Google (Chrome) and Mozilla Firefox.

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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 test my designs in various mobile devices and encourage you to  test them in all of yours as well.

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Technical support


I'm not a website hosting company so I don’t offer website hosting, email or other services relating to hosting. I'll set up your hosting on the Wix platform for which you are responsible for the cost. Upon completion of the design and approval by you, I'll connect your purchased domain name to the site that I have designed. If you have yet to purchase your domain I recommend using 123-reg or Google Domains. I also recommend that you set up a free Google Analytics account and provide me with the analytics code so that I can enter it into your website for traffic monitoring.

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Search engine optimisation (SEO)


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

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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 time that I estimate I’ll need to accomplish everything you’ve told me you want to achieve, and I am flexible to a degree, but if you want to make significant changes or add anything new, I’ll provide a separate estimate for extra time.

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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.

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

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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.

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Intellectual property rights


“Intellectual property rights” means all patents, rights to inventions, copyright (including rights in software) and related rights, trademarks, service marks, 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.

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First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images, the database or other you provide are either owned by your good selves, or that you’ve permission to use them. When you provide text, images, the database or other to me, you agree to protect me from any claim by a third party that I'm using their intellectual property.

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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 intellectual property rights to you as follows:

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You’ll own the website I design for you plus the visual elements that I create for it. You own all intellectual property rights of text, images, site specification and data you provided, unless someone else owns them. You own your domain name as it was purchased by you.

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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.

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After the website is complete I will not be able to access your site, remove your site, edit your site or do anything to hurt or help you unless you give me access to it. This is because the site is officially transferred to you, on paper and online. Anything clever that I have created for you using my brain or software is yours. I might use those ideas again for other clients but I cannot lay any claim to what is on your website.

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Displaying my work


I like to display 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 in books, unless you ask me not to.

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Payment schedule


As a small business it's important to me that you pay the invoices that I send you promptly, and you agree to stick to the payment schedule on your invoice. Payments should be made via bank transfer or cheque as per the invoice.​

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You agree to all charges associated with international transfers of funds. The appropriate bank account details will be printed on my invoice. I reserve the right to charge interest on all overdue debts at the rate of 15% per month or part of a month.

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Neither of us can transfer this contract to anyone else without the other’s permission.

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We both agree that we’ll 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.

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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 remain in place.

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

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Payment of your deposit to me is acknowledgement and agreement of your part of this service agreement. No signature needed by either party. Valid only after receipt of deposit payment.

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End of Service Agreement.

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