Service Agreement
In this document, “I, me” refers to Jesus Hernandez, the owner of this website, (www.websitemas.com). And “You” refers to the client (person who represents himself a company or business).
With that in mind:
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 service agreement you won’t find any complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. I’ve no desire to trick you into agreeing to 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;
When you hire me whether by a phone call, text, email, or work order form, to do any of the services I offer on this website for the price we both agreed to, you are acknowledging and agreeing to the terms of this service agreement.
What do both parties agree to?
You: You have the authority to enter into this service agreement on behalf of yourself, your company or your organization. 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 at the end of this service agreement.
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 endeavor 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
Website Design
I create websites using WordPress and StudioPress premium themes or templates (selected ones). Once you choose a template, I will change its colors and fonts to your preferences, but I won’t do any changes to the template’s base.
You’ll have plenty of opportunities to review my work and provide feedback. You’ll be able to access your new site and view the work been done, or I’ll share a development site where you can do so as well. We’ll have regular, possibly daily contact by either phone, text or email.
Domain name
Your new website requires a domain name. It will be registered in your name, your company, or the fictitious name that you provide us. Its cost varies depending on what you are looking for. But in most cases, it is only $20 or less, for one year, and must be renewed at the end of the period.
It can be purchased from vendors like GoDaddy.com. You can buy it and provide it to me.
I can do it for you as well, but for that I will need your payment and registration information.
Web hosting
Your new website requires a web hosting service. I provide it. It has a monthly cost of $10 for the Basic plan, $20 for the Professional plan and $30 for the Blog Plus plan.
It is a “pay as you go” service, which means that you pay for the month in advance and use the service, if you do not pay for it, your website stops appearing on the internet until you pay for the service again.
Note: If the hosting service is not paid for more than 6 consecutive months, your website will be permanently removed from my hosting server.
Text and other content
I’m not responsible for creating text content, images or videos for your new website. You are responsible for supplying all your website’s content.
Browser testing
I test my work in current versions of major desktop browsers including those made by Apple (Safari), Google (Chrome), Microsoft (Edge) and Mozilla Firefox.
Mobile browser testing
All my designs are mobile-ready. I do regular testing using the two most popular browsers:
iOS: Safari
Android:
Google Chrome
Maintenance
Maintenance is an optional service. It cost $10/month (for a website of up to 30 pages and $20/month for up to 100 pages). It provides for the best performance and preventive hacker protection. It includes daily monitoring, monthly site backup, scanning, and updates. See the Service Page for more information.
Technical support
Technical support is not included in any web design plan. But it is available on request. Please see the Service Page.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
I don’t guarantee improvements to your website’s search engine ranking, but the websites and it’s pages that I develop are accessible to search engines and will most certainly get indexed by them.
Changes and revisions
I don’t want to limit your ability to change your mind. I’m happy to be flexible. If you wish to change your mind and change your chosen template, that won’t be a problem; more than likely, it won’t be any extra charges. Unless the work is completed, in that case, I’ll provide a separate estimate for the additional tweaks.
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 service 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 service agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this service 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.
First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images, videos or other artwork you provide are either owned by your good selves, or that you’ve permission to use them. When you provide text, images or other artwork to me, 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 are either owned by me or I’ve obtained permission to provide them to you. I don’t provide text, images, video or other artwork to you.
Provided you’ve paid for the work and that this service 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. You own all intellectual property rights of text, images, videos, 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. 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.
All of the finished files for your website will be stored on the hosting server. I’m not required to keep a copy, but if you are on the monthly maintenance plan, then I would keep a safe backup for you in my work folder.
Taking your website with you
If you decide to take your website elsewhere, you can do so.
At the end of the project and my services are paid in full, the website design it’s yours.
Therefore, if you need to move, I will provide you with a zip file with all of your website’s content.
I will also provide technical support at your request, and at the rates stated on my Service Page.
Of course, I don’t want you to leave me, and I would do my best to keep you. But if you need to go, I can’t stop you from taking your new website with you.
Displaying my work
I love to show off 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 YouTube videos, 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 (I issue invoices electronically). You agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule.
Payment has to be received before I can begin working on your new website.
Initial payment required are as follows:
For the $199 Plan = $100 payment is required.
For the $299 Plan = $150 payment is required.
For the $499 Plan = $200 payment is required.
With the Helping Hand Option:
- For $199 plan = $50 initial payment required and $20 per month for 12 months.
- For $299 plan = $80 initial payment required and $40 per month for 12 months.
Note: The monthly payment includes the hosting service and a credit to the cost of the new website. After 12 months you will only have to pay per month for the hosting service.
I will send you an invoice once the new website is completed and verified by you. And you will need to make your payment within 30 days from the invoice date.
For the web hosting service.- An invoice will be sent to you after the first day of each month and you will make your payment for the service, within 30 days after the invoice date.
For clients on the Monthly Maintenance service.- an invoice will be sent to you after the first day of each month, and you will make your payment within 30 days from the invoice date.
For the domain name.- an invoice will be sent to you 45 days before the expiration of the period of one year of service and you must make your payment before 30 days of receiving the invoice. If payment is not received, the domain name will not be renewed and you could lose it. I am not responsible for the loss of your domain name if you do not make your renewal payment on time.
For customers residing outside the US.- You agree to pay all fees associated with international fund transfers.
I reserve the right to charge interest on all overdue debts at the rate of 10% per month or part of a month.
Information and content to start a project
Once your order and payment are received and accepted by me, you agree to deliver 100% of the information needed to start working on your new website within a maximum of 30 calendar days.
If the information is not received, I will cancel your order without any obligation to you.
Cancellation of services
If —at any stage— you change your mind about what you want delivered, you can cancel the services at any time. You can do so by phone or text, and I will take it as official, but I will required an email from you, just to have a written record of it.
Important Note: If the project has started but I have done little work on it, I will return your full initial payment. But if the job was more than halfway done, then I’ll only give you half of your initial payment back. And if the work is finished then I will not return your initial payment but I will not require you to pay me the remaining cost for the design either.
Reservations of rights
My services are exclusive to help small business owners. So I do not work for political or religious entities.
I reserve the right to refuse to work for something or someone, whose activities do not go according to my criteria (e.g. promotes discrimination, racism, defamation or any crime, in which case I will inform to the corresponding authorities).
But where’s all the horrible small print?
No need for small print.
We both agree that we’ll adhere to all relevant laws and regulations in relation to our activities under this service agreement and not cause the other to breach any relevant laws or regulations.
This service 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.
Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious, and this service agreement is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of the United States of America courts.
Last update: May 21, 2022.
Source idea for this service agreement: Stuff & Nonsense
