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 contract you won’t find any complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. I want to do what's best for both parties, and have no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret.
You, John Doe, located at 12345 Main St., are hiring me, Christian Bundy, located at 67890 Main St., to create a web application for the estimated total price of $9999.
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You: You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company, or your organisation. You’ll give me everything I need to complete the project when and in the format I need it. You’ll review my work, provide feedback, and give approval in a timely manner. Deadlines work two ways, so you’ll also be bound by the dates that we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set up at the end of this contract.
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Me: I have the experience and ability to do everything we’ve agreed upon in a professional and timely manner, and I’ll work to meet every deadline that we set together.
I create modern web applications that adapt to the capabilities of many devices and screen sizes. I create designs iteratively and predominantly use HTML and CSS so that I don’t waste time mocking up each adaptive layout as a static visual.
You’ll have one or more weekly opportunities to review my work and provide feedback. If at any stage you aren't happy with the direction my work is taking, you’ll pay me in full for everything that I’ve produced until that point and cancel this contract. Similarly, if at any stage I'm not happy with the direction that our relationship is taking, you'll pay me in full for everything that I've produced until that point and cancel this contract.
I'm not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy. If you’d like me to write new content or input text for you, I can provide a separate estimate for that.
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, I can suggest stock libraries. If you’d like me to search for photographs for you, I can provide a separate estimate for that.
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 the current desktop versions of Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. For a mobile-friendly experience, I test my work in the default browsers of the current versions of iOS and Android.
I'm not a website hosting company so I don’t offer support for website hosting, email or other services relating to hosting. You may already have professional hosting and you might even manage that hosting in-house; if you do, great. If you don’t, I can set up an account for you at a preferred hosting providers. The updates to, and management of that server will be up to you.
I know from experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your earliest ideas. I don’t want to limit your ability to change your mind. The estimated price at the beginning of this contract is based on the length of time I estimate I’ll need to accomplish everything you’ve told me that you want to achieve, but I'm happy to be flexible. If you change your mind or want to add anything new, I'll provide a separate estimate for that.
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 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.
Phew.
First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images or other artwork you provide are either owned by your good selves, or that you have 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 I create for this project. I’ll give you source files and finished files; you should keep them somewhere safe as we’re not required to keep a copy. You'll own all elements of text, images and data you provided, unless someone else owns them.
I’ll own the unique combination of these elements that constitutes a complete design and we’ll license that you, exclusively and in perpetuity for this project only.
I love to show off my work and share what I’ve learned with other people, so I reserve the right to display and link to your project and it's source code as part of my portfolio, as well as to write about it on websites, in magazine articles, and in books.
I'm sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices that I send you promptly. As I'm also sure you’ll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule. I'll send you an invoice every two weeks at the rate of $60 per person-hour and give you 15 days to pay the total enclosed in the invoice. If, at the end of the 15 days,
Just like a parking ticket, you can’t transfer this contract to anyone else without our 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 remain in place.
Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of Oregon.
Oh and don’t forget those men with big dogs.
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.