Between us: Ku Design (We)

and you: Client (You)

Summary:

The Terms and Conditions become effective upon signing of your contract. We will always do our best to fulfill your needs and meet your goals, but sometimes it is best to have a few simple things written down so that we both know what is what, who should do what and what happens if stuff goes wrong. In this contract you won’t find complicated legal terms or large passages of unreadable text. We have no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret. We do want what’s best for the safety of both parties, now and in the future.

What do both parties agree to do?

As our client, you have the power and ability to enter into this contract on behalf of your company or organization. You agree to provide us with everything that we need to complete the project including text, images and other information as and when we need it, and in the format that we ask for. You agree to review our work, provide feedback and sign-off approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways and you will also be bound by any dates that we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment terms set out on this page.

Ku Design will carry out work only when this is signed and returned to us by the client. We have the experience and ability to perform the services you need from us and we will carry them out in a professional and timely manner. Along the way we will endeavor to meet all the deadlines set but we can’t be responsible for a missed launch date or a deadline if you have been late in supplying materials or have not approved or signed off our work on-time at any stage. On top of this we will also maintain the confidentiality of any information that you give us.

Getting down to the nitty gritty

1. Design

We will create designs for the look-and-feel, layout and functionality of your project. This contract includes one main design plus the opportunity for you to make up to two rounds of revisions. If you’re not happy with the designs at this stage, you will pay us in full for all of the work that we have produced until that point and you may either cancel this contract or continue to commission us to make further design revisions at the daily rate set out in our original estimate.

2. Text content

We may have written a best-seller but we’re not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy unless we specified it in the original estimate. We’ll be happy to help though, and in addition to the estimate we will charge you by the hour for copy writing or content input.

3. Photographs

You will supply us photographs either in digital or printed format. If you choose to buy stock photographs we can suggest vendors of stock photography. Professional photography or any time we spend searching for appropriate photographs will be charged at by the hour.

4. Changes and revisions

We know from plenty of experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your first idea about how something should look, or how it might work. We don’t want to limit either your options or your opportunities to change your mind.

The estimate/quotation prices at the beginning of this document are based on the number of days that we estimate we’ll need to accomplish everything that you have told us you want to achieve. If you do want to change your mind, add extra pages or templates or even add new functionality, that won’t be a problem. You will be charged the daily rate set out in the estimate we gave you. Along the way we might ask you to put requests in writing so we can keep track of changes.

5. Web Hosting & Technical support

You are not obligated to host your website with Ku Design as you may already have professional web site hosting; if that’s the case, great. If you don’t manage your own web site hosting, we can set up an account for you at one of our preferred hosting provider. If this is the case, Ku Design will look after every aspect of your technical setups, such as email account/s setup, and will help liaise with the hosting provider for a resolution when there is a server problem. Your annual web hosting renewal fee will be charged out by Ku Design (2 weeks prior to renewal) with a GST invoice provided.

6. Legal stuff

Whilst every endeavor will be made to ensure everything works, no guarantees can be made as to the availability or interruption of this service by Ku Design cannot accept liability for losses caused by the unavailability, malfunction or interruption of this service, or for loss of turnover, sales, revenue, profits or indirect, consequential or special loss, even if you have advised us of the possibilities of such damages.

If any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

7. Copyrights

You guarantee to us that any elements of text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork that you provide us for inclusion in the web site are either owned by your good selves, or that you have permission to use them.

When we receive your final payment, copyright is automatically assigned as follows:

You own the graphics and other visual elements that we create for you for this project. We will give you a copy of all files and you should store them really safely as we are not required to keep them or provide any native source files that we used in making them.

You also own text content, photographs and other data you provided, unless someone else owns them. We own the XHTML markup, CSS and other code and we license it to you for use on only this project.

We love to show off our work and share what we have learned with other people, so we also reserve the right to display and link to your completed project as part of our portfolio and to write about the project on web sites, in magazine articles and in books about web design.

8. Payment Terms

We are 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.

All fees are payable by Direct Bank Deposit or Cheque. We request a 50% deposit prior to project commencement, and 50% when project is completed.

“Project completion” means that when Ku Design has completed all of the tasks listed in the brief on the original contract, regardless of whether the required information or materials have been supplied by the client. When a delay is attributed to the client and no fault of Ku Design, Ku Design requests that the client makes full payment upon receipt of an invoice. After full payment has been made, Ku Design is still responsible to complete the project as soon as the required information or materials are supplied – this will not incur an additional cost.

Once a deposit is paid and work completed you are obliged to pay the balance of payment in full. We will contact clients via email, post and/or telephone to remind them of such payments if they are not received when due. Deposits are non-refundable.

9. Payments of Accounts

If accounts are not settled or Ku Design have not been contacted regarding the delay, access to the related website may be denied and web pages removed, we will then pass such cases to the Small Claims Court to pursue payment, non payment can result in court judgements being added to the clients credit rating.

There is a 30-day ‘Grace Period’, counting from the invoice date, Ku Design will ensure the client’s subscription is active (courtesy of the house) during this time. For subscription-based services, any unpaid invoice past the grace period could be disrupted or discontinued, with additional service fee for reactivation of account.

Following consistent non payment of an invoice our Solicitors will contact the client in question, with a view to taking the matter further and if need be to seek payment through legal procedures, and if necessary court summons.

Any costs incurred while trying to recover payment from the client will be the responsibility of the client and added to the client’s invoice.

Ku Design retains full ownership of all work including concepts and mock-ups until full payment is made.

10. But where is all the horrible small print?

Just like a parking ticket, you cannot 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 courts.