BlueTree Terms of Business

Terminology

  • We, Us or BlueTree all refer to BlueTree Website Design Limited. See the bottom of Our contact page for our company details.
  • When We say Client, You or Your, We mean any person or organisation that commissions work from Us.
  • By Purchase Order, We mean any document, including (but not restricted to) letter, email or SMS confirming that You would like Us to embark on work for You.

Preamble

We are a small business and have the usual small business attitudes and flexibility. We try to give excellent service, delivering what We promise, when We promise it. We expect You to pay Us promptly, if everything is to Your satisfaction.

We hope You will find our Terms of Business fair to both You and to Us. If You don't, please let Us know before sending Us Your Purchase Order.

Terms and Conditions of Business

1. Confidentiality

1.1 We will treat every piece of information You provide in strict confidence and only the individuals working on Your project will get to know anything about it. We'll return any material after use, if You ask Us to do so.

1.2 We may ask You for login names and passwords for various accounts so We can publish and support Your website; We promise only to use them for that purpose and will not divulge them to anyone else.

1.3 You will always have the final say before We publish any of Your web pages on the Internet.

1.4 If You require it, We are happy to work under a Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement, Yours or Ours.

2. Our Products and Services

2.1 We will send You a written proposal describing the products We propose for Your project, the work We propose to do for You, what We will charge You, and the deliverables You can expect.

2.2 You may request changes to the proposal at any time. We may need to review the price We quoted if a change is agreed. The cost any change is likely to be lower if it is agreed before work starts.

3. Planning and Monitoring

3.1 For larger projects, we will prepare a project plan, detailing major milestones and deliverables, who is responsible for each task and deliverable, and the payment schedule. We will maintain the plan in a private area on Our website so You can monitor progress.

3.2 For smaller projects we will keep You updated by regular emails.

4. Fair Pricing Policy

4.1 We operate on a fixed price basis. We will quote a fixed price for website design, development and deployment, plus an on-going monthly charge that covers support, CMS software upgrades and fixes, and hosting, plus email where appropriate.

4.2 For most other work, We will estimate a low and a high range of time that the work will take and apply an hourly rate to calculate a minimum and maximum fixed price. We will stand by the quoted price even if the work takes longer than We expect. We will never charge more than the maximum estimate.

4.3 For large projects, We don't try to fleece our clients. We will either:

  1. Split the project into small segments for which We will quote a fixed price range
  2. Request payment by the hour and invoice monthly, in arrears, at our normal hourly rate

4.4 Should We make payments on Your behalf, e.g. buy a domain or an SSL certificate, We will charge You the cost, including taxes, plus a £25 handling charge to cover Our time taken if not included in another invoice.

4.5 We may charge travelling and out-of-pocket expenses for journeys over 20 miles, plus Our quoted hourly rate for time spent working away from Our office. We may charge for travelling time at a rate lower than our development rate. We'll calculate mileage charges using rates prevailing at the time on the HMRC website. We'll use Google Maps fastest route for distance. We may charge subsistence and out-of-pocket expenses at cost, with no mark-up.

4.6 If not one of our standard items, We'll charge You for the actual time Your project took, so the total cost to You may be less than We quoted. We'll never charge You more - unless You ask Us to do something extra :-).

4.7 We are not VAT registered, so the price We quote is the price You pay.

4.8 We will adjust Our standard prices and hourly rate from time to time, up or down, in line with the UK's annual inflation rate.

5. Purchase Order

5.1 Once You are happy with the plan and proposal, We request that You send an Official Purchase Order, in any form: digital or physical. A suitably worded email is fine.

5.2 Receipt of Your purchase order implies that You accept these terms and of business, unless modified by us in writing.

5.3 Receipt of Your Purchase Order seals the proposal and the plan. Subsequent changes to either may incur extra charges.

6. Invoicing

6.1 We do not usually require any up-front payment. Only pay Us when You're happy with the work We've done.

6.2 We will invoice You when Your project has reached a point in the plan when an invoice is due, and whenever agreed between Us. Normally, for websites, the first payment will become due when Your website design is agreed.

6.3 For Our "Target Page" websites, We require a deposit with order, with a final payment when our work is done. On receipt of the final design and build payment, and after the first support payment, We will publish Your website to the Internet.

6.4 We will start work on the next stage of Your website build on receipt of payment for the previous stage.

6.5 We will issue second and subsequent invoices when You are happy with the previous stage.

6.6 If You have not have provided all the content, or added it to the website, the final build invoice is due 28 days after We completed or deployed the website.

The second half payment is due when the website build is complete and it's ready for publishing to the Internet. We will have added all content You have provided prior to the build being completed. On receipt of payment, We will publish Your website to the Internet.

6.7 During larger projects more than one month long, We may request interim payments but the sum of all these will not exceed the total fixed price, if We quoted one.

7. Payment

7.1 We pay our suppliers promptly and We expect You to do the same. Please pay Our invoices within seven days of the invoice date.

7.2 Unless We agree otherwise, We require support and hosting payments monthly, by standing order. We will supply a Standing Order Mandate containing all the details. You may set it up online, or present it to Your bank for processing. Once a year, on request, We will send You an invoice to cover the next 12 payments.

7.3 On-going service payments are due in advance. We pay Our suppliers in advance and expect You to reimburse in advance also.

7.4 If You fail to pay on time, or Your support payments stop, after one month We will withdraw Your access to Our CMS, so You won't be able to make changes to Your website. After two months, unless all outstanding amounts are paid, We reserve the right to take down Your website and replace it with a holding page.

7.5 We will allocate payments received to invoices and payments due in strict date sequence, the oldest being settled first.

8. Intellectual Property Rights

8.1 You agree that all Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in code we develop reside with Us and are not transferable to You. This includes, but is not restricted to, code We create in Your website, any other code We develop for You, and all code in Our BlueTree Content Management System (CMS).

8.2 We grant You permission to use the CMS for as long as You continue to pay, each month, the ongoing support fee we both agreed.

8.3 We agree that You will retain IPR in all Your website content, including copy We, or anyone working for Us, writes on Your behalf.

8.4 Our collaborative design process means that Your website design results from the work of both of us. We grant You permission to use Our work in the design excluding software code, in perpetuity, even should You terminate Your agreement with Us.

8.5 Where We create a custom graphic for You, We will grant You a non-exclusive perpetual licence to use the graphic in the course of the business for which it was created. Should You wish to use it for any other purpose, including but not restricted to a website or document designed or created by anyone else whether in your employ or employed by someone else You undertake to notify Us and a fee will be payable.

8.6 If We use Your text, designs, graphics or images on Your website, You warrant that You own the IPR and Copyright for those items, and You give Us permission to use them solely on Your behalf.

9. Client Website Contents

9.1 We design and build Clients' websites; We are not responsible for their content.

9.2 We may write, or review, a Client's content for grammar, style and suitability for publication on the Internet. Whether paid for or not, the Client owns that content and has the final responsibility for it.

9.3 We have no legal training, do not give legal advice, and cannot be held responsible for the content of any Client's website. We advise any Client requiring legal advice to contact a lawyer with appropriate experience.

10. URLs (Domain Names)

10.1 We always encourage You to register Your own domains and pay for them directly. This way You always control an important business asset.

10.2 At Your request, We will register and/or renew Your domain or domains for You, with Our usual provider. We may charge a small handling fee.

10.3 We will always register domains in Your business name.

10.4 You will grant us, and we will retain, technical access rights whilst We act as Your URL manager.

10.5 You may remove Your URLs from Our management by giving one month's notice in writing. We will not charge to transfer Your domains to another provider's management.

10.6 We reserve the right not to release Your domains until You have paid all outstanding invoices, whether they relate to the domain transfer or any other service We have provided to You.

11. Limitations

11.1 BlueTree is responsible only for work agreed in writing beforehand.

11.2 You will not hold Us liable for any losses, including consequential losses, arising from work We do on Your behalf, over and above the amount You have already paid Us for the project in question, excluding hosting and support payments, taxes and payments we have made on your behalf to third parties.

12. Website Money Back Guarantee

12.1 In the event that You are not satisfied with Our work on Your website, We would like the opportunity to put things right without incurring You any further expense. If, after this, You still feel that Our work is not in line with the specification We agreed with You, and You tell Us within one month of publication, We will:

  1. Remove from the Internet all the work We have done for You.
  2. Refund fees already paid in line with the following clause and clause 11.2 above in respect of work done and credit any outstanding invoices.

12.2 Please note that We are not able to refund any 3rd-party fees paid on Your behalf, but We will hand over all relevant title, goods and documentation We hold to You without charge.

13. Termination: On-going Support

13.1 We require one calendar month's notice to terminate Your website support and hosting. We will give You three month's notice should We wish to terminate Your support.

13.2 After the notice period, We will, at no charge to You:

  1. Be sad
  2. Ask You why, so We can learn from our mistakes
  3. Refund any money You've paid in advance covering only our time after the notice period
  4. Unload Your website in a format with which another experienced web designer can work
  5. Send You a copy of your web site content which You can pass to Your new website designer who can upload it to a new ISP and maintain it there

14. Termination, Other Work

14.1 You may terminate Your agreement with Us at any time after giving one month's notice in writing. Email is fine. On receipt We will:

  1. Stop work;
  2. Request payment of earlier unpaid invoices;
  3. On payment of said unpaid invoices, deliver all appropriate logins, passwords, and completed components of the work and charge You for those;
  4. Write off work done on non-appropriate or incomplete components;
  5. Request information as to why You terminated our arrangement and hope You will be frank with Us so We can use the information to improve Our service.

15. Link to BlueTree

15.1 We sometimes like to include a discrete hyperlink back to our website on Client websites We design. We will ask permission to use Your site as an example of Our work when You are happy with it. We would also appreciate a testimonial, with Your permission to use that also.

16. Your Competitive Edge

16.1 Our role in life is to give You, our Clients, a competitive edge.

16.2 If approached by one of Your direct competitors in the same locality, to provide the same service as we provided to You, We will ask Your approval before accepting their work.

17. Quality and Testing

17.1 We test all our websites and software to the best of Our ability. However, We cannot guarantee that they are 100% free from errors. Only things like space travel, robotics and medical systems approach this, and even they fail occasionally.

17.2 We ask You to check Your website, and any software We develop for You, as soon as possible. Should You find anything that is not implemented exactly in line with the specification We agreed, or that You feel is wrong, please notify Us immediately.

17.3 If, during normal use at any time, You find that Your website or software is not working to Your satisfaction, please report it to us immediately.

17.4 If We agree that the website or software is not working to the specification and we are to blame, We will fix it as soon as We can.

17.5 If We consider that, rather, a software enhancement is required, We may implement changes later and request further charges.

18. Search Engine Optimisation

18.1 We do not guarantee that your website will appear on search results page 1 for Google or any other search engine.

18.2 We do not provide a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) service. SEO is very time-consuming and, therefore, extremely expensive, which puts it out of the reach of most of our target market.

18.3 BlueTree CMS provides access to on-page optimisation fields and encourages their completion. Completion of these fields is optional and, if We write Your web page copy, We do not complete them as a matter of course. If You wish Us to complete them please ask. We will quote you a fixed price for doing so. Clause 18.1 applies nonetheless.

18.4 We do provide several on-line resource pages which help Our clients with SEO. However, We do not guarantee that anything We suggest, or that You do, will result in a page 1 ranking for any web page on any search engine.

19. The Small Print

19.1 We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions at any time without giving prior notice and without necessarily notifying Our Clients of any change.

19.2 By asking Us to undertake work for You, You are agreeing to these terms and conditions unless We have agreed to a change beforehand in writing.

19.3 Any agreement between You and Us shall be constructed under, and subject to, English law. We fervently hope never to have to test this, but any dispute arising from Your agreement with Us shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the English Courts.