I do my best to estimate well above what I actually expect your website (or other work) to come to. I will honor my estimate no matter the actual cost (not including third-party fees). See the Additional Work section below for exceptions that may cause you to be billed a higher amount than the estimate.

Additional Work

Changes in input or direction or excessive changes may cause us to go over my estimate. Any work you wish me to create, which is not specified in my estimate will be considered an additional service. Such work may require an agreement and payment separate from the original estimate. If the additional work is required in order for the agreed upon work to be considered complete, the cost and date estimation are nullified and a new agreement must be signed.

Estimated Completion Date

I will provide an estimated completion date with your cost estimate. Some things that may change or nullify the estimated date are (but are not limited to): significant layout change after the design is approved, additional dynamic pages and/or functionality not disclosed prior to my estimate, Additional Work as stated above, and delay in payment of deposit. I will notify you of any potential delay.

Sometimes “life happens” and I am not able to complete a project within the expected time. This does not happen often, but I ask you to be patient and work with me should such a situation arise.

Testing Period

After the website is complete and I have performed my testing of the site, you have 30 days to inspect the site and request minor changes or fixes. Minor changes are typo corrections, changing stock photos (when the stock photo is not part of the navigation) and other like edits, this does not include changes to the layout, color scheme or functionality of the site. Any changes not completed during this time will fall into the category of Maintenance.

Payment Due

After your 30-day testing period I will send an invoice for my time plus any third-party fees minus your deposit, due within 30 days.

Termination

Written notice (email) of cancellation must be provided. In such cases I will stop work immediately and will bill for all work completed up until that point. I will send you files and passwords once payment is received. Third-party services will be cancelled if they are within their refundable period, otherwise I will include the fees in your bill and turn over any logins to you.

Maintenance

You may sign a maintenance contract to receive a reduced hourly rate based on the minimum number of hours per month you request. Additional hours above your monthly minimum will be charged at your contract rate. Without a contract, you will be charged my current rate, which may go up from time to time.

Maintenance requests must be received one week before the work must be done. I will schedule you for a specific period of time approximately one week after your request. You may add more updates during that week up until your scheduled day. My time for maintenance work is logged in 15-minute increments, so I recommend combining as much as possible in one request. Requested changes and maintenance must be received via email, fully prepared and explained, with a due date.

Emergency Maintenance

Any requested work that is received less than one week before it must be done is considered Emergency and will be charged at time and a half whatever rate you are normally charged. (If I happen to be able to complete normal maintenance earlier than one week after request is made, it is not considered emergency.)

Billable Time

During the pre-estimate time I generally don’t log billable time unless an exceptional amount of planning is needed in order to complete the estimate. If I’m sending you a quick email, I don’t log that time. All other work, research and communication is considered billable time, so if you tend to be one of those people who gets on the phone for long periods of time, remember that it’s on your dollar.

Disclaimer

If you have an active contract, that contract supersedes this page of policies.