Terms of business.

I don’t start paid work on a verbal agreement. Every engagement begins with a written scope covering what I’m building, what’s excluded, the price and the timeline. If the scope changes once work has started — a second site added, a bigger keyword set, an extra service — I quote the change in writing before doing it. Quotations are valid for 30 days unless I say otherwise, because energy market conditions and my own availability both move.

Project work is typically invoiced in stages: a deposit to begin, a milestone payment, and a balance on delivery. Retainers for SEO, paid media or ongoing work are invoiced monthly in advance. Invoices are due within 14 days unless we’ve agreed otherwise in writing. Late payment doesn’t automatically end the relationship, but I’m entitled to pause work until an overdue invoice is settled, and I reserve the right to charge statutory interest on invoices more than 30 days late, in line with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act.

Paid media budgets are separate from my fees and are paid directly to the ad platform by you, or passed through to me only where we’ve agreed that in writing.

Timelines in the scope document assume I get what I need from you when I ask for it: content sign-off, brand assets, access to your domain and hosting, and answers to questions about your service. Where a project stalls because I’m waiting on you for more than 10 working days, the delivery date moves by the same amount. I flag this as it happens rather than letting it surface as a missed deadline later.

I retain ownership of the design, code and content I produce until the final invoice for that project is paid in full. On final payment, ownership of the deliverables specified in the scope — the website, its copy, and any bespoke assets built for you — transfers to you. I keep the right to show the work in my own portfolio unless we’ve agreed confidentiality that specifically covers that.

Third-party components — fonts, stock imagery, licensed plugins — remain subject to their own licences, and it’s your responsibility to keep those licences current after handover if they’re not one-off purchases.

I won’t promise a specific position on a specific keyword by a specific date. Nobody who tells you they control Google’s algorithm is being straight with you. What I commit to is the work itself — the technical fixes, the content, the link building, the ad structure — and honest reporting on what it’s producing. Search and paid media results depend on factors outside either of our control, including competitor activity and platform changes.

My liability to you for any claim arising from the work is limited to the fees paid for the specific engagement giving rise to the claim in the 12 months before it arose. I’m not liable for indirect or consequential losses, including lost profits or lost business opportunities, except where the law doesn’t allow that limitation — for example, liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or fraud, is never limited.

Anything you share with me about your business — pricing, supplier relationships, customer data, unreleased plans — stays confidential. I use it only to deliver the agreed work. The same applies in reverse: my working methods, pricing structures and unpublished materials aren’t for redistribution.

Either of us can end an ongoing retainer with 30 days’ written notice. Project-based work can be cancelled before completion, but you’re liable for the work already done and any costs already committed, such as ad spend or licences bought on your behalf. I can pause or end work immediately if an invoice goes unpaid beyond 30 days after a reminder, or if I’m asked to do something unlawful or materially misrepresent a client’s service.

These terms, and any engagement carried out under them, are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them.