Project terms, in plain English

1. How a project starts

It starts with a free 20-minute intro call. If it looks like a fit, I send a written proposal setting out the deliverables, the price, a timeline estimate, the assumptions I've made, and what I'll need from you.

For bigger or less defined projects, the first step is a discovery sprint: $1,500 fixed, usually 5–8 business days. It produces a written scope, screen sketches, a fixed build price and a timeline. If the build starts within 60 days of me delivering the sprint output, the $1,500 is credited in full against the build. The discovery documents are yours to keep either way.

2. Scope and change requests

I build to the written scope. If you'd like something added or changed, I'll quote it in writing (or tell you it'll be billed at $110/hour) and we'll agree it before I start. A change request can move the price and the timeline, and the quote will say how.

3. Payment

• 40% to book, 40% at the agreed midpoint review, 20% at launch.
• Projects under $2,000: 50% to book, 50% at launch.
• I invoice by email. Invoices are due within 14 days.
• Work starts once the booking payment has arrived.
• If an invoice is overdue, I may pause work until it's paid. I'll tell you before I do.
• Prices don't include sales tax. If tax applies, it's added to the invoice.
• If a project ends early, you pay for the work done and any third-party costs you approved. Anything you've prepaid beyond that is refunded.

4. Timelines are estimates

Every timeline I give is an estimate. It depends on content, feedback and access arriving when planned, as well as on me. If something's slipping, on either side, I'll say so as soon as I know.

5. What I need from you

A named person who can make decisions, timely feedback, the content and materials the scope lists, and access to the accounts and systems the work involves. You confirm you have the rights to the materials you give me (text, images, logos, data). Your materials stay yours.

6. Ownership

On full and final payment, I assign to you the copyright in the custom code and other deliverables I made specifically for your project.

Some things are handled differently:

• Third-party and open-source components (frameworks, libraries, plugins, fonts) stay under their own licences. I'll list the main ones.
• My pre-existing tools, libraries and templates stay mine. You get a non-exclusive, perpetual licence to use them as part of the deliverable.
• General know-how and code that isn't specific to you can be reused by me on other work.

Before final payment, work in progress is provided for review and testing only.

At handover you get the code repository, the credentials, and the documentation. Hosting, the domain and third-party accounts are set up in your name.

7. Third-party services

Hosting, domains, payment processors, email services, APIs and other subscriptions are your accounts and your costs. I'm not responsible for their outages, pricing changes or changes to their APIs. If a provider changes something and the system needs updating, or you want to move to a different provider, I'll quote the work.

8. Confidentiality

We each keep the other's confidential information confidential, during the project and for 3 years after it ends. Trade secrets stay protected for as long as they remain trade secrets. I'm happy to sign a mutual NDA before you share details.

9. The 30-day fix window

For 30 days after launch, I fix defects in the code I wrote so that it works as the scope describes, at no charge.

That doesn't include: changes made later by someone else, problems caused by third-party services, new features, content changes, hosting issues, or browser and operating-system versions newer than the ones tested.

Apart from this fix window and anything the signed proposal says, I give no other warranties. I don't guarantee business results, or that the software will run uninterrupted or without errors.

10. Care plans

• Care plans are for business use, billed monthly in advance, and renew each month until cancelled.
• Cancel with 30 days' written notice by email.
• Unused hours don't roll over. Extra hours are $110/h. New features are quoted separately.
• "Priority fixes" in App Care is a response target I work to, not a guarantee.
• Backups and uptime checks are set up and monitored, but I can't guarantee they'll never fail. Keep your own copies of data that matters.
• If plan prices change, you'll get 30 days' notice.

11. Hosting and security

You choose and pay the host, usually on my recommendation. You're responsible for keeping your own logins safe, and for your business's own legal and compliance obligations. I can build with requirements like HIPAA or PCI in mind, but whether your operation complies depends on your policies, hosting and agreements. I'm not an auditor.

12. Limitation of liability

My total liability for a project is capped at the fees you paid under the relevant proposal. For care plans, it's capped at the fees paid in the previous 3 months. Neither of us is liable for indirect, consequential or special damages, or for lost profits. Nothing here limits liability that can't legally be limited.

13. Indemnity

Each of us covers the other for claims caused by the materials we supplied or by our own unlawful use of the work. In practice: if you give me an image you didn't have the rights to, that's on you; if I put code into your project that I didn't have the rights to, that's on me.

14. Ending a project

Either of us can end a project with written notice. You pay for the work done up to that point and any non-cancellable costs you approved, and I hand over the work that's been completed and paid for. If either of us seriously breaks the agreement, the other gives written notice and 10 days to put it right before ending it for that reason.

15. Showing your project

I only show your project, or name your company, with your written permission. Saying no never affects the price.

16. How I work with you

I'm an independent contractor, not an employee. You're free to work with other developers, and I'm free to work with other clients. I do the work myself. If part of a project ever needs a specialist, I'll ask you first, and I stay responsible for the result.

17. Data protection

If the system I build or look after will hold your customers' personal data, I can sign a data processing addendum covering how that data is handled.

18. Law and disputes

These terms and any proposal are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA. If there's a dispute, we'll try to sort it out by talking for 30 days first. If that doesn't work, it goes to the state or federal courts located in Delaware.

19. The whole agreement

The signed proposal, plus any change requests we've both agreed in writing, is the whole agreement for a project.