If you agree to work with us you will be bound under these terms and conditions.
Between “us”, The Design Order, and “you”, The Client.
WHAT DO BOTH PARTIES AGREE TO DO?
As our customer, you have the power and ability to enter into this contract on behalf of your company or organisation. You agree to provide us with everything that we’ll need to complete the project – including text, images and other information – as and when we need it and in the format we ask for. You agree to review our work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways and you’ll also be bound by any dates that we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this contract.
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 endeavour to meet all the deadlines set but we can’t be responsible for a missed launch date or a dead-line 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’ll also maintain the confidentiality of any information that you give us.
1. PAYMENT SCHEDULE
We’re sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices that we send you promptly. We’re also sure you’ll want to maintain a positive working relationship and keep the project moving forward, so when you agree to our project proposal you also agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule.
For project based work, the Design Order will invoice your business for fifty per cent (50%) of the project value after the agreement of our proposal which will act as the non-refundable deposit. The remaining 50% will be billed as per the schedule in your proposal. All outstanding amounts need to be paid in full on project completion before final files are supplied.
For our VIP design days these need to be paid in full to secure your place. This payment is non refundable. You can reschedule your day within 7 days notice but there may be an additional fee in you need to reschedule within 48 business hours. If you do not supply relevant content and imagery in time for your booking your day will be forfeited with no refund or reschedule offered.
PLEASE NOTE
Additional work hours on top of quoted hours will be charged in half hour increments at $15op/hr. Client will be notified for approval before proceeding.
An initial consult meeting and one follow up meeting is included as part of this proposal; any additional face-to-face meetings either in person or online will be charged according to our hourly fee of $150/hr unless otherwise specified.
Interest fees of 20% per month apply to the unpaid balance of overdue payments. In the event that we incur legal fees, costs and disbursements in an effort to collect our invoices, in addition to interest on the unpaid balance, you agree to reimburse us for these expenses.
Payment Details are on the base of your invoice.
2. PROJECT CANCELLATION / PAUSE / REFUND POLICY
A) PROJECT DELAY
The client agrees to provide feedback and required content including but not limited to imagery, text and logins in a timely manner as per the timeline provided with your pricing estimate. If the client fails to provide the required information within 7 days of presented design work, websites or copy, the client will be charged a project delay fee of $125 + GST per day to compensate for the disruption to studio workflow.
B) PROJECT PAUSE
If the client pauses the project, the client shall be liable to pay for all work completed at that point at the hourly rate stated above as well as a recommencement fee of $1,500 + GST. The project will be stored on our server for 12 months after which time we are under no obligation to keep the project files. Upon recommencement, The Design Order will provide an updated quote for the remaining work which the client needs to approve prior to The Design Order commencing work.
C) PROJECT CANCELLATION
If the client cancels the project at any stage, the non-refundable deposit will be forfeited by the client. If, at the time of cancellation, work has been completed beyond the amount covered by the non-refundable deposit, the client shall be liable to pay for all work completed at the hourly rate of $150/hr.
3. OWNERSHIP OF ARTWORK
All services provided by The Design Order Pty Ltd, under this Agreement shall be for the exclusive use of the Client. Upon full payment of all fees and expenses, reproduction rights for all approved final files created by The Design Order Pty Ltd for this project shall be granted. All original artwork/files created by The Design Order Pty Ltd or parts contained therein, whether preliminary concepts, working files or final visual presentation remains the property of The Design Order Pty Ltd, may not be used by the Client without the permission of The Design Order Pty Ltd and will not be released.
Software files including but not limited to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign remain the property of The Design Order and will not be released to the client.
The Design Order Pty Ltd retains the right to use the completed project and any preliminary designs for the purpose of design competitions, future publications on design, educational purposes, marketing materials, on-line posting on The Design Order Pty Ltds website and physical portfolio. Where applicable the client and any other contributors will be given any necessary credit for usage of the project elements.
4. PRODUCTION SCHEDULE/DELIVERY OF PROJECT
The client will assume any printing, hosting, binding, shipping or insurance costs related to the project. Any alteration or deviation from the quote specifications involving extra costs will be executed only upon approval with the client. The Design Order Pty Ltd shall not incur any liability or penalty for delays in the completion of the project due to actions or negligence of client, unusual transportation delays, unforeseen illness, or external forces beyond the control of The Design Order Pty Ltd. If such event(s) occur, it shall entitle The Design Order Pty Ltd to extend the completion/delivery date, by the time equivalent to the period of such delay.
5. PROOFING OF FINAL PROJECT
The Design Order Pty Ltd shall make every effort to ensure the final product is free of any grammatical and spelling errors, before giving the final product to the client. It is agreed that it is the client’s responsibility to ensure that there are no spelling or grammatical errors contained in the final product. In order for the job to be delivered (to client, printing press, bindery, mailhouse or “have it go live” in the world wide web), aside from agreed payment schedule, client must provide The Design Order Pty Ltd approval stating the project is “OK As Is” for final production/delivery. If the client fails to provide approval, The Design Order Pty Ltd holds the right to stop/hold the project no matter what its previously agreed/set deadline or schedule.
It is agreed that The Design Order Pty Ltd is not responsible or held liable for any errors contained in the final product after the final product has been committed/approved by the client to print or posted in view of the public
6. WEBSITE SPECIFIC TERMS & CONDITIONS
CONTENT
We may have written a hundred blog posts but we’re not responsible for writing any copy unless it is specified in this estimate. We’ll be happy to help though, and in addition to the estimate we will charge you at our standard copy writing or content input rate.
NB: If you are unable to supply all of the right content in a timely manner, it does not mean we have not done our job. Once your website or project work has been tested/proofed and is ready to go live, either with your content or placeholder images and dummy text, we will issue the final invoice. Once the final invoice is paid we will hand over the keys and show you how to put your own content in once it’s ready. If the final invoice is not paid within the credit terms we have given you, we are under no obligation to keep the site on our testing server or continue with the project in anyway.
PHOTOGRAPHS/IMAGERY
You will supply us photographs in digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs we can suggest vendors of stock photography. Any time we spend searching for appropriate photographs will be charged at our standard discovery rate.
WEBSITE TESTING
We will test that all templates perform well on the latest browsers and device software. We will not test old or abandoned browsers, for example Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or 5.5 for Windows or Mac, previous versions of Apple’s Safari, Mozilla Firefox or Opera unless otherwise specified. If you need us to consider these older browsers, we will charge you at our standard rate for any necessary additional design work, development and testing.
RESPONSIVE BREAKPOINTS
We build in breakpoints at the following intervals to optimise the viewing experience for the largest amount of screens.
Mobile breakpoint is 385px
Tablet breakpont is 768px
Laptop breakpoint is 1024px
Desktop breakpoint is 1200px and above
If you need us to consider additional breakpoints, we will charge you at our standard development rate for any extra development work required.
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 amount of work 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. However, you will be charged accordingly and these additional costs will need to be agreed to before the extra work commences. This additional work will affect deadlines and they will be moved accordingly. We’ll be up front about all of this if and when it happens to make sure we’re all on the same page before proceeding. We may also ask you to put requests in writing so we can keep track of changes. If the nature or functions of the project change significantly throughout the process, we reserve the right to deem the current project cancelled. At this point you will pay us in full for all the work we have done and may commission us to complete the new project based on the new requirements. This will require a new quote and contract.
PLUGINS AND APPS
For WordPress site builds we use Elementor page builder for visual content control in the WordPress CRM. It is charged at $99US per year. We purchase a 1 year license with every new WordPress build but it is up to the client to maintain this license fee.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Once your website is launched, we will provide 30 days of support to make sure any bugs have been ironed out and that you are confident using your new website. After this we recommend you subscribe to an ongoing website care plan to make sure your website is looked after and maintained. These website care plans include updating your software, regular backups, security checks and making sure your website is online and open for business 24/7/365. Please ask us for more information.
We can’t guarantee that the functions contained in any web page templates or in a completed website will always be error-free and so we can’t be liable to you or any third party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages arising out of the operation of or inability to operate this website and any other web pages, 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.
WEBSITE PLATFORM CHANGES
Website platforms like Squarespace, Showit and WordPress Plugins often make changes and upgrades related to features or interfaces over time. The Design Order will ensure that the Client’s website meets the technical requirements of the website platform at the end of the 30 day support period. However, the Client is not entitled to free alterations, to refunds, or to anything else related to changes in the website platform after the end of the 30 day support period.
SITE CREDIT
The Design Order may display preliminary or final deliverables in portfolios, websites, social media, etc. for the purposes of professional recognition. The Design Order will design a small footer credit on the web site containing a link to The Design Order’s site (the “Credit Line”). The client will not remove the Credit Line without written permission from The Design Order. If the Client chooses not to include the Credit Line, the Client must inform The Design Order of this choice and pay an additional fee of $500+gst.
7. CONFIDENTIALITY
All correspondence and documents provided will be treated as confidential between the client and The Design Order Pty Ltd, unless consent has been granted by both parties involved.
8. ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER
If you accept your offer by agreeing to proceed with your project, you will have entered into an agreement to accept these terms and conditions. This means you will be bound by the terms and conditions set out in this document, including being billed in accordance with it.