Agreements with web developers
The services and obligations
Specification
Describe the scope of the service in full before entering into the contract. Make sure that the developer’s quotation details everything that you want from your web site.
Hosting
A web site is useless without reliable and secure hosting. Before you sign up to any kind of hosting, make sure you ask:
- Where will the site be hosted?
- Is the hosting service reliable? Is there proof of this?
- Who is responsible for the security of the server?
- What are the plans if the hosting service fails?
Ongoing maintenance
The initial contract should say who is responsible for ongoing maintenance of the web site. If it is the developer, then they should specify their ongoing costs.
Your own obligations
You need to understand your own obligations under the contract. For example, you may be responsible for providing content or photographs before the developer can start their work. If so, you should agree a timescale for this.
Timescales
The contract should specify the timescales for all aspects of the project. These need to be realistic and agreed by both parties.
Payment
All costs should be fully explained before any work goes ahead. If payment is linked to stages of development, this should be clearly defined. If there are time-related bonus or penalty clauses, they should be spelt out.
Liability and copyright
The contract should define who will own the copyright of the final web site. Best practice is for the developer to hand over the entire copyright of the web site to the site owner on final payment.
If things go wrong
If either party fails to deliver their part of the contract, the consequences should be listed in detail, including any financial penalties and liability.
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