Statement of Work Contract

Summary:

I’ll always do my best to fulfill your needs and meet your expectations, but it’s important to have things written down so that we both know what’s what, who should do what and when, and what will happen if something goes wrong. In this contract you won’t find any complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. I’ve no desire to trick you into agreeing to something that you might later regret. What I do want is what’s best for both parties, now and in the future.

So in short;
You are hiring me (LSB Web Design Ltd) located at 9 Willow Drive, Hempnall, Norwich, Norfolk, NR15 2QF to develop a website for the total price outlined in the proposal, quote, or written project specification. Of course it’s a little more complicated, but I’ll get to that.

Agreement and acceptance

These terms, together with the proposal, quote, statement of work, or written project specification I provide, form the agreement between you and LSB Web Design Ltd. If there is any conflict between these terms and the proposal, the proposal will take priority for project-specific details such as price, deliverables, timescales, and payment schedule.

Payment of the initial invoice, written confirmation by email, or any other clear instruction to begin work will be taken as acceptance of these terms.

What do both parties agree to do?

You: You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company or your organisation. You’ll give me everything I need to complete the project as and when and in the format I need it. You’ll review my work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner too.

Me (LSB Web Design Ltd): I have the experience and ability to do everything I’ve agreed with you and I’ll do it all in a professional and timely manner. I’ll endeavour to meet every deadline that’s set and on top of that I’ll maintain the confidentiality of everything you give me.

Project terms

Project Briefs & Scope of Work

I will deliver the website based on the agreed proposal, scope of work, and any written specifications confirmed before the project begins. Where requirements are unclear, I will use my professional judgement to interpret them in a way that best supports the goals of the project. Any features, pages, integrations, design changes, or functionality not included in the agreed scope may require a separate quote.

If you notice anything missing from the work I deliver to you, please let me know during the review and feedback phases of the build. If I am not made aware of any missing functionality or design elements before site launch then I may need to quote separately for that work.

Assumptions and exclusions

Unless specifically included in the proposal, the project does not include copywriting, brand identity design, logo design, advanced SEO, paid advertising, email marketing setup, CRM integrations, booking systems, custom plugin development, accessibility audits, legal policy drafting, cookie compliance setup, hosting, domain registration, ongoing maintenance, or content migration.

If you need any of these services, I can provide a separate quote or recommend a suitable specialist where appropriate.

Development Process

Unless agreed otherwise, the development of new website builds will typically follow a 10 stage process as outlined below.

Stage 1 – Planning & research
Stage 2 – Setup of website framework & infrastructure
Stage 3 – Primary website design & development phase
Stage 4 – Initial testing & feedback
Stage 5 – Second website design & development phase
Stage 6 – Cross browser & mobile testing
Stage 7 – Final testing & feedback
Stage 8 – Site speed and onsite SEO optimisation
Stage 9 – Prelaunch setup
Stage 10 – Site launch

Design

I create look-and-feel designs, and flexible layouts that adapt to the capabilities of many devices and screen sizes. I create designs iteratively and use predominantly HTML and CSS so I won’t waste time mocking up every template as a static visual.

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to review my work and provide feedback. If at any stage you’re not happy with the direction my work is taking and you would like to stop my involvement with a project, you’ll pay me in full for everything I’ve produced until that point and I will do my best to ensure a new developer of your choosing can take over the project seamlessly.

Website Content

If you plan to supply graphic files to be used they should be in an editable, vector digital format (SVG) where possible.

You should supply photographs in a high resolution digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs, I can suggest stock libraries. If you’d like me to search for photographs for you, I will bill you for the images once purchased, and a fee to cover my time finding these images charged at my standard hourly rate.

I may make minor edits to website graphics where necessary, if I deem the edits required to be extensive then I will provide a graphic design quote for the work to be carried out.

I’ll provide you with full access to the website so you can add and manage content as needed. While I’ll generally populate most pages during the build process, you may need to update or adjust some sections. Please note that I won’t be transferring blog posts or other custom post types, you’ll have access to handle this yourself, or I can provide a separate quote for content migration if preferred.

I will request website content from you up to five times. Thereafter, if no content has been forthcoming I will use placeholder text and images where necessary. My full fee will be due once the project reaches stage 9 of the development process as outlined earlier in this contract, regardless of whether or not content has been forthcoming.

If I am working on an e-commerce project for you I will manually upload a maximum of 20 products to your site free of charge. I then charge £1 per product if I am required to manually upload or edit additional products. Every 4 variations count as a new product, for example Small, Medium, Large & Extra Large are all variations.

Typically a spreadsheet can be put together allowing us to import the products instead of having to manually add them.

If you require me to migrate products from an existing site then I will charge my standard hourly rate for this service, unless it has been agreed between us to include this in the original price quoted for the project.

It’s your responsibility to supply me with the necessary product information if you need me to upload products to the site for you. Product information should be supplied in CSV format and at the very least I require the following details to upload them:
– Product name
– Price
– Image (if applicable)

Legal Policies

You are responsible for ensuring your website includes any legal documents, policies, notices, terms, privacy policy, cookie policy, returns policy, or regulatory information required for your business. I may add supplied policies to the website, but I do not provide legal advice and cannot guarantee that those documents are suitable or compliant.

Data protection

Each party agrees to comply with applicable data protection laws. You are responsible for ensuring that your website has appropriate privacy notices, cookie notices, consent mechanisms, and legal policies for your business.

Where I process personal data on your behalf, I will only do so as necessary to provide the agreed services and in accordance with your reasonable instructions.

You are responsible for ensuring that any customer data, enquiry data, order data, mailing list data, analytics data, or other personal data collected through the website is handled lawfully.

Cost of Materials

Occasionally additional software, code, subscriptions, plugins or themes may be required to complete projects. You are responsible for the cost of these additional materials, and unless stated otherwise the cost won’t be included in the original quote. No purchase will be made unless agreed with you first.

Some premium plugins may be used in website builds, if you have an ongoing maintenance plan with me then I will add my license key to the site for these plugins where possible so they can continue to receive updates. Occasionally some premium plugins require manual updates and cannot be updated automatically using a license key, you may need to purchase a separate license for these if you want to download and update those plugins in the future. The cost of purchasing those plugins is not included in my quote and will be your responsibility.

Browser testing

Browser testing no longer means attempting to make a website look identical in browsers of different capabilities or on devices with different size screens. It does mean ensuring that a person’s experience of a design should be appropriate to the capabilities of the browser or device being used.

Desktop browser testing

I test my work in current versions of major desktop browsers including those made by Apple (Safari), Google (Chrome), Microsoft (Edge) and Mozilla (Firefox). I won’t test in other older browsers unless you specify otherwise, and if you require an enhanced design for an older or unsupported browser then I can provide a separate estimate for that.

Mobile browser testing

Testing popular small-screen devices is essential in ensuring that a person’s experience of a design is appropriate to the capabilities of the device they’re using. I test on representative modern mobile screen sizes and current mobile browser versions where practical. Specific physical device testing is not included unless agreed in writing.

I won’t test on other devices unless you specify otherwise, and if you require an enhanced design for a specific device or operating system that was launched more than 3 years ago then I can provide a separate estimate for that.

Responsive Breakpoints

I will design websites for the following screen width breakpoints: 1920px, 1440px, 1280px, 1024px, 768px, 480px and 360px. I will ensure the site looks great at all widths but these breakpoints ensure all the popular screen sizes are covered.

Accessibility

I aim to follow good accessibility practices when designing and developing websites. Unless specifically agreed in the proposal, the project does not include a formal accessibility audit, WCAG compliance certification, or legal accessibility compliance review. If you require a specific accessibility standard, this must be agreed in writing before the project begins.

Google Maps API

Google Maps integrations usually require an API key to work, these APIs have free usage limits set by Google, beyond these limits they charge for usage. I will use a Google Maps API key from my own account on all websites I build for you, if one of these websites starts to receive heavy usage and nears the API usage limit then I will let you know and request that you change the API used to one from your own account.

The free usage quota that Google provides is generous and only very high traffic sites will go over this.

Third-party Services

I am not responsible for the availability, performance, pricing, terms, security, or continued operation of third-party services, plugins, APIs, hosting providers, payment gateways, email platforms, analytics tools, or other external systems used by the website.

Changes and revisions

I don’t want to limit your ability to change your mind, that’s why there will be a chance for you to review the site and provide feedback. The price quoted in the proposal is based on the length of time I estimate I’ll need to accomplish everything you’ve told me you want to achieve whilst factoring in revisions. I’m happy to be flexible, if you want to change your mind or add anything new that is outside of the original project scope that won’t be a problem as I can provide a separate estimate for that.

All feedback and ideas for revisions must be submitted via a text document, within an email or added to an agreed upon project management tool so that we both have a record of it. If feedback is supplied over the phone or video call then I will attempt to make notes on what we have discussed, I will email this to you after the call and ask you to confirm they are correct.

If I send work to you for review and do not receive feedback within 10 working days, the work may be treated as approved for the purpose of moving the project forward, issuing the next invoice, or preparing for launch. Any changes requested after this point may be treated as additional work if they fall outside the agreed scope or require previously approved work to be redone.

Delays

If I am waiting for feedback, content, access, approvals, or other information from you for more than 30 days, the project may be placed on hold. If the project is inactive for more than 90 days, I may invoice for all work completed to date and reschedule the remaining work subject to my availability. Restarting the project may require a revised timeline and may incur additional costs.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO is a completely separate service to web development and can be used as part of your online marketing strategy. As such I am not responsible for the ongoing search engine optimisation of any websites I build for you or their rankings in search engines.

All sites I build are SEO friendly from the ground up and I will optimise a number of key elements for you prior to launch. You will have full access to easily edit the important onsite elements that can influence your rankings.

Once a website is launched this is where my involvement with its SEO ends. However if you work with an agency or freelancer to develop an SEO campaign then I am more than happy to make any site changes for you that they suggest be implemented. I can recommend a good SEO agency.

Meetings

I am happy to include a reasonable level of project communication as part of the cost of your project. This may include emails, messages, calls, or meetings that are necessary to keep the project moving and make key decisions.

For most projects, written feedback by email or an agreed project management tool will usually be the most efficient way to keep the project moving.

Unless specifically agreed in the proposal, regular scheduled progress meetings, such as weekly calls, are not included in the quoted project price. If you would like to include regular meetings, additional calls, or dedicated project management time beyond the communication already allowed for, this can be arranged and will be billed at my standard hourly rate.

Where additional online meetings or video calls are agreed, the time billed will include the duration of the call plus an additional 30 minutes to cover preparation, notes, follow-up actions, and post-meeting organisation.

In-person meetings can be arranged where needed. Unless specifically included in the proposal, these will be billed at my standard hourly rate and may include reasonable travel-related time and expenses. Any significant costs will be discussed with you in advance.

This approach helps keep project communication productive while ensuring that any additional meeting time, project management, or travel is accounted for fairly.

Support and aftercare

After a website has gone live I will provide 30 days of support. The 30-day support period covers bug fixes and minor adjustments related to the agreed project scope. It does not include new features, major design changes, new pages, content entry, SEO work, training, third-party service issues, hosting problems outside my control, or changes caused by updates to plugins, themes, browsers, or external platforms.

After the 30-day support period, any work required on the site will be billed for at my standard hourly rate.

Copyrights

You guarantee that all elements of text, images, or other artwork you provide for the project are either owned by you or that you have permission to use them. If a breach of a third party’s rights occurs, you agree to indemnify LSB Web Design against all costs, claims, and damages that may arise.

Once your final payment has been made and cleared, copyright for the visual elements I create for your project will be transferred to you. You will also retain ownership of all text, images, and data you provided for the project, provided they are not owned by someone else.

You will own the final website design and content created specifically for you once all invoices are paid. I retain ownership of any pre-existing tools, code libraries, frameworks, processes, know-how, templates, or reusable components that I use to deliver the project. You are granted a licence to use those elements as part of your website.

Please note that the website and design I deliver are for your use only as part of the project we agreed upon. It cannot be packaged, resold, or redistributed to others without prior agreement.

I take pride in my work and love to share my experience with others. Therefore, I may showcase and link to your project in my portfolio unless you request otherwise.

Use of work before payment

Until all outstanding invoices have been paid in full, all designs, layouts, code, development work, prototypes, staging websites, concepts, and other materials I create remain the property of LSB Web Design Ltd and are provided for review purposes only.

You must not copy, reproduce, recreate, self-host, publish, transfer, adapt, reverse engineer, use with another developer, use with AI tools, or otherwise make use of any unfinished or unpaid work without my prior written permission.

If you choose not to complete the project, or if the project is cancelled, paused, or terminated before final payment, you are still responsible for paying for all work completed up to that point. Unpaid or unfinished work must not be used unless we agree otherwise in writing.

If any part of my unpaid work is copied, recreated, published, self-hosted, transferred to another provider, or used as the basis for another website or digital product, I reserve the right to invoice for the outstanding project balance, any additional work completed, and any reasonable costs incurred in enforcing my rights.

This clause applies whether the work is copied manually, by another developer, by software, by automation, or by AI tools.

Payments

I’m sure you understand how important it is as a business that you pay the invoices that I send you promptly. As I’m also sure you’ll want to stay friends, you agree to stick to the payment terms stated on each invoice. Unless agreed otherwise, invoices are payable within 30 days. Final payment must be made before the website goes live.

If I am not paid in accordance with the agreed payment terms, I reserve the right, where applicable, to claim statutory interest and fixed compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts legislation. I may also recover reasonable debt recovery costs incurred in chasing and collecting overdue payments.

Unless agreed otherwise in the proposal, payments will be staged as follows:

– 50% deposit of the project total before work begins
– 25% once the initial design/development phase is complete
– 25% before launch

I will issue you with an invoice for the 50% deposit before any work begins. Once the project has reached stage 3 and the main design work has begun, this initial invoice is non-refundable and is used to secure development time and cover initial costs.

Final payment is due when the website is ready for launch, whether or not you choose to launch immediately. A delay in launch caused by missing content, delayed approval, third-party issues, or your decision to postpone launch does not delay the final invoice.

Legal stuff

I can’t guarantee that my work will be error-free and so I can’t be liable to you or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if you’ve advised me of them. Finally, if any provision of this contract shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this contract and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

But where’s all the horrible small print?

Just like a parking ticket, you can’t transfer this contract to anyone else without my permission. This contract stays in place and need not be renewed. If for some reason one part of this contract becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts of it remain in place.

Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of English and Welsh courts.