Terms of Business

Don’t be shocked that our Terms of Business is not some lofty legal document - this simply reflects our common-sense down-to-earth approach to our business. We know that good business is all about people - we don’t do any work where our customers are not known to us and vice-versa. All our work starts with a meeting - at this meeting we assess whether we’re able to work together and whether we have common expectations about what will be delivered and how it will be delivered. This works both ways - you will be measuring us up at the same time.

Once we agree to work together then there are a few basic principles which we feel need stating, just so everyone knows where they stand and how things will be handled if the eventual outcome isn’t quite how we all imagined.

You don’t formally engage us to work unless you have given us a purchase order or responded by email with formal acceptance to one of our quotes. Except in very rare circumstances (like you have specifically asked us) then we don’t start on your work straight away - it has to be scheduled in. We treat this waiting period a bit like a cooling-off period (oops that sounds a bit legal) - the point being that even if you accepted our quote you can still change your mind right up to when we start - we won’t be annoyed, we appreciate that in the real world things do change sometimes.

If there are specific materials required for your projects we try to avoid buying these until you have at least seen a sample of the agreed work. Of course if we do have spend money on materials and you change your mind after you’ve accepted a quote then it is reasonable that we charge you these costs unless we can reuse the material with another customer. The important thing is to let us know straight away - we aim to be flexible.

When we meet to discuss work we will be open about our costs. Most of what we do is based on a day rate for our time but often also includes material costs. We will make all of this clear to you in our quote. Sometimes working together can be quite an iterative process and very often people “don’t know what they want till they see what they get” - this doesn’t always make quoting simple. So, our solution is that if there is any uncertainty about the finished work at the point where we quote, then we will only incur cost for you in a controlled and agreed way - this gives us all an opportunity to review the project and make changes as we proceed. Through this process you can increase or decrease the scope of the project or terminate it completely, we will only ask you to pay for the time and materials already spent. When we work this way we will always update you on the estimated costs as they change and get your agreement to proceed at every stage.

Normally we bill one week after the work is completed because we like to enjoy the fruits of our labour. We would like you to pay as soon as possible after we will bill you and definitely no later than one month after you receive the bill. You will have an expectation that we will deliver the work in an agreed time and we have an expectation that you will pay in an agreed time. If either of us fails to meet that expectation - it is unlikely we will work together again.

We will make it really clear how to pay us when we send the bill - mostly we like money sent to our bank. But we also accept great reviews of our work.

Experience has taught us that the old adage “the customer is always right” is really a myth. But the customer certainly has the right to be listened to fairly and treated with respect if they are not happy with the end product. Satisfaction is an experience best shared - all parties need to be happy. If you are dissatisfied, we will take this seriously and respond accordingly. Living in a civilised society you naturally have all sorts of consumer protections - we will uphold these to the fullest extent and always seek to go beyond them if possible.

However, working with creative people carries risk. Not everyone has the same way of looking at things and we’re proud of how we see things. If a “creative difference” emerges between us we will do our best to remain agreeable and rectify any problem, if that can’t be done we’re always happy to admit defeat and move on.

Any bespoke work we produce for you becomes your property when you pay us. You retain the ownership in perpetuity (oops - done it again) in every respect pertaining to copyright. We will keep copies of all creative assets on file for you and will not use them with any other customers or replicate them in any other way other than for the purposes of our own website - which, in choosing to work with us, you give us permission to do.

Work which is not bespoke, that draws on our own or any other third party creative sources, will be identified as such and we will act to protect the copyright to the fullest extent of the law.

It is very difficult to warranty our work, but we can offer some assurances. We will indemnify you from any copyright challenges relating to work that we have produced. We will guarantee that all physical copy meets the performance specification agreed in the quote. If you find a fault (technical or material related) in any of our work after you have paid for it - we will correct that up to three months from the date the bill was issued.