You are hiring me to perform design and software work for you in the form of either hourly rate or a pre-planned project with agreed pricing. Project pricing is typically 50% deposit, 50% on completion but may vary by agreement.

I do my best to meet or exceed expectations but it’s a good idea to have a written record of who expects what, and what happens if things go wrong. Although the wording of this contract is simple, its purpose is serious: to ensure the safety of both parties now and in the future. This is a legal contract bound by the laws of Victoria, Australia.

Communication – I will stay in touch via regular meetings and email. Decisions will be documented. For ad-hoc hourly work, these decisions form the specifications for the work product. 

Creative Work – I will create original work product (generally software, images and other digital files).

Intellectual Property – The work created will be built especially for you. The work may be inter-merged with third party resources, such as logos of other companies, and off-the-shelf resources like javascript software components or templates. These third party components are included with the created work but distinct from it for intellectual property purposes.

The intellectual property rights in the work product created by me under this contract (the Project IP) vests in you, and you will have access to source files as well as final apps produced. If I incorporate any pre-existing work product (Background IP), I grant you a perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide licence to the Background IP to the extent necessary for you to enjoy the full benefit of your rights in the Project IP. If I incorporate third party resources, I will ensure that you have appropriate rights to use this material (Third Party IP) (such as creative commons licences) and will notify you of all such Third Party IP. Information you provide that isn’t intended for publication will be considered private and not disclosed to the public.

I love to show off my work and share what we have learned with other people, so once you have published software to the public I reserve the right to display screen shots as part of an online portfolio of past work. 

Ability – I have the experience and ability to perform the work discussed and will do so in a professional and timely manner. Any work suggested that exceeds my abilities or that I am unsure of, I will discuss in meetings or email before agreeing to. 

Purpose – I charge for professional work, not end  goals such as number of customers. 

Bug-free code – I try to code in a manner that minimises bugs, however no honest developer can promise bug free code. Please test my code and I am happy to debug issues at my standard rate. 

Fast responses – Email or text me any time with concerns and I will try to respond within a business day, however I have other clients and obligations and cannot be on call for your project. 

Invoices

For hourly rate work: I will track my time spent on your project each week, rounded up into 15 minute increments. Exact hours will be limited by my availability and by any weekly cap on hours you might request. Once a week I will invoice you for hours spent. 

For project work: I will invoice for the agreed amounts at the agreed milestones. Typically this will be 50% deposit and 50% on completion. Other arrangements like up-front or by-milestone may be arranged by written agreement.

Authority – As our customer, you have the power and ability to enter into this contract on behalf of your company or organisation. 

Information – You agree to provide me with everything that we need to complete the project including text, images and other information as and when we need it, in a timely manner and in the format that I ask for. 

You agree that you have rights to all information you provide including but not limited to text and images. 

Communication – You agree to stay in touch, via regular meetings and emails. I don’t expect you to be on-call, we’re all busy. But I do expect replies to queries within a few business days. A communication lapse of 14 days without prior agreement will have consequences such as pausing your project. Any outstanding invoices are still due.

Feedback – You agree to review my work in a timely manner, provide feedback and be ready for our regular meetings so that you can make the most of my time. 

Payment – You agree to pay invoices by their due date and acknowledge that unpaid invoices may result in work pausing your project and/or debt collection actions.  Resuming a paused project requires re-negotiation and may require upfront payments for remaining work.

This contract is effective on and from the time I commence work for you, regardless of the date on which the contract is signed.

Either party may cancel this contract with 2 days written notice. Should you cancel, I will cease work on receipt of notice and invoice for any un-billed hours. Should I cancel, no further fees will be required but no refund of past fees will be given. 

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 arising out of the operation of or inability to operate software and other work product delivered, 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.

This contract may not be transferred to anyone else without our 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.