Terms, in plain English

Who this is between

These terms cover work done by RedHorseWebDev — that's me, JT Creeden, based in the Hudson Valley, New York — for you, the business hiring me. They apply from the moment you accept a quote.

Your written quote comes first. If anything in it contradicts this page, the quote wins, because it was written about your job specifically.

Quotes and prices

• You get an exact price in writing before I start any work. No hourly surprises.
• A quote holds for 30 days.
• Current prices are on the pricing page. Founding-client pricing is a limited offer on the first ten clients, and the regular price applies once those spots are gone.
• If you're on a monthly plan with founding pricing, that price is locked for your first 12 months — meaning it cannot go up on you in that time, not that you owe me 12 months. After that it moves to the regular rate, on its own and on the same card. The page where you put your card in shows you the date and the new amount before you sign up, and I'll email you 30 days before it happens. Nothing else about your plan changes.
• Anything outside the agreed scope gets quoted separately, in writing, before I do it. You will never get an invoice for something you didn't agree to.

Paying

• Nothing is due until the work is done and you're happy with it. Nothing is charged to a card before you've approved your site, either.
• A one-time build is invoiced, and so is the founding offer's $450. I email the invoice after you approve your site, never before. The $450 pays for six months at the founding rate, and the six after that are free. If you don't approve the site, you don't pay either.
• Invoices are payable within 14 days. Card payments go through Stripe.
• The monthly plan and hosting are charged to your card automatically. I send you a link to a payment page for your plan, and you put your card in there. If I built your site, the link comes after you've approved it, and the first charge is on the day the site goes live or on a start date we agree up to four weeks after you approve it. If I'm only hosting a site you already have, the link comes once we've agreed the plan, and the first charge is on the day I take your site over or a date we agree up to four weeks after that. After that it's charged on the same date every month (on the last day of the month, in months too short to have that date). The card goes straight to Stripe; I never see the number and I don't keep it. Stripe emails you a receipt for every charge.
• Stripe also gives you a billing page where you can change your card, see what you've paid, and cancel. It's at redhorsewebdev.com/pay/billing, and you sign in with your email address.
• If a monthly charge fails, Stripe tries the card again over about two weeks and emails you a link to update it. Nothing is switched off while that happens, or automatically after it. If it still hasn't gone through, I'll get in touch with you first.
• If an invoice or a monthly charge stays unpaid and you've stopped replying, I may pause hosting or work until it's settled. I'll tell you before I do, not after.

Changes, and when I stop

There's no limit on rounds of changes. I keep going until you're happy with the site, because a site you're not happy with is no use to either of us.

The other half of that, stated plainly so it isn't a surprise: Until you've paid me anything, I can end an engagement at any time, for any reason. If I do, you owe me nothing, you've lost nothing, and you're free to take your business anywhere you like. I keep the work I've done.

Once you've paid for a stretch of time, I finish it. Whether that's one month or the founding year, the site stays up and looked after to the end of what you've paid for. I can't walk away halfway through. What I can do is decline to renew when it runs out.

That right exists so "unlimited changes" can stay genuinely unlimited for everybody else. In practice I've never wanted to use it.

What I need from you

I can only move as fast as the information arrives. To get your site live I'll need your text, photos, logo if you have one, and access to anything I'm connecting to. If a project goes quiet on your side for more than 60 days, I may close it out and re-quote if you come back. Nothing is owed either way.

You're responsible for having the right to use whatever you send me — photos, logos, copy, reviews. If you don't own it, don't send it.

Who owns the website

• One-time build: yours from day one. You get the finished files and you can host them anywhere you like, with or without me.
• Monthly plan: the site stays mine while the plan runs. That's what allows the cost to be spread over months instead of paid up front.

If you leave a monthly plan, what happens to the site is decided then, based on how long you've been with me and why you're going. You either get the files handed over, or you pay a one-off fee for them. Ask me before you cancel and I'll tell you which, and what it costs, so you can decide with the number in front of you. If you cancel on your billing page first, I'll get in touch before the plan ends, and nothing is switched off until we've talked.

Who owns the domain name

On the monthly plan, I register your domain and pay the renewals, so it sits in my name while you're with me.

If you leave and want to take it with you, you pay me exactly what I last paid to renew it — the real cost, including tax and fees, with nothing added on top — and I transfer it to you. I don't make money on domains and I won't hold one hostage. It doesn't matter whether you've been with me three months or three years; the price is the last renewal I paid, not all of them. If it hasn't been renewed yet, you pay what I paid to register it.

With a one-time build you register the domain in your own name from the start, so there's nothing to transfer.

Ending a monthly plan

There is no minimum term and no contract to sign out of. The monthly plan is monthly. If you pay month to month and want to stop after two months, you stop after two months. There is no cancellation fee, ever.

“Locked for 12 months” is about the price, not about you. It means the rate you start on cannot go up for a year. It has never meant you owe me a year.

• To stop, tell me by email or text, or cancel it yourself on your billing page. You don't have to give notice. The plan runs to the end of the month you've already paid for and ends there. Nothing more is charged, and there's no refund for the days left in that month.
• If you took the founding offer, you have twelve months and they're yours. The $450 buys six months and the next six free — a full year of hosting, upkeep and edits. Decide at month three that it isn't for you and nothing switches off: the site stays up and stays looked after to the end of that year. There's no refund because there's nothing undelivered.
• At the end of those twelve months you either carry on at the standard rate or you don't. That's the only decision point.
• Paying month to month is the other route: $75, stop whenever you like, and no free months in it.
• I'll tell you what happens to your site and your domain, with the numbers, before anything is switched off.
• I won't take a site down without telling you first.

Hosting and uptime

Sites on a monthly plan are hosted on a server I manage. I monitor uptime and I'll usually know your site is down before you do, but I can't promise a website will never go offline — nobody honest can. What I do promise is that I'll be the one dealing with it.

Backups run regularly. Security and software updates are included. What counts as an included edit, and what gets quoted separately, is spelled out on the pricing page.

Your content, and mine

Everything you send me stays yours. I may show your finished site in my portfolio and on social media unless you ask me not to — just say so and I'll leave it out, no explanation needed.

The guides and tools on this site are free to read and free to use in your own business. Please don't republish them as your own.

Where the limit sits

I'll do careful work and fix what I get wrong. But a website is one part of a business, and I can't be responsible for things outside it — lost sales, lost data you hadn't backed up elsewhere, or an outage at a company I don't control. If something does go badly wrong and it's on me, what I'm liable for is capped at what you've paid me in the previous 12 months.

Nothing here takes away rights you have under New York or federal consumer law. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York.

If these terms change

I'll update the date at the top. If something material changes while you're a client, I'll tell you directly rather than expecting you to notice a page.

Questions

Ask before you sign, not after. Email [email protected], or call or text 845-500-6590.