Terms & Conditions
Any request you make for me to proceed with any kind of work for you, including any request for a quotation or meeting, implies your agreement to all of the following terms and conditions. Please read the following carefully - I cannot commence any type of work for you on any terms other than those expressed in this document:
1. You agree to be charged according to the principle that the commodity I am selling is my time as a professional. This chargeable time may include, at my discretion:
i. time spent actually carrying out specific items of computer programming and development work;
ii. time spent in professional discussion/meetings (including telephone meetings) regarding proposed, ongoing and completed work;
iii. where applicable, time spent travelling for such meetings or work (depending on billing scheme, see 3.ii);
iv. time spent analysing and costing proposed work;
v. “help desk” time spent addressing queries regarding issues that fall within my realm of expertise.
1.1 Specifically, you accept that from the outset of your contact with me any appreciable amount of time spent discussing proposed work with you and/or drawing up a formal proposal/quotation for said work may be chargeable at my discretion, up to a maximum of 4 hours. Such a charge would be payable regardless of whether you decided to proceed with the project being discussed.
2. You agree to accept my decision as to which of my advertised hourly rates is applicable in your case.
3. Where, in undertaking any type of work for you, I am required to travel beyond fair walking distance of my home in Brighton UK, you agree to a compensatory billing scheme based on either of the following, at my discretion:
i. the applicable increased hourly rate advertised at www.maxedwards.com/rates, to be charged for the specified minimum number of hours per day (the increased rate covers all travel expenses and travelling time); or
ii. my standard hourly rate charged for all time spent away from home (including all time spent travelling) plus travel expenses.
4. You agree that the following are acceptable definitions of “valid invoice”:
i. an invoice that I issue after completion of a specific fixed amount of work, corresponding to a previously quoted and agreed price for that work;
ii. an invoice that I issue for work completed that you have requested on a “timesheet billing” basis, that is accompanied by a detailed timesheet showing a fair and accurate breakdown of the hours being billed (minimum timesheet entry is 5 minutes), and that only covers work you have requested;
iii. an invoice that I issue for time spent in professional discussion with you or any of your agents or associates, either in person, on the phone or by email, for time spent analysing and costing your requirements for such work, or for time spent travelling to and from work or meetings with you or any of your agents or associates.
5. You agree that all work I carry out remains my property until paid for in full, and that I may choose to postpone further work until unpaid valid invoices have been settled.
6. You agree that I may choose to withhold delivery of specific items of work, providing instead a “preview” hosting service on my own web server, until the corresponding invoice has been issued and settled.
7. You agree to settle all valid invoices within 21 days of issue, and that in failing to do so you may face a lateness penalty of £50 for every whole week after that deadline and – at my discretion and where possible – temporary suspension or withdrawal of any deliveries associated with the overdue payment(s).
8. If you have ordered a “fixed price” job, but amend your requirements after I have started, you agree to pay my applicable hourly rate for all additional work incurred (this would be itemised separately on your invoice.)
9. If you have ordered a “fixed price” job, you agree to allow H/2 days for me to complete the work, where H is the number of hours I have estimated the work will take me. Should you amend your requirements, you agree to allow a proportional amount of additional time for completion of the additional chargeable hours.
10. You agree that I may require you to sign a Purchase Order or other binding document before I commence work.
11. You agree that I shall not commence any work until I have received from you all required materials (e.g. FTP access and other passwords, relevant graphics & mockups, signed Purchase Order etc, dependent on the work itself.) Any deadline that I may agree to will be dependent on your providing all required materials by a specific date. Any timescale that I may promise to stick to will only commence from the date that I receive all required materials.
12. You agree that late payment by your own client(s) is not valid grounds for waiving any of these terms. Specifically, you agree that you will not withhold payment for any valid invoice I issue on the grounds that you are yourself awaiting a payment. Even if you are subcontracting to me, my agreement remains with you.
13. You agree that I may choose to outline in my CV any work I may undertake for you, provided that such a description does not reveal any trade secrets, sensitive information or specific information covered by any applicable Non Disclosure Agreement.
A note on copyright, thumbnails and hyperlinks
In such cases as described in 13 above, my CV may contain a link to your web site should I wish to include one, and a broad description of the aspects and functions of your web site on which I may have worked. I will obviously respect any trade-sensitive information and honour any applicable NDAs when doing so. I would expect you to acknowledge that my CV is mine to distribute as I see fit, and publish online should I choose to do so, without your prior consent provided that no sensitive information is disclosed therein.
Furthermore I believe that I am perfectly within my rights to include a small low-resolution thumbnail of your web-site without first requesting your prior consent. I am currently unable to find any definitive guidelines in the UK as to where this issue stands under UK copyriight law, but I have found the following articles during a brief search:
Hyperlinks:
Hyperlinks merely facilitate access to works that the author had already made publicly available. Hyperlinks neither duplicate the work nor do they in themselves make the work available [article here]
Thumbnails:
The Court decided that the thumbnail images were a "fair use"; the images themselves were poor resolution and they enhanced [the originator's] market if anything [article here]
Conclusion:
Should you object to the use of a thumbnail of your web-site within my CV I will gladly remove it at your request, as a courtesy but not because I believe I am obliged to. I do not believe you would have any grounds however for asking that I do not link to your site.
1. You agree to be charged according to the principle that the commodity I am selling is my time as a professional. This chargeable time may include, at my discretion:
i. time spent actually carrying out specific items of computer programming and development work;
ii. time spent in professional discussion/meetings (including telephone meetings) regarding proposed, ongoing and completed work;
iii. where applicable, time spent travelling for such meetings or work (depending on billing scheme, see 3.ii);
iv. time spent analysing and costing proposed work;
v. “help desk” time spent addressing queries regarding issues that fall within my realm of expertise.
1.1 Specifically, you accept that from the outset of your contact with me any appreciable amount of time spent discussing proposed work with you and/or drawing up a formal proposal/quotation for said work may be chargeable at my discretion, up to a maximum of 4 hours. Such a charge would be payable regardless of whether you decided to proceed with the project being discussed.
2. You agree to accept my decision as to which of my advertised hourly rates is applicable in your case.
3. Where, in undertaking any type of work for you, I am required to travel beyond fair walking distance of my home in Brighton UK, you agree to a compensatory billing scheme based on either of the following, at my discretion:
i. the applicable increased hourly rate advertised at www.maxedwards.com/rates, to be charged for the specified minimum number of hours per day (the increased rate covers all travel expenses and travelling time); or
ii. my standard hourly rate charged for all time spent away from home (including all time spent travelling) plus travel expenses.
4. You agree that the following are acceptable definitions of “valid invoice”:
i. an invoice that I issue after completion of a specific fixed amount of work, corresponding to a previously quoted and agreed price for that work;
ii. an invoice that I issue for work completed that you have requested on a “timesheet billing” basis, that is accompanied by a detailed timesheet showing a fair and accurate breakdown of the hours being billed (minimum timesheet entry is 5 minutes), and that only covers work you have requested;
iii. an invoice that I issue for time spent in professional discussion with you or any of your agents or associates, either in person, on the phone or by email, for time spent analysing and costing your requirements for such work, or for time spent travelling to and from work or meetings with you or any of your agents or associates.
5. You agree that all work I carry out remains my property until paid for in full, and that I may choose to postpone further work until unpaid valid invoices have been settled.
6. You agree that I may choose to withhold delivery of specific items of work, providing instead a “preview” hosting service on my own web server, until the corresponding invoice has been issued and settled.
7. You agree to settle all valid invoices within 21 days of issue, and that in failing to do so you may face a lateness penalty of £50 for every whole week after that deadline and – at my discretion and where possible – temporary suspension or withdrawal of any deliveries associated with the overdue payment(s).
8. If you have ordered a “fixed price” job, but amend your requirements after I have started, you agree to pay my applicable hourly rate for all additional work incurred (this would be itemised separately on your invoice.)
9. If you have ordered a “fixed price” job, you agree to allow H/2 days for me to complete the work, where H is the number of hours I have estimated the work will take me. Should you amend your requirements, you agree to allow a proportional amount of additional time for completion of the additional chargeable hours.
10. You agree that I may require you to sign a Purchase Order or other binding document before I commence work.
11. You agree that I shall not commence any work until I have received from you all required materials (e.g. FTP access and other passwords, relevant graphics & mockups, signed Purchase Order etc, dependent on the work itself.) Any deadline that I may agree to will be dependent on your providing all required materials by a specific date. Any timescale that I may promise to stick to will only commence from the date that I receive all required materials.
12. You agree that late payment by your own client(s) is not valid grounds for waiving any of these terms. Specifically, you agree that you will not withhold payment for any valid invoice I issue on the grounds that you are yourself awaiting a payment. Even if you are subcontracting to me, my agreement remains with you.
13. You agree that I may choose to outline in my CV any work I may undertake for you, provided that such a description does not reveal any trade secrets, sensitive information or specific information covered by any applicable Non Disclosure Agreement.
A note on copyright, thumbnails and hyperlinks
In such cases as described in 13 above, my CV may contain a link to your web site should I wish to include one, and a broad description of the aspects and functions of your web site on which I may have worked. I will obviously respect any trade-sensitive information and honour any applicable NDAs when doing so. I would expect you to acknowledge that my CV is mine to distribute as I see fit, and publish online should I choose to do so, without your prior consent provided that no sensitive information is disclosed therein.
Furthermore I believe that I am perfectly within my rights to include a small low-resolution thumbnail of your web-site without first requesting your prior consent. I am currently unable to find any definitive guidelines in the UK as to where this issue stands under UK copyriight law, but I have found the following articles during a brief search:
Hyperlinks:
Hyperlinks merely facilitate access to works that the author had already made publicly available. Hyperlinks neither duplicate the work nor do they in themselves make the work available [article here]
Thumbnails:
The Court decided that the thumbnail images were a "fair use"; the images themselves were poor resolution and they enhanced [the originator's] market if anything [article here]
Conclusion:
Should you object to the use of a thumbnail of your web-site within my CV I will gladly remove it at your request, as a courtesy but not because I believe I am obliged to. I do not believe you would have any grounds however for asking that I do not link to your site.
Terms
