Working with a professional web designer can and should be a fun and rewarding experience, but all too often it ends up being more of a headache. We get calls every week from frustrated business owners with partially completed websites, and web design projects severely behind schedule. These types of problems usually arise due to a poorly written and often misunderstood web design contract. Many times the web designer will low ball the project in the beginning, and then ask for additional monies during the development process for things that are “outside” the terms of the web design contract. Be sure to take the time to really think about your project prior to signing a contract, so that most everything you need is included. There are still likely to be some things that come up that fall outside the terms of the contract, but if you have put a lot of thought into the website it will be clear that these items are indeed outside the terms of the contract.
Be sure your web design contract includes the following important areas.
1. The Scope of Work to Be Completed – This is the most important part of the contract because it spells out exactly what you will be getting for your money. If possible it should list by name all pages to be developed, whether Flash animation is part of the design cost, all functionality for an ecommerce or content managed website, who is responsible for purchasing any images to be used on the website, and whether any search engine optimization is involved.
2. Timeframe for Completion and Payments – Any good web design contract will include milestones such as completion of home page design, completion of interior page design, site build out, programming, and testing. Typically further deposits are due as certain milestones are reached, a typical payment schedule is 50%/25%/25% where 50% is the initial deposit and the final 25% is due when the site is complete to your satisfaction.
3. Confidentiality – Some web design companies work within a niche market and may develop websites for some of your competitor’s as well. So it’s especially important that the contract include a confidentiality clause, and if not make sure you have them sign a separate Non-Disclosure agreement.
4. Copyright – Who owns the design once it’s finished must also be defined in the contract? We have run into situations where a business owner becomes dissatisfied with their current web developer and comes to us for assistance only to find that they have to start from scratch because the previous designer will not release the design files.
5. Extras – It’s a good idea to cover all the extras that can add up to a design bill that’s 25% or 50% more than you budgeted. Some of the things you will want to consider are any third party software or image purchases, ongoing support, software updates, content updates, and search engine optimization. Remember the cost of a website is more than just the initial cost due to content updates, adding additional features, and marketing.
Not all web design contracts are equal so make sure you read all the fine print and ask lot’s of questions. It is in the interest of the web developer that you understand what is and what isn’t included in your agreement, so you should take it as a bad sign if you run into a poorly written contract and a web developer that doesn’t care to answer all your questions completely.
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Website Design San Francisco