Clear service terms. Genuine website ownership.
The aim is a long-term working relationship because you value the service, with a reasonable way to leave if your needs change.
The project agreement comes first
Before work starts, the written proposal identifies the pages, features, content allowances, development fee, required monthly hosting plan, revisions, payment milestones, third-party costs, and responsibilities. New work or a material scope change needs an agreed price and schedule before it proceeds.
Hosting and care are separate monthly charges. Development deposits, milestones, due dates, pre-launch cancellation/refund treatment, and any staged-payment arrangement must be specified in the proposal; any payment arrangement will be agreed before work begins.
Website and content ownership
After the development balance is paid in full, the client owns original deliverables created specifically for the project. The client retains ownership of supplied text, images, logos, and business materials. Hosting and maintenance do not transfer ownership of those deliverables to the provider.
Third-party software, themes, fonts, images, plugins, and other licensed assets remain governed by their licenses. Subscriptions or provider-held licenses may not transfer; any replacement subscriptions, restrictions, or continuing costs should be identified in the proposal and handover.
Domains and client accounts
You are the domain registrant. While an eligible hosting plan is active and paid, one standard domain renewal is covered up to $25 per year, only when that renewal actually falls due during the paid service period. Premium charges, specialized extensions, unusual renewal costs above the allowance, and transfer fees are extra with advance approval. After hosting cancellation, you are responsible for future renewals.
Initial domain registration is distinct from annual renewal. Your proposal will specify any first-year registration cost or allowance before you commit.
Reasonable basic help with domain registration, DNS configuration, and later transfer is included. The domain remains registered in the client’s name. The client should retain appropriate access to the domain and business accounts; existing registrar rules and transfer restrictions apply.
Hosting and care at launch
All newly developed websites initially launch on Hosting & Care at $59/month or Managed Website at $99/month. These plans are billed separately from development. Plans are month-to-month; a later move to a compatible host is permitted.
Both plans include managed hosting, SSL, the eligible annual domain-renewal allowance, backup and restoration service, WordPress/plugin updates, security and uptime monitoring, and routine maintenance and support. Daily backups and successful recovery remain subject to verification; backup history is approximately 30 days, off-site storage is not guaranteed until verified, and three-month archives are not included. Neither plan promises unlimited work or guaranteed security.
Support hours and initial-response targets
Standard support hours are Monday–Friday, 9 AM–5 PM Central Time, excluding major U.S. holidays.
Hosting & Care
- Critical site outages: initial response target within 4 business hours.
- Noncritical malfunctions: within 1 business day.
- Routine questions: within 2 business days.
Managed Website
- Critical site outages: initial response target within 2 business hours.
- Noncritical malfunctions: within 4 business hours.
- Routine questions: within 1 business day.
- Routine content updates: target completion within 3 business days, depending on scope.
A critical outage means the public website is completely unavailable or essential functionality is substantially unusable. Response targets describe the initial response, not guaranteed resolution times. Only time within standard support hours counts toward business-hour targets; business-day targets exclude nonworking days.
Urgent issues outside business hours may be addressed when available. There is no guarantee of 24/7 human support.
Included routine content work
Managed Website includes up to 30 minutes of routine content work per billing month. Unused minutes do not roll over. New pages, major redesigns, and complex development are excluded and require an agreed additional scope and price.
Routine work includes supplied text/image replacements and minor adjustments. Extra work is quoted and agreed before it proceeds. A particular client training allowance or time-recording increment, if needed, should be stated in that client’s proposal.
Included content and revisions
Starter Presence allows up to 900 client-supplied words and 8 supplied images; Business Essentials allows 2,000 words and 15 images; Business Plus allows 4,000 words and 30 images. All include organization, basic proofreading, spelling/grammar correction, modest wording improvements, and web formatting.
Two rounds of website revisions within scope are separate from routine initial copyediting. Each round should consolidate feedback on the assembled site. Original writing, research, extensive rewriting, new features, and major brief changes are additional work, agreed before it begins.
Cancellation and billing
Plans are month-to-month, with no long-term hosting commitment. Cancel with 30 days’ written notice. Cancellation takes effect 30 days after notice or at the end of the current paid billing period, whichever is later. There are no cancellation penalties. Already-paid billing periods are generally nonrefundable unless otherwise required by law.
Overdue hosting payments
- Day 0: Payment is due.
- Day 3: Friendly email reminder.
- Day 10: Second reminder.
- Day 15: Service may be suspended after clear, appropriate advance warning.
- Day 30: Termination warning.
- Day 45: Hosting may be terminated.
- For 30 days after termination: Once a separate export-retention process is established, an available complete website export will be retained for retrieval for 30 days; afterward, retained data may be deleted under the retention policy.
There are no automatic late-payment penalties. Clients receive clear notices and a reasonable opportunity to resolve genuine billing disputes. The timeline is measured from the payment due date; suspension and termination are possible actions, not an undisclosed automatic penalty.
Hosting nonpayment does not transfer ownership of fully paid website deliverables. Unpaid hosting charges are not grounds for refusing an otherwise available export of a fully paid-for website. Once a separate export-retention process is established, a final available complete export will remain retrievable for 30 days following termination; later deletion follows the retention policy.
Full-site exports and handover
Once development is paid in full, you may request an available portable full-site WordPress export at no charge, normally supplied within 10 business days. Unpaid hosting charges do not transfer ownership of fully paid website deliverables to me and are not grounds for refusing an otherwise available export of a fully paid-for website.
The standard full-site WordPress package includes available website files, media, and database for a compatible host. It is different from a content-only XML export. Hosting compatibility and third-party licensing may limit what can be used unchanged.
Exports may contain confidential data and configuration secrets. Verify the intended recipient and use a suitable secure transfer method. Provider account credentials and unrelated clients’ data must not be included. The destination host should review configuration and stored secrets before operating the site.
Optional assisted migration
Basic domain-transfer assistance is included. Optional hands-on migration is separately quoted, generally $150–$350 for standard sites. You do not have to buy migration assistance or remain with my hosting indefinitely. External-host compatibility, software licenses, DNS propagation, and registrar restrictions may affect a move; no downtime-free guarantee or transfer of nontransferable licenses is promised.
Clients may cancel with 30 days’ written notice; cancellation takes effect 30 days after notice or at the end of the current paid billing period, whichever is later. There is no migration-assistance purchase requirement or cancellation penalty. Paid billing periods are generally nonrefundable unless otherwise required by law.
Coordinate the final service date, domain/DNS control, SSL, forms, scheduled tasks, integrations, licensed tools and backups. Business-email mailboxes, third-party accounts, external booking systems and payment services are not automatically included in a website export and need their own arrangements.
Retention and deletion after departure
Backups and restoration
The following policy reflects the approximately 30-day provider-managed backup history observed on the current host. It does not promise a longer archive or guaranteed recovery. The verification conditions below remain explicit.
| Feature | Recommended policy |
|---|---|
| Automated backups | Daily, subject to verification |
| Backup history | Approximately 30 days |
| Restoration | Available from retained backups, subject to successful recovery |
| Off-site storage | Not guaranteed until verified |
| Three-month archives | Not included |
| Final export after cancellation | Retained for 30 days, once a separate export-retention process is established |
Routine restoration for failures within my hosting or maintenance responsibility is included. Restoration for client-caused damage or external issues may be quoted separately. Recovery depends on the available retained backup and successful restoration; backups do not guarantee zero data loss.
Post-termination export retention
Once a separate export-retention process is established, an available complete final website export will be retained for customer retrieval for 30 days after service termination. The rolling hosting backup history is separate from this final export. After the applicable retention period, remaining customer data is scheduled for deletion, subject to disclosed disaster-recovery cycles and legal obligations; no indefinite storage or recovery is promised.
Once the separate export-retention process is established, the client should retrieve and verify that export within the 30-day post-termination window. A retained final export is distinct from routine hosting backups; approximately 30 days of rolling backup history does not establish that backups will remain available for 30 days after hosting ends.
Residual disaster-recovery copies may persist until their actual, disclosed provider rotation expires, and legal obligations may require specific records to be retained longer. The observed approximately 30-day history is not a guarantee of every restore point or a promise of indefinite recoverability. Three-month archives are not included.
Client responsibilities and third-party costs
The client supplies accurate business information, timely consolidated feedback, and materials they have permission to use. Required access should be provided securely, and sensitive information should not be sent through ordinary contact forms or text messages.
Premium tools, subscriptions, licensed assets, business email, payment-processing fees, premium or additional domains, and applicable taxes may add costs. The proposal should identify known costs and which accounts the client owns and pays directly. Third-party providers may change their renewal prices.