Terms & Conditions

1. Introduction

These Terms & Conditions ("Terms") govern the provision of website design, website development, website hosting, website maintenance, domain assistance, basic search engine optimisation (SEO), technical support and related services (together, the "Services") by Small Biz Web Design ("we", "us", "our") to a customer who orders or otherwise agrees to receive those Services ("you", "your", the "Customer").

By placing an order, accepting a quotation, or otherwise instructing us to begin work, you agree to be bound by these Terms, together with any package details, pricing and other information set out on our website at the time of your order.

Individual quotations, proposals or order forms may contain additional information specific to your project, such as an agreed specification, timescale or price. Where there is a conflict between these Terms and the specific terms of a signed quotation or order agreement between you and us, the signed quotation or order agreement will take precedence in relation to that project, and these Terms will otherwise continue to apply to matters it does not cover.

Please read these Terms carefully before ordering. If anything is unclear, contact us before placing your order so we can explain it.

2. Definitions

In these Terms, the following words have the following meanings:

Business / we / us / our

Small Biz Web Design, trading as described in these Terms, at the address given at the end of this document.

Customer / you / your

The person, sole trader, partnership, company or other organisation that orders or receives the Services.

Website

The website designed, developed and/or hosted for you as part of the Services.

Services

The website design, development, hosting, maintenance, domain assistance, SEO, support and related services described in these Terms and in your chosen package.

Website Design

The design and build of your Website, including the pages, layout, functionality and features agreed as part of your selected package or specification.

Hosting

The provision of server space and related infrastructure that makes your Website accessible on the internet.

Subscription

The recurring monthly payment covering the ongoing Services included in your selected package, such as hosting, backups, security and support.

Setup Fee

The one-off fee payable for the initial design and build of your Website.

Monthly Fee

The recurring monthly Subscription fee payable for your selected package.

Content

Any text, images, photographs, video, logos, trademarks, testimonials, prices, contact details or other material supplied by you, or by us on your behalf, for use on your Website.

Domain

The web address (for example, yourbusiness.co.uk) used to access your Website.

Third-Party Services

Any product, platform or service provided by a third party that your Website may use or link to, such as Google, Google Maps, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, WhatsApp, social media platforms, domain registrars, hosting infrastructure providers or payment processors.

Business Day

Any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in England and Wales.

Additional Work

Any work requested by you that falls outside the scope of your selected package or agreed specification, as described further in Section 8.

3. Eligibility and Customer Status

Our Services are primarily intended for UK businesses, sole traders, partnerships and other organisations purchasing website design, hosting and related services for business purposes.

These Terms apply to all Customers, whatever their legal structure, including limited companies, partnerships, sole traders and other business customers. Where an individual purchases Services wholly or mainly for purposes outside their business (that is, as a consumer rather than in a business capacity), additional statutory consumer protections may apply to that order, in addition to these Terms.

We do not assume that a sole trader or other small business customer automatically falls outside consumer protection law simply because of their business status. Whether particular statutory rights apply, and to what extent, will depend on the nature of the purchase and your individual circumstances, and nothing in these Terms is intended to remove any statutory right that cannot lawfully be excluded.

4. Orders and Acceptance

You may place an order with us through a website enquiry, by email, by accepting a written quotation, through an online order process, or by other written confirmation.

An order becomes binding once we confirm our acceptance of it, or once we begin work following your acceptance of a quotation or order, whichever happens first, subject to any applicable statutory right of cancellation described elsewhere in these Terms.

Quotations may be valid for a limited period only, as stated on the quotation. If a quotation does not state an expiry period, we recommend confirming its continued validity with us before accepting it, as prices and availability may change.

5. Website Design Service

Our website design service includes the design and build of a responsive website, structured around the number of pages and features included in your selected package (see Section 45 for a summary) or as otherwise agreed in your specification.

To enable us to design and build your Website, you must provide the required business information and materials promptly, including text, photographs, logos and other Content, where applicable. Where content preparation assistance is included in your package, we will help prepare suitable content, but the accuracy and suitability of any information you provide remains your responsibility (see Section 6).

Work that falls outside your selected package or agreed specification — including additional pages, a major redesign, complex custom functionality, or substantial content creation beyond what is included — is Additional Work and may be charged separately, as described in Section 8.

Marketing materials, our website and package descriptions describe the features typically included in each package. The exact features included in your Website will depend on the package you select and the specification agreed with you, and not every feature mentioned in general marketing materials will necessarily be included in every project.

6. Customer Content and Responsibilities

You are responsible for ensuring that all Content you supply to us for use on your Website — including text, photographs, videos, logos, trademarks, testimonials, business claims, prices, contact details, qualifications and accreditations — is accurate, lawful, not misleading, suitable for publication, and free from copyright or other intellectual property infringement, unless you have obtained the necessary permission to use it.

You confirm that you have all necessary rights, licences and permissions to use and supply any Content you give us, and to allow us to publish it on your Website on your behalf.

We are not responsible for any copyright infringement, defamation, misleading claim or other unlawful content arising from Content that you have supplied to us, and you agree to indemnify us in relation to such matters as described further in Section 32.

7. Content Approval

Before your Website is launched, you are responsible for checking and approving it, including checking spelling, contact details, prices, opening hours, services described, addresses, images, links, legal information and any business claims made on the Website.

Once you have approved your Website, responsibility for the accuracy of any factual Content you supplied remains with you. This does not affect your statutory rights, or our own responsibility for work carried out negligently or otherwise in breach of these Terms, and nothing in this section is intended to exclude any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

8. Website Revisions

Minor revisions, which are generally included within your package subject to reasonable use, may include changing wording, replacing images, updating a telephone number, changing opening hours, correcting factual information, or making minor layout adjustments.

Major revisions may include rebuilding pages, creating substantial new sections, redesigning the Website, creating a significant number of new pages, or making major functionality changes. Major revisions are considered Additional Work.

Revisions included within your package are provided subject to reasonable use. Additional Work, including major revisions and work beyond your package allowance, may be charged at our then-current hourly rate of £30 per hour, or at a fixed price to be agreed with you in advance.

9. Website Launch

Your Website will normally be launched once: the required business information and Content have been supplied; any required payments have been made; you have approved the Website in accordance with Section 7; and any necessary Domain arrangements have been completed.

Where launch is delayed because you have not provided required information, Content or approval within a reasonable time, we will not be responsible for that delay, and any project timescale we have given you will be extended accordingly.

10. Hosting

Where Hosting is included in your selected package, we will provide Hosting for your Website for as long as your Subscription remains active. Hosting may be provided using third-party infrastructure providers.

Hosting is provided subject to reasonable use. We will take reasonable steps to maintain the availability and performance of the Hosting service, but:

• planned maintenance may occasionally be required, and we will try to schedule this to minimise disruption;
• the availability of Hosting can be affected by failures in third-party infrastructure outside our control;
• we cannot guarantee completely uninterrupted or fault-free availability of your Website at all times; and
• hosting capacity and technical requirements may vary depending on the size, complexity and traffic of your Website.

We do not promise 100% uptime, but we will act promptly and reasonably to investigate and resolve any significant hosting problems that are within our control.

11. Backups

Where included in your package, we maintain regular backups of hosted Websites to assist with recovery from technical problems.

Backups are intended as a safeguard and are not a substitute for you keeping your own copies of important original documents, images and other Content. We take reasonable care with our backup process, but we cannot guarantee that every file can always be recovered in every circumstance, and backup frequency and retention periods may vary depending on the hosting environment and package.

12. Security

We use reasonable security measures to help protect hosted Websites, which may include SSL certificates, security monitoring, software updates, access controls, backups and malware monitoring where available as part of your package.

However, no system connected to the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and we cannot promise that your Website will never be subject to a security incident despite these measures. You must keep any usernames, passwords or other credentials we supply to you secure, and notify us promptly if you believe they may have been compromised.

13. Domain Names

Where we register a Domain on your behalf, you will be the beneficial owner of that Domain, and the registration information provided must be accurate and kept up to date.

Domain registration and renewal remain subject to the rules of the relevant domain registrar and registry, which are outside our control. We cannot guarantee the availability of any particular Domain before registration is completed.

Where renewal of your Domain is your responsibility, you must ensure that renewal payments are made and that your registration details remain accurate; we are not responsible for loss of a Domain arising from a failure to renew or maintain accurate registration information where that responsibility rests with you.

What happens to your Domain following cancellation of your Services is described in Section 25 (Cancellation by Customer) and Section 28 (Website Transfer).

14. Email

Website Hosting does not automatically include email hosting. Where email hosting or a related email service is provided as an additional service, it may be subject to separate terms, technical limitations and, where applicable, an additional fee.

We do not promise uninterrupted email delivery or an uninterrupted email service, whether provided by us or by a third-party email provider.

15. SEO

Where basic SEO is included in your selected package, this may include page titles, meta descriptions, sensible heading structure, image alt text, basic technical SEO foundations, Google Search Console setup, and basic local SEO foundations.

We do not guarantee any specific Google or other search engine ranking, level of website traffic, number of enquiries, level of sales, or other business result. Search engine algorithms, competition and other factors affecting search rankings and traffic are outside our control and change over time.

16. Third-Party Services

Your Website may use or link to Third-Party Services, such as Google, Google Maps, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, WhatsApp, social media platforms, domain registrars, hosting infrastructure providers, payment processors and other external services.

Third-Party Services are controlled by the relevant third party and can change, become unavailable, alter their terms, or introduce new charges at any time, without notice to us. We cannot guarantee the continued availability or operation of any Third-Party Service or feature that relies on it, and we will not be responsible for losses arising from a change made by a third party that is outside our control.

17. Customer Responsibility for Legal Compliance

You are responsible for ensuring that your business and your Website comply with the laws and regulations applicable to your business, which may include requirements relating to consumer information, pricing, advertising, professional qualifications, industry-specific regulation, privacy, cookies, accessibility, distance selling, trading standards, copyright and data protection.

Where we supply standard website legal pages or templates (for example, a privacy policy or cookie policy template) as part of your package, these are provided as a general starting point only, are not legal advice, and should be reviewed and adapted as necessary. You should obtain professional legal advice on your specific circumstances where necessary, particularly where your business operates in a regulated sector.

18. Privacy and Personal Data

We will process personal data in accordance with applicable UK data protection legislation, including the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We may collect and process information including your contact information, business information, payment information, website administration information and support communications, as described in our Privacy Policy.

Where we host your Website and your Website collects or processes personal information from your visitors or customers (for example, through a contact form), the exact data protection roles and responsibilities of each party will depend on the nature of that processing, and the parties may need to put in place an appropriate data-processing arrangement, as described in Section 19. We do not assume that we are always either the "controller" or the "processor", in the data protection sense, for every type of data processed in connection with your Website; this depends on the circumstances.

For full details of how we handle personal data, please see our Privacy Policy, which forms part of our legal documents referenced in Section 44.

19. Data Processing Agreement

Where we process personal data on your behalf in a way that makes us a data processor acting under your instructions, the parties may enter into a separate Data Processing Agreement ("DPA") where required by applicable data protection law.

Where used, a DPA would typically address matters such as: the subject matter and duration of processing; the nature and purpose of the processing; the types of personal data and categories of data subjects involved; security measures; confidentiality; the use of any sub-processors; how data breaches are handled; deletion or return of data at the end of the arrangement; and assistance with your own data protection obligations.

This section is a summary only and is not itself a Data Processing Agreement. A separate, appropriately detailed DPA will be put in place between the parties where required by the nature of the processing involved.

20. Acceptable Use

You must not use our Hosting or other Services for any of the following:

• illegal activity of any kind;
• fraud or attempted fraud;
• phishing or other attempts to deceive third parties;
• distributing malware or other malicious software;
• hacking, or attempting to gain unauthorised access to any system;
• sending spam or unsolicited bulk communications;
• infringing the copyright or other intellectual property rights of any third party;
• attempting to compromise, disrupt or overload our systems or any third party's systems;
• any activity that creates a serious security risk to our infrastructure or that of others; or
• any activity that materially disrupts our hosting infrastructure or its use by other customers.

This list is not exhaustive, and we may treat other clearly unlawful or seriously harmful uses of our Services in the same way.

21. Suspension

We may suspend your Website or Hosting service where reasonably necessary, including in circumstances involving a serious security threat, malware, illegal activity, abuse of our staff or systems, a serious violation of these Terms, non-payment, or excessive use that materially affects our infrastructure or other customers.

Where reasonably possible, we will notify you of the issue and give you a reasonable opportunity to resolve it before suspending your Services. However, in serious security or legal situations, we may need to suspend access immediately to protect our systems, your Website, or third parties, and will notify you as soon as reasonably practicable afterwards.

22. Payment

Your Setup Fee is payable in accordance with the terms confirmed at the time of your order, and your Monthly Fee is payable in advance on the recurring monthly date confirmed to you when your Subscription begins.

We accept payment by BACS bank transfer, credit or debit card, and PayPal. Payment details will be confirmed at the time of your order.

If a payment fails or is not received by its due date, we will notify you and give you a reasonable opportunity to correct the issue before taking further action. Continued or persistent non-payment may result in suspension of your Services in accordance with Section 21, and, in serious cases, termination of your Services in accordance with Section 26.

We do not apply excessive or disproportionate late payment penalties. Where applicable, any late payment charge will be fair and will reflect our reasonable administrative costs, and we reserve any statutory right to charge interest on overdue amounts in accordance with applicable law.

23. Monthly Subscription

Hosting and other ongoing Services included in your package are supplied on a monthly Subscription basis. Your Monthly Fee covers the Services included in your selected package, as summarised in Section 45. Your Setup Fee and Monthly Fee are separate charges, and payment of the Setup Fee does not include any period of the Monthly Fee unless otherwise agreed.

Your Subscription renews automatically each month unless cancelled in accordance with Section 25 or terminated in accordance with Section 26.

There is no long-term contract for your Subscription. It runs on a monthly rolling basis, and you may cancel at any time by giving us 30 days' written notice in accordance with Section 25.

24. Price Changes

We may review and change our Setup Fees and Monthly Fees from time to time, for example to reflect our own costs. We will give you reasonable advance notice of any material price increase affecting your Subscription before it takes effect.

If you do not wish to continue with your Services following a notified price increase, you may cancel your Subscription in accordance with Section 25, provided you do so before the increase takes effect. We do not reserve an unlimited right to change your price without reasonable notice or without giving you the opportunity to cancel.

25. Cancellation by Customer

You may cancel your Subscription at any time by giving us notice in writing, in accordance with the notice period set out in Section 23. Notice can be given via our contact form, by post to the address in Section 47, or by any other method we confirm is acceptable.

Once cancellation takes effect, your Monthly Fee will stop being charged, your Website will be taken offline (unless alternative hosting arrangements have been made), and any outstanding payments due up to the date of cancellation remain payable.

What happens to your Domain, your Website files and your Content on cancellation is described in Section 28 (Website Transfer). We will provide reasonable assistance with migrating your Website, files, Content or Domain to a new provider on request; this assistance may be subject to a reasonable additional charge to reflect the time involved, which we will confirm with you in advance.

Nothing in this section affects any statutory right of cancellation you may have, for example under UK consumer protection law where you are ordering as a consumer rather than in a business capacity, or any other right that cannot lawfully be excluded.

26. Cancellation by Small Biz Web Design

We may terminate your Services, with reasonable notice where practicable, in circumstances including: persistent non-payment; a serious breach of these Terms; illegal use of our Services; a serious security concern relating to your Website or account; abuse of our staff; or serious misuse of our Hosting services under Section 20.

Where reasonably possible, we will give you notice and, where appropriate, an opportunity to remedy the issue before termination. In serious cases — for example, illegal activity or a serious security threat — we may need to terminate or suspend your Services immediately.

Following termination, your Website will be taken offline, your Hosting will end, and Section 28 (Website Transfer) will apply in relation to your Content, Website files and Domain, save that we may withhold reasonable assistance until any outstanding payments properly due have been settled.

27. Website Ownership and Intellectual Property

Content that clearly belongs to you — including your business name, logo, trademarks, photographs you supply, text you supply, and your original business content — remains your property. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of your own intellectual property to us.

Certain elements used to build your Website may belong to us or to third-party licensors, including our proprietary development systems, reusable components, frameworks, templates, generic design elements, code libraries, development tools, hosting infrastructure and internal systems ("Our IP"). Our IP remains our property (or that of the relevant third-party licensor).

While your Services are active, you have the right to use your completed Website, including any elements of Our IP incorporated into it, for the purpose of operating your business online. This licence is limited to that purpose and does not include a right to extract, resell or reuse Our IP independently of your Website.

If you would like a complete transfer of custom source code or other proprietary development materials beyond the standard licence described above — for example, to move to full independent ownership of bespoke code — this may be arranged under a separate agreement and for a separate fee, to be agreed with you.

28. Website Transfer

If you wish to move your Website to another provider, whether during your Subscription or following cancellation, we will provide reasonable assistance, which may include:

• assisting with Domain transfer arrangements, where the Domain is registered through us;
• providing a copy of your Website files and Content, where technically possible;
• providing a copy of, or reasonable access to, any associated database, where applicable and technically possible;
• information about any third-party licences (such as premium themes or plugins) that may need to be separately re-licensed by your new provider; and
• reasonable technical guidance to support the transfer.

Transfer assistance beyond a reasonable, standard level of support may be subject to a reasonable additional charge, which we will confirm with you in advance. Proprietary components that form part of Our IP (see Section 27) cannot themselves be transferred, though this does not prevent your Website's own content and functionality being rebuilt or replicated by a new provider using their own tools.

Transfer is subject to settlement of any outstanding balance owed to us. We do not prevent customers from transferring their Website; the exact technical process will depend on how your particular Website was built and hosted.

29. Third-Party Licences

Some Websites may include third-party software, fonts, plugins, themes, stock images or other licensed materials. Such materials remain subject to the terms of their own licences, which may restrict how they can be used, copied or transferred.

We cannot transfer rights in third-party licensed materials that we do not own, and any continued use of such materials following a transfer to another provider may require your new provider to obtain their own licence.

30. Warranties and Service Standards

We will provide the Services with reasonable care and skill, in accordance with applicable law.

We do not provide any absolute guarantee regarding website uptime, search engine rankings, sales, leads, website traffic, customer enquiries, business growth, or the continued availability or performance of any Third-Party Service. Specific expectations for any of these matters should be discussed and agreed with us in writing before you rely on them.

31. Liability

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

Subject to the above, we will not be liable to you for any loss arising from: outages or failures of Third-Party Services outside our control; inaccurate, unlawful or infringing Content supplied by you; Domain problems caused by incorrect information provided by you; changes to search engine algorithms; general internet failures outside our control; a cybersecurity incident that occurs despite our having taken reasonable security measures; or losses resulting from your own misuse of the Services.

Subject to the first paragraph of this section, our total liability to you in connection with the Services, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, will not exceed the total amount paid by you to us in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, except where a higher limit is required by applicable law.

We will not be liable for indirect or consequential losses, such as loss of profit, loss of business opportunity or loss of anticipated savings, except where such a loss is a direct and foreseeable result of our breach of these Terms.

32. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify us against reasonable losses, costs and claims we suffer as a direct result of unlawful or infringing Content that you have supplied to us for use on your Website, save that this indemnity does not extend to losses caused by our own negligence, breach of these Terms, or other matters that are legally our responsibility.

This indemnity is intended to be fair and proportionate, and does not transfer to you any responsibility that legally belongs to us, such as our responsibility for the technical build and security of your Website.

33. Force Majeure

We will not be liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations under these Terms where this is caused by events outside our reasonable control, including major infrastructure failures, natural disasters, power failures, internet backbone failures, cyberattacks, government action, war, industrial disputes, or major third-party service failures.

Where such an event occurs, we will let you know as soon as reasonably practicable and will take reasonable steps to minimise the impact on your Services.

34. Confidentiality

Each party agrees to keep confidential any commercially sensitive information disclosed by the other party in connection with the Services, and not to disclose it to third parties except as reasonably necessary to perform the Services, as required by law, or with the other party's consent.

35. Changes to Services

We may occasionally need to change aspects of the Services due to technology changes, security requirements, changes to Third-Party Services, hosting infrastructure changes, or software updates.

Where a change is material and is likely to affect you significantly, we will handle it fairly and give you reasonable notice where practicable, so you have the opportunity to raise any concerns before the change takes effect.

36. Communications

We may communicate with you by email, telephone, our website contact form, or any other method agreed between us. You must keep your contact information up to date so that we can reach you about your Services, including about payment, renewals and any issues affecting your Website.

37. Complaints

If you are unhappy with any aspect of our Services, please contact us in the first instance via our contact form at smallbizwebdesign.co.uk/contact.html, or by telephone on the number given in Section 47.

We will aim to acknowledge your complaint promptly and to investigate it fairly and within a reasonable period, keeping you updated on progress towards a resolution.

38. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time, for example to reflect changes in our Services, our costs, or applicable law. The current version will always be available on our website, with the "last updated" date shown at the top of this page.

Where we make a material change that affects your existing Services, we will let you know in a reasonable way and within a reasonable time. We will not apply a change retrospectively in a way that removes a right you have already acquired under these Terms.

39. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found by a court or other competent authority to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be treated as removed to the extent necessary, and the remaining provisions of these Terms will continue in full force and effect.

40. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with your accepted quotation or order and any policies referred to in these Terms (such as our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy), represent the entire agreement between you and us in relation to the Services, and supersede any prior discussions, representations or agreements relating to their subject matter, except where those prior terms are expressly incorporated by reference.

41. No Waiver

If we do not immediately insist that you comply with any obligation under these Terms, or if we delay taking steps against you in respect of a breach, this will not mean that we have waived our rights against you, and it will not prevent us from taking steps against you at a later date.

42. Assignment

We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to another organisation, for example as part of a business reorganisation or sale, provided this does not materially reduce the level of service you receive. We will notify you if this happens.

You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to another party without our prior written consent, which we will not unreasonably withhold, for example where you are transferring ownership of your business.

43. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Any dispute arising from these Terms or the Services will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, save that this does not remove any mandatory legal right you may have to bring proceedings in your own local courts where applicable law provides for this.

44. Legal Documents

The following documents form part of our legal terms and should be read alongside these Terms:

• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy
• Hosting Acceptable Use Policy [TO BE CONFIRMED / PUBLISHED SEPARATELY]
• Data Processing Agreement, where applicable (see Section 19)

45. Website-Specific Commercial Terms

We are not currently VAT registered, so VAT is not charged on any of the prices shown. The exact services and features included depend on the package purchased and any specification agreed with you — see our Pricing page for a full feature breakdown of each package.

Contact Details

Questions about these Terms & Conditions, or about your Services, can be sent to us using the details below.