The client contract

1. This agreement

This agreement is between Mr. Voltage Studios (“I” and “me”) and the client named in the Project Summary (“you”). It starts when we have both signed it.

It is made of these terms, the three schedules at the end, and the No-Shock Promise:

The No-Shock Promise at mrvoltagestudios.com/promise, version 2026-10-08, is part of this agreement.

Its 10 promises are also written into the clauses below, word for word. If two parts of the agreement ever seem to disagree, the reading that is better for you applies.

This agreement is everything we have agreed. Anything said before we signed that isn’t written here isn’t part of it. We can change it only in writing we both agree to; an email from each of us counts.

2. What I’ll build

The Project Summary (Schedule 1) sets out the scope: your package, the pages and features, the revision rounds, any add-ons, what you will supply and by when, the price, how you are paying, and the estimated dates. The packages and what each includes are in the price list (Schedule 2).

A build runs in four steps:

• We agree the scope and sign, and you make the first payment.
• I design the site. You approve the design in writing before I build it.
• I build it, and show it to you before it goes live.
• It launches.

“Launch” means the day the finished site goes live on your domain. If you would rather wait to go live, it means the day you tell me in writing that the site is finished.

3. Revision rounds

Your package includes a set number of revision rounds. The number is in the price list, or in your written quote for a build priced “from”.

A round is one set of reasonable changes to what I have shown you, sent together: wording, colors, spacing, swapping a photo, moving a section. You can use your rounds on the design, on the built site, or on both.

A new direction isn’t a revision: a different structure, a fresh look from scratch, or a new feature. That is a change, quoted first (clause 5). Extra rounds are quoted the same way.

Fixing something I got wrong, where the work doesn’t match the approved design or the scope, never uses up a round.

4. The price

The price in the Project Summary is fixed. It covers the scope, and it changes only if you agree a change in writing (clause 5).

Prices are in US dollars, from the price list (Schedule 2) on the day you sign. A build priced “from” gets a fixed price, quoted in writing before you sign, and that quote goes into the Project Summary.

Add-ons, like an extra page, copy written for you or a rush, are added only if you choose them, at the prices in Schedule 2.

If sales tax applies to the work, it is shown as its own line in the Project Summary before you sign.

5. Changes and extra work

If you want something outside the scope, or more revision rounds, I send you a written quote first: what the work is, what it costs, and whether it moves any dates. I start only after your written yes.

Small jobs are priced at my hourly rate of $85 an hour, and the quote says how many hours. If a job would take longer than quoted, I stop and ask before going on.

If you say no, the scope, the price and the dates stay as they were.

6. Running costs

The Project Summary lists every cost of keeping the site running that isn’t part of the build: the domain, hosting and any paid tools, with the price for the first year and for each year after, at the prices on the day it is written.

Where you can, you pay those providers directly, in your own name. A cost covered by one of my plans is included in that plan’s monthly price.

7. Your domain and accounts

You are the registered owner (the registrant) of your domain. If you don’t have one yet, I help you buy it in your name. I never register your domain in mine.

The same goes for your business accounts: analytics, your Google Business profile, email, and any service your site depends on. They belong to you. Where I need access, you add me as a user, and you can remove me at any time.

While your site is on one of my hosting or care plans, it runs on my hosting account. When you leave, I move it to an account in your name (clause 15).

I use any login you share only for your project, and I keep it private.

8. Keeping in touch

A business day is Monday to Friday. A reply is either a full answer or a note saying when the full answer will come.

We keep a written record by email. Anything we agree on a call, I confirm by email. Notices under this agreement go by email to the addresses in the Project Summary.

9. Dates

The dates in the Project Summary are estimates. They assume your content and approvals arrive when we planned.

If I see a date slipping, I tell you in writing before it passes, with the reason and a new date. If I’m waiting on you, the dates move by as long as I waited, and I say so.

10. Paying once

If the Project Summary says you are paying once, the price is paid in stages:

• Under $5,000: 50% to start and 50% at launch.
• $5,000 and over: 50% to start, 25% when you approve the design, and 25% at launch.

The first payment is due before I start. The design payment, where there is one, is due when you approve the design, and the build starts once it’s paid. The launch payment is due when the site is finished, and the site goes live once it’s paid.

I send each invoice by email. If a payment is late, the work pauses until it’s paid and the dates move by the same time. There are no late fees.

11. Paying monthly

If the Project Summary says you are paying monthly, you pay a setup fee before design starts, then 12 monthly payments with Care included for those 12 months:

• Launch: $295 to start, then 12 payments of $149, each $80 toward the build and $69 for Care.
• Business: $695 to start, then 12 payments of $259, each $190 toward the build and $69 for Care.
• Custom and Web tool: 25% of the written quote to start, then the rest in 12 equal monthly payments, each with Care included. The Project Summary shows the exact amounts, including how much of each payment goes toward the build.

The first monthly payment is taken on launch day, and the rest on the same day each month, automatically, from a card you keep on file with my payment processor.

This is a 12-month agreement, stated here before you sign. If you end it before the 12th payment, you pay off the rest of the build: the build part of each remaining payment. The Care part isn’t charged, because Care stops when you leave. That balance is the rest of the price of the build, not a fee or a penalty.

You can also pay off the rest of the build at any time and stay, the same way. Once it is paid, the code and design are yours (clause 12), and the monthly payment drops to the after-launch plan you choose, month to month (clause 14), or to nothing.

If a payment fails, I tell you by email. If it isn’t fixed within 14 days, the site goes offline until it is, and it comes back as soon as the payment goes through. Your domain stays yours throughout.

After the 12th payment, the monthly payments stop. You choose what comes next: any after-launch plan, month to month (clause 14), or none.

12. Who owns the work

“The work” means the code, design and content I make for your project.

By signing this agreement, I transfer to you all my rights in the work, including the copyright, from the day the build is paid for in full.

Paying once, that is the day of the final payment. Paying monthly, it is the day of the 12th payment, or the day you pay off the rest, if that comes first. This signed agreement is the written transfer that US copyright law requires (17 U.S.C. §204(a)). On that day I also sign the Confirmation of Transfer (Schedule 3) and hand you the code in a repository you own.

Until then the work is mine, and you may use it for your project: to review it, and, once it’s live, to run your site while your payments are up to date.

Some things don’t transfer, because they were never mine to give or I use them in many projects:

• Your own content, like the text, photos and logos you send me. It was always yours. You let me use it only to build and run your site.
• Open-source code, fonts, photos and plugins made by others. They stay under their own licenses, which I list in the handover notes. Any paid license is bought in your name or passed to you.
• General-purpose tools and code I use across many projects. They stay mine, but you get a permanent, free license to use, change and keep them as part of your site, even after you leave.

Once your site is live, I may show it in my portfolio and say I built it, unless you ask me not to. I never show anything you have told me is confidential.

13. Free fixes after launch

For 60 days from launch, if something I built doesn’t work the way the Project Summary and the approved design say it should, I fix it at no charge. Tell me by email: anything you report within the 60 days is covered, even if the fix comes later.

New features and other changes are quoted first (clause 5). So are fixes for problems caused by an outside service changing or failing, or by edits someone other than me made.

These fixes are my promise about the quality of the work. Clause 17 says what I don’t promise.

14. Care plans and hosting

What each after-launch plan includes, and its monthly price, is in the price list (Schedule 2). Plans are paid monthly, in advance.

A plan’s edit hours are for the month they’re in and don’t carry over. Work beyond a plan is $85 an hour, or a 10-hour block for $750, quoted first (clause 5).

To cancel, email me. The plan stops at the end of the month you have already paid for, and nothing more is charged.

If a plan’s price ever goes up, I tell you by email at least 30 days before, and you can cancel before it applies.

15. Leaving

You can end a hosting or care plan at any time, by email, with no exit fee (clause 14). A pay-monthly build ends as clause 11 says.

When you leave, within 5 business days I send you the handover pack:

• the code, in a repository you own;
• every login and account I hold for you;
• notes on how the site is built, hosted and updated, and the licenses it uses.

I move the hosting to an account in your name, or help whoever takes over to do it, and then remove my own access.

The code and design are handed over once the build is paid for in full (clause 12).

16. What I ask of you

My promises depend on these:

• Answer my questions and send approvals when we agreed, or tell me if you can’t.
• Send your text and images on the dates we set, unless I’m writing the copy for you.
• Pay invoices on time. On a monthly plan, keep the card on file up to date: if a payment fails and isn’t fixed within 14 days, the site goes offline until it is. Your domain stays yours throughout.

And for the agreement to work:

• Name one person in the Project Summary who can make decisions and approve work for you.
• Send me only content you have the right to use. If someone claims that content you supplied breaks their rights, that is yours to deal with, and you cover my reasonable costs if the claim is made against me.
• Check the site before it goes live, and tell me in writing about anything wrong.
• Decide what your site says about your business, and which legal pages your business needs, like a privacy policy. I can build them, but I can’t give legal advice.

17. What I don’t promise

• Google rankings, traffic or sales. They depend on things outside my control, so no one can honestly guarantee them.
• Unlimited revisions. Every build has a set number of revision rounds; more is quoted.
• A money-back guarantee. Instead, you approve the design before it’s built, you get revision rounds to get it right, and 60 days of free fixes after launch.
• That outside services, like hosting, email, payments or plugins, never fail or change. I choose reliable ones, and I tell you when one causes a problem.
• That your site meets every law that applies to your business, such as accessibility, privacy or industry rules. I follow good practice and point out what I notice; a lawyer can settle the rest.

Apart from the promises in this agreement, I make no other promises about the work, spoken or implied, as far as the law allows.

Neither of us is responsible to the other for indirect losses, like lost profits or lost business. Apart from payments due for the work, the most either of us can owe the other under this agreement is the total you have paid me under it. Nothing here limits anything the law doesn’t allow to be limited.

18. Ending the project early

You can end the project at any time before launch, by email:

• Before the start date in the Project Summary, I refund everything you have paid.
• After it, you pay for the work done so far, at $85 an hour and never more than the full price, and I send you the hours. If you have paid more than that, I refund the difference within 14 days; if less, the difference is due.

Once that is settled, the work done so far is yours, as clause 12 says for a finished build.

After launch, a pay-monthly build ends early as clause 11 says, and plans end as clause 14 says.

Either of us can end this agreement if the other breaks it, including by not paying what’s due, and doesn’t put it right within 14 days of an email saying what’s wrong. If a project waits on you for more than 60 days, either of us can end it. Either way, before launch the bill is worked out as above.

If I can’t finish your project for any reason, I tell you straight away, refund what you have paid for work not done, and hand over everything finished so far, yours to keep.

However it ends, your domain and your accounts stay yours.

19. Keeping your business private

I keep private anything about your business that you share with me and that isn’t public, during the project and after it. I share it only with the services needed to build and run your site, like hosting.

When the project ends, I return or delete it if you ask, except what I must keep for my records, like invoices.

20. If we disagree

If something goes wrong, tell me. We will try to sort it out by talking first.

If we can’t, either of us can go to court. This agreement follows the law of the State of ________________, where I am based, and any case goes to the courts there, including small-claims court.

21. The rest

• I am an independent business, not your employee.
• I do the work myself. If I ever want someone else to help, I ask you first, and I stay responsible for their work.
• Neither of us can pass this agreement to someone else without the other’s written okay.
• Email counts as writing, and we can both sign electronically.
• If a court finds part of this agreement can’t be enforced, the rest still stands.
• You are free to review my work anywhere, good or bad. Nothing in this agreement limits that.
• What this agreement says about ownership, money owed, privacy and limits on what we owe each other carries on after it ends.

Signatures

By signing, we both agree to this agreement, including its three schedules and the version of the No-Shock Promise named in clause 1.