SCOPE OF WORK
The quoted monthly retainer is based on amount of work and tasks discussed. Items may be added or removed, and I will notify you if any item requires more work than anticipated, or if I am in need of more tasks in a given month.
TIMELINE
I will keep you notified as to my progress on a daily and/or weekly basis. Ad hoc tasks will be completed within 48 hours of the request, excepting weekend days.
AVAILABILITY
Work hours: I keep fairly standard work hours 10 AM – 5 PM EST Monday to Friday. I may be available for meetings on weekend days by request.
*If you have a launch or something that requires my attention outside of these hours, this can likely be accommodated so long as I have one week’s advance notice.
Email: I check my email a few times each day, less on the weekends. On occasion, I may not check my email at all over the weekend.
Text/Phone: You’re welcome to text or call me, but please note, my phone is almost always on Do Not Disturb. I will call/text you back when I review your message.
“Emergencies”: Sometimes tech things break when we most need them. I will do my best to accommodate emergency needs but please note that I do not work after 5 PM ever. If something is urgent and comes up in the evening, please do notify me via text so that I can put it on my priority list first thing the following day. (Notice emergencies is in quotations because no one ever died from a website malfunction or deadlink 😉).
Vacations: I will notify you in advance of any days off that do not fall on a weekend. For vacations of more than 3 days, we can discuss if the time away affects the retainer amount for that month.
PRIVACY
I will never share your contact information, your customers/clients contact information, payment information, or any other personal information that I have access to during the course of my work. I often require access to email accounts, email marketing software and payment gateways – I will only ever view what is necessary for me to complete my work.
OTHER
Mobile optimization
I design all of my sites with mobile in mind. That said, occasionally some elements do not translate well to mobile and we may need to be flexible about design changes to accommodate this.
Website hosting
You are responsible for securing access to your site for me. Unlike many designers/developers, I design the site in your own accounts so that you always have access to the work that I’m doing for you.
If you need help with securing the appropriate accounts and getting me the necessary login credentials, I’m happy to walk you through the process! However, you are responsible for reaching out to your hosting company if technical issues occur. (SquareSpace hosts its own sites, but you host a WordPress site on 3rd party hosts.) This is rare – particularly for new site builds – but it does happen!
If you need me to deal with your hosting company, I only work with SquareSpace, and Bluehost or SiteGround for WordPress sites. There will be a $50/hour charge for time that I spend speaking to the customer service department of any other hosting company.
Please note that if hosting issues delay work, I may choose to build the site on a temporary domain within my own hosting account.
Security
I do my best to make your website as secure as possible – however hackers are writing new code everyday and I cannot guarantee that your website will not be susceptible. Generally speaking, SquareSpace websites are more secure than WordPress sites because WordPress is an open-source platform that utilizes plugins encoded by different authors. By signing this agreement, you acknowledge that I cannot be held liable for any security issues experienced by SquareSpace, WordPress, or plugins that I have installed on WordPress websites.
I store all of your passwords in a secure vault (LastPass), and delete them following end of work. I cannot be held responsible for any leaked password issue for passwords communicated via text or email.
Instructional Use of Material
I teach classes on Skillshare and have my own online educational programs for DIY website builders, and occasionally I feature websites I’ve worked on as examples in my educational materials. I also post websites I’ve worked on in social media and in blog posts. By signing this electronic agreement, you agree to having your website be a part of these instructional assets. If you do not wish for it to be included, please let me know and I will provide a custom contract to you.
Website Credit
By signing this agreement you agree to keep my credit “Website by Kara + Co” in the footer of your website for as long as you are using my website design. This may also look like “Website by W&W” for older sites, or “Website by K +Co”, “Website Design”, or “Website Development” with a link out to my website. (This applies to new website builds only).