Terms
How working with us works.
The short version: everything important goes in writing before we start, the price doesn't move unless the scope does, and ownership is clear before work begins.
Who these terms cover
Sitemotion, an independent web design studio in Manchester, UK, and you, the business commissioning work from us. Sending a project deposit, or confirming a written proposal, means you’re happy with these terms.
The free site review
The review is free, and it’s genuinely yours: no obligation, no strings, and you keep the findings whether or not we ever work together. It covers the pages that matter commercially rather than every page of a large site, and it is an opinion on design, clarity and performance, not a technical audit or legal advice.
Quotes and scope
Every project gets a written proposal setting out the scope, the price and the launch date before any work begins. The price in the proposal is the price. It doesn’t move unless the scope does, and any change to scope is agreed in writing first.
Payment
The payment schedule is set out in your proposal and agreed before work begins. There is no hourly billing. The opening payment books your place in the schedule and is not refundable once that slot is held. Invoices are due within fourteen days. Hosting and Sitecare are quoted separately and plainly.
What you own
Once the project is paid for in full, your domain, content and access stay in your name, with the finished site yours to use for as long as you like. The domain is registered in your name from the start, and your content remains exportable.
What stays ours
The reusable framework. Every Sitemotion site runs on components, code and tools we wrote and reuse across the studio. That underlying source library stays with us. You can use the finished site for as long as you like.
If you leave our hosting
You can leave Sitemotion hosting whenever you like. We will hand over your domain access, content, images and relevant account details, and we will not hold your domain or content. Another supplier may need to rebuild the front end because our reusable framework remains ours.
What we keep
The right to show the work in our portfolio, on this site and in conversations with future clients. If you would rather a project stayed private, say so and we will agree it in writing.
When the clock starts
Every timeline runs from the agreed start date, when we have the proposal confirmed, your content and the access needed to begin.
Domains and accounts
The domain is registered in your name and stays yours throughout. We will help you get or move it, but the build can only start once access is in place. The same applies to third-party accounts the site connects to.
What we need from you
Content, images, logos and access to connected accounts. You need the right to use whatever you send us. If something came from elsewhere, tell us so we can check the licence or find an alternative.
Changes and rounds
Each package includes a set number of rounds of changes. Anything beyond those rounds or outside the written scope is quoted before it starts.
Timelines
Launch dates are agreed in writing and depend on feedback and approvals arriving when agreed. If something slips there, the date moves with it, openly.
Approval and going live
We will ask you to check the site before launch. If we do not hear back within ten working days, we will take it as approved. The site goes live once the final invoice is settled.
If a project pauses or stops
If you need to pause, tell us and we will agree a new start date. If we cannot reach you for thirty days, we may treat the project as paused. If you cancel, you pay for work done and anything paid beyond it comes back to you.
Sitecare
Sitecare is monthly and rolling. Cancel with thirty days’ notice and there are no exit fees. Included time does not roll over, and larger additions or redesigns are quoted separately.
Things outside our control
Your site depends on services we do not own, including hosting, the content platform, registrars and connected tools. We choose them carefully but cannot be responsible for their outages, price changes or decisions.
The sensible legal bit
We build carefully and put things right when they are our fault. We cannot accept liability for indirect losses, and our total liability is capped at what you paid for the project. Nothing limits anything that cannot legally be limited. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.
Questions
Anything unclear, email the contact page. Plain answers, within a day.
Last updated August 2026. If these terms change, the change appears here.