Terms and conditions

1. Who I am

Towpath Studio is run by me, David, a sole trader based in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey. When these terms say "I", "me" or "my", that's who they mean. When they say "you", they mean the person or business buying my services. You can reach me at hello@towpathstudio.com or on 0333 335 6832.

2. What I do

I design and build websites, host them on UK servers I run myself, and look after them. The current packages, what they include and what they cost are set out on the pricing page. Your quote will always confirm exactly what's included for your project.

3. Quotes and payment

Every project gets a fixed written quote before I start, and that quote is the price: no hourly billing and no surprise extras. For design work I take a 50% deposit to begin and the balance when the site goes live. Hosting and care plans are billed annually in advance.

If an invoice goes unpaid I'll always chase it politely first. If hosting remains unpaid well past its renewal date I may take the site offline after fair warning, and I'll still hand your files over (see section 8).

4. What I need from you

I need the words, photos and details about your business. On Business and Bespoke, an hour or two of your time is enough instead, and I'll draft the words for you. I also need reasonably prompt feedback, a project can only move as fast as the answers come back. You're responsible for making sure anything you give me to publish is accurate and yours to use (for example, photos you own or have permission for).

5. Ownership

Once the balance is paid, the website is yours. Your domain name is registered in your name, not mine. Anything I build for you, you keep. Third-party pieces such as fonts, stock images or plugins stay under their own licences, and I'll only use ones that permit your site to use them.

I may show the finished site in my portfolio and mention you as a client. If you'd rather I didn't, just say so.

6. Hosting and acceptable use

Hosting with me means I keep your site fast, secure, backed up daily and up to date, on UK servers. I aim for 99.9% uptime and monitor the server around the clock, but no host on earth can promise a site will never be unavailable, so brief interruptions for maintenance or matters outside my control can happen.

You agree not to use the hosting for anything unlawful, misleading or harmful: no spam, no malware, no infringing content. If something like that appears I can suspend the site while we sort it out. I'll always talk to you first unless the law or the safety of the server means I can't.

7. Changes after launch

On Hosting + Care, monthly content edits such as new opening hours, prices or photos are included, just send them over. On plain Hosting, small one-off changes are a modest fixed fee, and bigger additions such as a new page or a booking system are quoted up front so there are no surprises.

8. Cancelling and moving away

There's no lock-in. If you ever want to host elsewhere, I'll hand over your files and help you move, without holding anything hostage. If you cancel annual hosting part-way through, I'll refund the unused full months. If you cancel a design project after work has started, the deposit covers the work done to that point; if I've done more than the deposit covers we'll agree a fair figure for the extra.

9. If you're a consumer

Most of my clients are businesses, but if you're buying as a consumer you have a legal right to cancel within 14 days of engaging me. If you ask me to start work within that period, you agree I can, and if you then cancel you'll pay for the work done up to that point. Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights.

10. Liability

I'll carry out all work with reasonable skill and care. If something goes wrong that's my fault, I'll put it right. I'm not liable for indirect losses such as lost profits or lost data caused by things outside my control, and my total liability to you is capped at the amount you've paid me in the twelve months before the problem arose. Nothing in these terms limits any liability that the law doesn't allow to be limited, such as for death, personal injury caused by negligence, or fraud.

11. The general bits

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and any dispute would be dealt with by the courts of England and Wales. If I update these terms, the current version will always live at this address, and material changes to an ongoing service will be flagged to you directly. If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still stands.

Questions about any of this? Just ask, I'd rather you were sure than surprised.