Terms of Service

1. About these terms

These terms apply to services provided by Stainer Digital, operated by Phil Stainer (“we”, “us” or “Stainer Digital”), to the business or person named in the proposal or order (“you”). By accepting a proposal, signing an agreement or starting a subscription, you agree to these terms.

2. Our services

We provide website design, development, hosting, maintenance, content updates, analytics, search engine optimisation (SEO), workflow automation, AI-assisted features and related digital services. The exact deliverables, pages, features, price and timescale will be set out in your proposal or order confirmation.

Where a project includes automation or AI-assisted features, such as chat assistants, content generation, data processing or automated workflows, these may rely on third-party AI providers and models that we do not control. AI outputs can be inaccurate, incomplete or unexpected, and should be reviewed by a person before being relied on or published. We do not warrant that AI-generated results will be accurate, error-free or fit for a particular purpose, and you are responsible for how AI features are used within your business.

Third-party services such as domain registrars, email providers, booking tools, payment processors, analytics platforms and AI providers may have their own terms, usage limits and charges.

3. Subscription plans

Website subscriptions have an initial term of 12 months, unless your proposal says otherwise. After the initial term, the subscription continues on a rolling monthly basis and may be cancelled with 30 days’ written notice.

Hosting, maintenance and support bought alongside a one-off build have no minimum term and may be cancelled with 30 days’ written notice.

Subscription fees are payable monthly in advance. Prices exclude VAT where VAT is legally chargeable. We may change prices by giving at least 30 days’ notice.

4. Edits and scope

Unlimited edits cover ordinary content changes such as text, images, prices, services and small layout adjustments, requested at a normal working pace. They do not include new pages, a full redesign, new functionality, custom CRM work, integrations, copywriting campaigns or software development. We will quote those separately before starting. Where requests are sustained well beyond ordinary use, or amount to a redesign in instalments, we will agree a separate scope and price rather than refusing work.

5. Your responsibilities

You must provide accurate content, timely feedback, approvals and materials that you have permission to use. Delays in receiving these may change the delivery date. You are responsible for checking and approving the accuracy of published content.

6. Domains and ownership

You own your domain name, brand assets, content and business data. Domains should be registered using your details wherever possible. We can help manage or transfer a domain at your request, subject to the registrar’s process and any unpaid invoices.

On a website subscription, we retain ownership of the website we have built for you. You receive the right to use it while your subscription is active.

When a subscription ends, you may take ownership of the website by paying the transfer fee. The transfer fee is the published one-off price of your plan, less a build credit for each full month of subscription you have paid. The build credit is £95 per month on Launch and £135 per month on Growth, so the fee reduces to nil once 28 monthly payments have been made. Ownership of the finished website and its code passes to you on payment of the fee, or, where the build credit has reduced the fee to nil, when the subscription ends.

If a transfer fee is payable and is not paid, your right to use the website ends with the subscription and the website is not transferred to you. Either way, you keep your domain name, brand assets, content and business data.

Where a build is bought as a one-off rather than on a subscription, ownership of the finished website and its code passes to you on final payment.

Where ownership of a website passes to you under either route, you receive its complete codebase and are free to host it, change it, move it and have anyone you like work on it. Open-source components within it stay under their own licences, which is what allows anyone to use them. We keep the right to go on using the general techniques, know-how and reusable components we brought to the build on other projects, which does not limit anything you can do with your website.

7. Hosting and availability

We will take reasonable steps to keep hosted websites secure, backed up and available. We cannot guarantee uninterrupted service or the availability of third-party platforms. We may temporarily suspend a site for essential maintenance, security reasons or substantially overdue payment.

8. Payment and late payment

Invoices are due on the date shown. If payment is overdue, we may pause work or suspend services after giving reasonable notice. We may charge interest and recovery costs where permitted by the Late Payment of Commercial Debts legislation.

9. Cancellation and termination

Either party may terminate for a serious breach that is not corrected within a reasonable written notice period. We may terminate or suspend services for persistent non-payment, unlawful content, abusive behaviour or a security risk.

On cancellation, fees remain payable up to the end of the notice period. Where a subscription is ended during its initial term, the remaining fees for that term remain payable. Where you are taking ownership of the website, the transfer fee in clause 6 is payable before the website is handed over.

Where ownership of a website passes to you, handover is the complete repository for that website and an export of your data in a common format. Moving hosting, deployments, domains and third-party accounts to your own providers is your responsibility, and those providers set their own terms and charges. We are happy to carry out a migration for you, quoted separately before it starts.

Fees paid before the build stage begins are refundable if we are unable to agree a design you are happy with. Once build work has started, refunds are at our discretion.

10. SEO and results

We build sites with sound technical and on-page foundations, but we do not guarantee search rankings, traffic, enquiries, sales or other commercial results. Search engines and third-party platforms are outside our control.

11. Liability

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot legally be limited. Subject to that, we are not liable for indirect loss, loss of profit, revenue, goodwill or anticipated savings. Our total liability is limited to the fees paid by you to us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim.

12. General

These terms and the relevant proposal form the agreement between us. If any provision is invalid, the remaining provisions continue. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.

13. Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent to hello@stainerdigital.com.