Forming a Web Design Contract
Having an online presence is important- but not nearly as important as having a well-designed, easy to navigate website. Unless you’ve got tons of web design experience, chances are you’ll hire a professional to build your site. Most web designers work under contracts, which can vary wildly depending on the designer, the services you need, and the stage of construction a site is at. Here are some dos and don’ts to be mindful of when creating a web design contract:
DO break the contract into phases. If you’re building a brand-new site or overhauling an existing one, it’s a good idea to have several “mini” contracts- one for each task. For example, an agreement for logo design, an agreement to build the homepage only, or an agreement solely for web hosting services are sometimes better than including everything in one contract. (Make sure you have ownership rights to anything created on your behalf.) This is an especially great idea if this is your first time working with a certain designer- if you’re not satisfied with the work after one phase is completed, you can use another designer to finish the project.
DO get a clear timeline. Most design contracts that are broken into phases specify a completion time for each phase. Be sure to note if you need to approve work before the designer can proceed to the next phase.
DO spell out billing specifics. Designers can bill hourly, per task (such as logo design) or per project. Some prefer a specific billing method, which is fine- so long as you can easily approximate the total cost of the project. Stay away from hourly billing if you’re given the option- costs tend to rise and are more difficult to control with this method.
DON’T make the contract too specific. Don’t spell out the design or web programming services specifics (e.g. contract for design of homepage to contain…and pages to contain…) in the contract. The contract should be as straightforward and unambiguous as possible, and can even refer to other agreements, such as a service level agreement, that specifically detail the design work contracted for.
DON’T obligate yourself to more services. This goes hand-in-hand with DO #1 above: don’t enter into an overly expansive contract, such as one that obligates you to purchase future design services or maintenance work.
DON’T let the contract be a substitute for good communication. Sure, the contract will specify billing and timelines, but web designers can be flexible within this framework. If you want to modify design work, make changes, or request additional services, the contract doesn’t bar you from doing so. There’s no substitute for good communication. Work with the designer through each step of the process to make sure you’re both satisfied with the result.
May 15th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Excellent suggestions. Thank you. I think that the contract can be challenging for clients to understand, espcially when many web terms are new. Clarity is a great foundation for a good working relationship.
May 16th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Hi Betsy
That was all good advice. Thank you for posting the blog.
Best wishes David
July 11th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
You offer a lot of good advice here for web design clients. As a web designer, I always work with a contract. I don’t know any serious web designer who doesn’t use one.
You mentioned that web design clients should make sure they have ownership rights to anything created on their behalf. I completely agree that ownership should be spelled out clearly in the contract and that clients need to pay special attention. Web designers vary a lot on the issue of ownership. I’ve had clients come to me who were shocked to discover that they were merely leasing their custom built web site from their previous web designer. They were not able to change web designers without completely scrapping their site.
I’m not sure about your advice to have one contract just for building the home page. The home page should be one part of a holistic web design process, and I would not advise breaking it out as a standalone step.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:16 am
[...] Forming a Web Design Contract (StartupNation.com) [...]
October 25th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
thanx for the article. its very usefull. lots of tips i will use !
November 21st, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Nice article. It gives me more idea of something unique. Thanks for sharing this one.
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:24 am
it’s really good to know some ideas from you..
We really need knowledge like this..
thanks cute miss..
January 7th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
StartupNation Blog » Blog Archive » Forming a Web Design Contract…
Having an online presence is important- but not nearly as important as having a well-designed, easy to navigate website. Unless you’ve got tons of web design experience, chances are you’ll hire a professional to build your site.Most web designers w…
March 17th, 2010 at 8:39 am
Pieces of good advice. To break the contract into phases - good idea. But it will entail use a lot of paper and a lot of place of storage of this paper.
July 13th, 2010 at 2:37 am
The article has helped me more
October 2nd, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Im a webdesigner and I can say that is a very helpful article.
Thanks a lot
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