Scope and acceptance
Northline Web Co. is a one person web design and development studio operated by
Nick in Denmark. These terms apply to design and development work carried out by
Northline for a client.
A project exists once two things have happened: a scope has been agreed in
writing by email, and the deposit has been paid. Conversations before that point,
including estimates built on this website, are exploratory and do not commit
either side to anything.
Northline works with clients internationally, subject to accepting the project.
Not every enquiry is accepted, and declining one does not require a reason.
Quotes and estimates
The starting prices published on this website and any figure produced by the
estimate builder are indicative. They are there so you can judge whether the
studio is in your range before spending time on an enquiry. They are not offers
and they are not binding.
The binding number is the fixed price in the written scope sent by email for your
specific project. That scope lists what is included, and by implication what is
not. If something is not in the scope, assume it is not in the price, and ask.
Quotes are held open for a reasonable period, stated in the email. After that
they may be re-issued at a different price.
Deposits and payment
- 50% deposit is payable before work starts. Work is scheduled once it has been received.
- The remaining 50% is payable after you have approved the preview and before the site is connected to your real domain or final files are transferred.
- Prices are quoted in the currency stated in the written scope. Unless stated otherwise, prices exclude any taxes or duties that may apply to you.
- Any bank charges, currency conversion costs or payment processing fees on your side are yours.
Payment terms for anything outside this pattern, such as a phased project, are set
out in the written scope.
Client responsibilities
To keep a project moving you agree to:
- Give a single point of contact who can make decisions
- Provide content, access and feedback within a reasonable time
- Consolidate feedback into one response per revision round rather than sending it in pieces
- Give access to any accounts needed for launch, such as a domain registrar or commerce platform
Because everything runs by email, the written record is the record. If something
was agreed, it was agreed in an email that both of us can go back and read.
Content and materials
Unless copywriting is included in the scope, you provide the text, images, logo
files and any other content. You confirm that you have the right to use whatever
you supply, and that it does not infringe anyone else's rights.
Northline is not responsible for claims arising from content you supplied. If a
third party raises a legitimate complaint about your content, it may be removed
or the work paused until it is resolved.
Where stock imagery, icons or fonts are used, licences are either included in the
scope or bought by you. Paid licences are a third party cost.
Revisions
Each package includes a set number of revision rounds, listed in the written
scope. A round means one consolidated set of feedback, addressed together.
Revisions cover refinement of what was agreed: wording, spacing, imagery,
arrangement of existing sections. Changing direction after approving a direction,
adding pages, or introducing new functionality is a scope change rather than a
revision.
Additional rounds beyond those included are quoted before they are carried out.
Scope changes
Projects change, and that is normal. Work outside the agreed scope is quoted as an
addition, in writing, before it is started. Nothing extra is carried out and then
invoiced as a surprise.
If a change is small, it may simply be absorbed. That is a judgement call made in
your favour where it is reasonable, not an entitlement.
Preview and approval
The finished website is placed on a temporary preview URL, typically hosted on
Netlify, so you can review it properly on your own devices before launch. The
preview is a working environment provided for review. It is temporary, it is not
the final hosting arrangement, and it is not intended to be shared publicly or
used as your live site.
Approval can be given by email. Approval, or putting the site into public use,
means the work has been accepted as matching the agreed scope.
Northline's own website is hosted separately on Cloudflare. Netlify is used for
client previews only.
Late or missing payment
Final files, transfer of deliverables and connection to your domain happen after
the balance has been paid.
If the balance is still outstanding 14 calendar days after the preview has been
delivered and payment has been requested, Northline may disable the temporary
preview until payment is resolved. This is a pause, not a penalty. The work is not
deleted, and the preview is restored once the balance is settled.
If payment problems are genuinely a timing issue on your side, say so. An
arrangement agreed by email is always better than a disabled link.
Third party services
Unless the written quote explicitly includes them, the following are separate from
Northline's fee and are paid by you: domain registration and renewal, hosting,
commerce platform subscriptions, payment processing fees, booking platform
subscriptions, premium plugins or apps, paid fonts, and stock licences.
Where Northline integrates a third party service, it is responsible for the
integration work, not for that service's availability, pricing, terms, or the way
it behaves after launch. Those services are controlled by their own providers.
Northline does not process or store your customers' card details. Payment handling
belongs to the payment provider you choose.
Domains and hosting
Domains are registered in your name and stay yours. Where Northline sets up hosting
or a domain connection on your behalf, ownership of those accounts is yours unless
the scope says something different.
Ongoing hosting, renewals and platform costs are yours after launch, unless a care
plan covering them is agreed in writing.
Ownership
On full payment, ownership of the final delivered website design and the custom
front end code produced for your project transfers to you.
Until full payment is received, Northline retains ownership of the work. This is
the reason the balance is due before launch, rather than an attempt to hold
anything hostage.
Northline keeps the right to reuse its own underlying tools, techniques,
components and general know how on other projects. That does not include your
content, your brand assets, or the specific design created for you.
Portfolio display
Northline may show completed client work in its portfolio, including screenshots,
a link to the live site, and a description of what was built, unless you ask in
writing for it not to be shown. That request will be respected, and it does not
need to be justified.
Anything you have shared in confidence, including commercial information, internal
documents, unreleased plans and analytics, stays confidential and is not published
regardless of portfolio display. No client's business results are published without
that client's written agreement.
Cancellation
Either side can end a project by email if it is not working out.
If you cancel, the deposit is applied to the work already carried out up to that
point. Where the deposit exceeds the value of the work done, the difference is
returned. Where the work done exceeds the deposit, the balance for that work is
invoiced. Deposits are not treated as automatically forfeited.
If Northline cancels or is unable to deliver, any amount paid for work not yet
carried out is refunded.
If a project goes quiet on the client side for an extended period, it may be
treated as paused and rescheduled rather than held open indefinitely. You will be
told by email before that happens.
Delays
Timelines given in a scope are estimates made in good faith, and they assume
content, feedback and access arrive when expected. Delays on the client side move
the delivery date.
Neither side is responsible for delays caused by events genuinely outside its
control, including third party platform outages, illness, or infrastructure
failures. Where that happens, the work is rescheduled rather than cancelled, and
you are told what is going on.
Warranties
Northline warrants that the work is carried out with reasonable skill and care, and
that the delivered site matches the agreed scope.
If something delivered is broken, tell Northline within a reasonable period after
launch and it will be fixed at no charge. That covers defects in the work
delivered. It does not cover changes you want afterwards, breakage caused by
edits made by someone else, or problems caused by a third party service changing
how it behaves.
No guarantee is given about search engine rankings, traffic, sales, conversion
rates or any other business outcome. Those depend on far more than a website, and
anyone promising otherwise is guessing.
Liability
To the extent permitted by law, Northline's total liability in connection with a
project is limited to the amount you paid for that project.
Northline is not liable for indirect or consequential losses, including lost
profits, lost revenue, lost data or business interruption.
Nothing in these terms limits liability for anything that cannot lawfully be
limited, including liability for gross negligence or intentional misconduct, or any
statutory rights you have as a consumer.
Governing law
These terms are governed by Danish law, and Danish courts have jurisdiction over
any dispute arising from them.
Before anything reaches that point, the expectation is that we try to sort it out
by email. In a studio this size, most disagreements are a misunderstanding about
scope, and scope is written down precisely so it can be checked.
These terms describe how Northline actually works rather than how a much larger
studio might. If a clause here does not fit your project, say so before the deposit
rather than after, and it can be dealt with in the written scope.
