Our service agreement

Work & payments

1. The structure of our agreements

The Services Agreement is the standing agreement for how we work together across all projects. The specific project (what we're building, the deliverables, the timeline) lives in a Statement of Work (SOW) for each project. One signed Agreement can cover many projects, each with its own SOW. Additional work can also be agreed as a written order, which can be as simple as an email, without drawing up and signing a new document.

2. The fee and how it's paid

Each project's total fee and payment schedule are set in its SOW, typically 50% on signing and 50% on completion, though milestones can be tailored per project. Fees are quoted plus VAT (VAT is added on your invoice at the applicable rate, not baked into the headline figure). Invoices are due within 14 days. Late payment carries interest at 4% above the Bank of England base rate, and we may pause work until an overdue invoice is settled.

3. Small project costs

Occasionally a project needs small bought-in items like a stock image, an icon set, or a font licence. We won't buy anything on your behalf without your prior written authorisation. If approved, we bill the item back to you at cost (plus VAT).

4. Changing scope mid-project

If you want to increase, reduce or change the project scope, that goes through a simple written change process: you tell us, we respond within 10 working days (though usually much sooner) with acceptance or a quote, and once we're all agreed we will codify the change in an amended Statement of Work or a Change Order.

Who's responsible for what

5. If something goes wrong

Our liability for any one issue is capped at a fixed amount set in the agreement. The cap doesn't apply to anything the law won't let us limit, or to our cover if our work is claimed to infringe someone else's intellectual property. Neither side is liable for indirect losses such as lost profits or lost business.

6. What we each bring

We work with reasonable care and skill, to professional standards, and flag problems early. You provide the content, access and approvals we need in good time, and make sure anything you give us is accurate and yours to use.

7. We fix bugs post-launch for three months

For three months after launch, we'll fix anything that doesn't work as set out in the final approved design and scope, free of charge. New features, design changes and further development are separate work.

8. Who owns the finished work

Once a project is paid for in full, we assign you the intellectual property in everything we created specifically for you. We keep our background IP, the tools, frameworks, libraries, templates and components we build independently and reuse across projects, but you get a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free licence to it wherever it's part of your deliverables. Both the assignment and the licence survive the Agreement ending.

9. Privacy notices we prepare for you

If your project includes our compliance package, we'll draft a privacy notice from what you tell us about how you use personal data. Once the site is live, the notice is yours: as the data controller, you're responsible for reviewing it, keeping it accurate and telling us if how you use data changes. We don't give legal advice or guarantee that it meets every legal requirement.

Credit, publicity & confidentiality

10. A small credit in your footer (removable for a fee)

Finished sites carry a discreet "Design by Common Mechanics" credit and link in the footer. It stays for the life of the site while you operate it; if you'd prefer it removed, that can be arranged for a fee.

11. Featuring our work in marketing materials

By default we may show the work in our portfolio and pitches, and name you as a client. Anything you've marked confidential is off-limits, and we'll adjust or remove a reference on reasonable request. If you'd rather we keep the relationship private entirely, let us know.

12. Keeping each other's information private

We both agree to respect the privacy of the other's confidential information, and use it only when necessary to do the work.

13. Personal data

Where a project involves personal data (form submissions, visitor data and the like), our separate Data Processing Agreement sets out how we handle it, covering security, sub-processors, breach notification and deletion.

Ending things

14. Not poaching each other's people

For 12 months after we finish, you won't solicit or hire the people who worked on your project without our written consent.

15. Ending the agreement

Either side can end the Agreement with 14 days' written notice, or immediately for serious breach or insolvency. On ending, each side returns the other's property.

16. If things end mid-project

There's no cancellation fee. If the Agreement ends while a project is under way, you pay for the work done up to that point plus any bought-in costs you've already approved.