Terms & Conditions

1) Services

We provide web-development, web-application, automation, AI assistant, and related consultancy services (“Services”) as described on our website and in any quotation, proposal, specification, or scope document agreed by you. Any changes beyond that scope require written agreement (for example, by email) and may incur additional charges.

2) Consultations

Many engagements begin with a paid Cloud & Systems Consultation, as described on our website (currently a £49.50 consultation fee unless otherwise stated). This section sets out how consultations work.

• • Scope. A consultation is typically a 45–60 minute remote session (video or phone) to review your current website, tools and workflows, clarify goals and constraints, and outline practical options. It is an advisory service and does not oblige either party to proceed with a project.
• • Payment. The consultation fee is payable in advance (for example, via Stripe checkout or another method we specify) in order to secure your slot. We will only confirm a booking once payment has been successfully received.
• • Deliverables. After the consultation, we will usually provide a short, plain-English summary and/or action plan outlining recommended next steps, and where appropriate a fixed-price proposal for any project work.
• • Credit against projects. If you go ahead with a website, automation, systems or similar project with us, the consultation fee is usually credited against your first project invoice, as described on our pricing and services pages. Where that credit will not apply, we will make this clear before you are asked to confirm or pay for the consultation.
• • Rescheduling. You may request to reschedule your consultation by contacting us at least 24 hours before the scheduled start time. We will make reasonable efforts to offer a new slot, but cannot guarantee specific dates or times.
• • Cancellations & non-attendance. If you cancel with less than 24 hours' notice, or do not attend the booked session, we may treat the consultation as having been used and no further session or refund will normally be offered, except where required by law.
• • Refunds. Once the consultation has taken place, the fee is non-refundable, except where we are legally required to provide a refund (for example, if we fail to deliver the service). If we need to cancel a consultation and cannot offer a reasonable alternative time, we will refund any fee you have paid for that consultation.

3) Quote, Payment & Fees

• • Quotations. Unless otherwise stated, quotations and fixed-price proposals are valid for 30 days from the date issued.
• • Consultation fee. Where a Cloud & Systems Consultation applies, the consultation fee (currently £49.50) is payable in advance to secure your slot. As set out above, this fee is non-refundable once the consultation has taken place but is usually credited against your first project invoice if you proceed with a website, automation or systems project.
• • Project payment schedule. For typical fixed-price projects, a common schedule is: (1) consultation fee (if applicable); (2) 50% of the agreed project price due before build work starts; and (3) 50% due before go-live or final handover, unless alternative milestones are agreed in writing.
• • Small or advisory work. Very small pieces of work, audits, or advisory-only engagements may instead be billed as a simple one-off fee, either payable in advance or on completion, as stated in the relevant quotation.
• • Taxes. Prices exclude VAT (if applicable) unless clearly stated otherwise. If VAT or other applicable taxes become chargeable, they will be added to your invoice in line with current law.
• • Payment terms. Unless otherwise stated on the invoice, invoices are due on receipt. We may suspend work, withhold deliverables, or pause hosting and support where invoices remain unpaid.
• • Late payment. Late payments may incur interest at 8% per annum above the Bank of England base rate and reasonable recovery costs. We may also suspend the Services until all outstanding sums are settled.

4) Client Responsibilities

You agree to provide timely access, information, content, approvals and feedback reasonably required for us to deliver the Services. Delays in providing these may extend timelines and/or incur additional fees where they result in re-work, missed slots or context switching on our side.

5) Intellectual Property & Licence

• • Materials you provide. You confirm that any content, assets, trademarks, branding, copy or code you supply, or ask us to use, do not infringe third-party rights. You are responsible for securing any necessary permissions or licences.
• • Ownership of the finished site. On payment in full of all fees due for a project, you receive a non-exclusive, perpetual licence to use the delivered website, web app and related assets for your own business purposes. As described on our website, you own your domain, content and data; we provide access and a tidy handover if you ever move away.
• • Our tools and know-how. We retain ownership of our underlying frameworks, internal libraries, starter templates and processes. We may reuse generic components and know-how in future projects, provided we do not disclose your confidential information.
• • Portfolio use. Unless you ask us not to in writing, we may reference your project (for example, by logo, screenshots and a short description) in our portfolio, marketing material and case studies.
• • Footer credit. We may include a discreet footer credit (for example, “Website by South Coast Apps”) on sites we build. If you would like this removed or replaced, we will normally agree to do so, and may charge a small fee to cover the work.

6) Warranties & Limitations

• • Reasonable skill and care. We will perform the Services with reasonable skill and care, in line with generally accepted industry practice for small web studios.
• • No absolute guarantees. While we care about performance, uptime and security, we cannot guarantee that any website, app or system will be error-free, uninterrupted, or completely immune to third-party attacks or outages (for example, issues with hosting providers or upstream platforms such as email, CRMs or payment gateways).
• • Your responsibility for use. You are responsible for how you use the Services and any decisions you make based on our advice. Our work is not legal, financial or regulatory advice; you should seek specialist advice where needed.
• • Limit of liability. To the extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability arising in connection with the Services (whether in contract, tort, negligence or otherwise) is limited to the total fees actually paid by you to us for the specific project or engagement giving rise to the claim.
• • Excluded losses. We are not liable for any indirect, consequential or special loss, or for any loss of profit, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunity, except where such exclusion is not permitted by law.

7) Hosting, Maintenance & Support

Where we provide hosting and/or ongoing support, the specific inclusions (such as uptime targets, response times, minor content changes, and review calls) will be set out in your package or support plan. As described on our pricing and services pages, hosting typically includes modern UK/EU hosting, SSL, backups, core software updates, monitoring and basic security hardening.

• • Rolling plans. Unless otherwise agreed, hosting and care plans run on a rolling monthly basis and can usually be cancelled with at least 30 days’ notice. We will provide a reasonable handover if you choose to move hosting elsewhere, but some migrations may incur additional fees where significant work is required.
• • Suspension. We may suspend hosting or support for breaches of these Terms (for example, unlawful content, abusive use, or unpaid invoices) and will normally notify you in advance where reasonable to do so.
• • Third-party services. We may use third-party providers (for example, managed hosting, DNS, email, analytics, or automation platforms). Their own terms of service and uptime commitments also apply, and we are not responsible for outages or changes outside our control.

8) Confidentiality

Each party agrees to keep the other’s confidential information confidential and to use it only as necessary to perform or receive the Services, or as required by law. This does not apply to information that is or becomes public through no fault of the receiving party, or that was already known to the receiving party on a non-confidential basis.

9) Termination

Either party may terminate a project or ongoing plan for material breach if the breach is not remedied within 14 days of written notice describing the issue in reasonable detail. On termination, you must pay all fees for work completed and any non-cancellable third-party costs incurred on your behalf up to the effective date of termination.

10) Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with them are governed by the laws of England & Wales. The courts of England & Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, although we may first explore sensible, informal resolution with you before escalating any dispute.

11) Changes to Terms

We may revise these Terms from time to time (for example, to reflect changes in law, best practice, or our Services). When we do, we will update the “Last updated” date above and may also highlight the change on our website or by email where appropriate. Continued use of our Services after the updated Terms take effect constitutes acceptance of those changes.