Terms & Conditions. Our mutual agreement with clients.

All proposals are based on the scope, goals, and requirements provided by the client at the time of submission. The estimated pricing outlined in this proposal reflects our understanding of the project as discussed to date.

If the scope changes significantly — for example, with the inclusion of additional functionality, content types, third-party integrations, or platform constraints — we may need to review and revise the proposal accordingly.

Unless otherwise specified, the following items are not included in the proposal:

• Licensing or sourcing of stock images or video
• Custom photography or videography
• Custom illustrations or icon sets
• Copywriting services
• Third-party software, plugins, or API subscriptions
• Any additional ‘out-of-pocket’ expenses

These items will be quoted separately if required for the project.

Proposals are valid for 14 days from the date of issue. After this period, Jala Design reserves the right to update the proposal or timeline based on current scheduling and resource availability.

All timelines and pricing outlined in this proposal are based on receiving required materials, content, and approvals from the client within agreed timeframes.

If a project requires an accelerated turnaround — due to delays, shifting priorities, or newly imposed deadlines — Jala Design reserves the right to apply a rush fee to accommodate the expedited delivery. This ensures that your work receives the dedicated attention and scheduling adjustments required to meet tighter time constraints.

Please note that Jala Design cannot guarantee the same level of QA (quality assurance) for deliverables completed under compressed timeframes, and we are not responsible for issues arising from incomplete or rushed inputs.

Unless otherwise agreed, all projects include two rounds of revisions on the initial design concept (such as homepage layout, visual direction, or style guide). These rounds provide the opportunity to collaboratively refine the look, feel, and user experience.

Any revisions beyond the included two rounds will be billed at our standard hourly rate. We will always notify you in advance and seek written approval before proceeding with any additional work that may incur extra costs.

Jala Design will use reasonable discretion to distinguish between a new revision and a minor clarification or tweak, and will always aim to be fair and transparent in doing so.

Jala Design depends on timely communication, content delivery, and feedback to progress your project according to the agreed timeline.

If delays occur due to the client — such as missing content, approvals, or extended periods of inactivity — the following conditions will apply:

• A weekly account management and staging maintenance fee of $300 will be charged for each week the project is delayed beyond the original schedule. This covers hosting, maintenance of the development environment, and ongoing project oversight.
• An interim invoice will be issued for all work completed up to the point the delay begins.
• If a client-side delay exceeds four (4) consecutive weeks, Jala Design reserves the right to pause and archive the project. Archiving involves removing the site from our active staging environment and securely storing all assets and code.

To resume work, a restoration fee will be charged to:

• Reinstate the development environment
• Apply any necessary updates to plugins, dependencies, or CMS
• Reallocate our development team to the project schedule

Jala Design will provide written notice before applying any additional charges or initiating a project pause.

Web projects often evolve as ideas are refined — and we fully support that process. We also understand that your needs may shift as new functionality, user flows, or content structures are considered during development.

The pricing outlined in this proposal is based on the scope and requirements provided by the client at the time of submission. If you decide to adjust the scope — for example, by adding page templates, modifying features, integrating third-party systems, or changing how something functions — we’re happy to accommodate.

Any changes that fall outside the original agreed scope will be reviewed, and a separate estimate will be provided before additional work begins. We will never proceed with scope changes without your approval.

Jala Design retains the right to showcase completed work in our online portfolio, including our website and official social media channels. This may include a short description of the project, the client’s name and logo, screenshots or screen recordings of the live website, and any testimonials that have been publicly shared or approved by the client.

We are committed to maintaining client confidentiality and will not share any sensitive, unpublished, or restricted information. If any part of the project must remain private, please let us know and we will accommodate this request.

Jala Design reserves the right to include a discreet credit link in the footer of websites we develop, pointing to www.jaladesign.com.au. This helps showcase our work and allows prospective clients to identify us as the development partner.

If you would prefer this link to be removed or modified, please let us know before the website goes live, and we will be happy to discuss alternatives.

Your website may or may not have been built using premium plugins or extensions to add functionality. Premium plugins require yearly license renewal fees per website to keep the code updated and secure.

If you subscribe to our Active Care plans you will optionally be billed for the renewal fees of any premium plugins used to develop your website not covered by our developer license after the first year – alternatively, these may also be managed by the client. If you select not to renew the license we cannot be responsible for any functionality or security issues this may cause in the future.

Jala Design has the right to add all work completed to our portfolio. This may include introduction text to describe the client, client logo, testimonials and screenshots of work completed.

Jala Design has the right to add a link to the base of websites developed to point back to www.jaladesign.com.au.

Your website may include premium plugins or extensions to support key functionality. These plugins typically require annual license renewals to remain secure and up to date.

If you are subscribed to one of our Active Care plans, Jala Design can manage these license renewals on your behalf. For any premium plugins not covered by our developer licenses, we will invoice the full license renewal cost plus a 30% management fee to cover administration, monitoring, and license handling. Alternatively, the client may choose to manage and renew these licenses independently.

Please note that if any required licenses are not renewed, affected features may stop working or present security risks. Jala Design is not responsible for any issues that arise from expired or unmanaged plugin licenses.

The client is responsible for providing all necessary content and assets for the project, including copy, photography, videos, and brand materials, in a timely manner and in appropriate digital formats.

If assistance is required sourcing stock imagery or other visual content, Jala Design can provide recommendations or assist with selection. Any time spent on this will be billed at our standard discovery rate.

Jala Design will build your website using standards-compliant HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We focus on delivering a modern, accessible experience optimised for current versions of major browsers, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge on desktop and mobile. Given the fast-changing nature of browser technology, we do not support deprecated or significantly outdated browsers. Where possible, users on older or limited devices will still receive a functional and accessible version of the website, adapted to the capabilities of their software.

Jala Design offers cloud-based hosting options as outlined in this proposal. These packages include secure, high-performance infrastructure powered by Google Cloud Platform and Cloudflare, with server caching and modern PHP support. Websites hosted by Jala Design run on 100% renewable energy.

If the client does not currently manage hosting or if their existing hosting environment is incompatible with the proposed solution, Jala Design can provision and manage hosting on your behalf at an additional cost.

If the client chooses to manage their own hosting, the following applies:

• The hosting environment must support the required technical stack (e.g. Linux server with cPanel, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform).
• Full administrator access must be provided to Jala Design for the duration of the project.
• Ongoing server maintenance — including backups, security updates, and performance optimisation — is the responsibility of the client after the project is launched.

Jala Design’s hosting environment does not support local email hosting. We recommend using dedicated email providers such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for email services.

If a staging environment is required and hosting is not provided by Jala Design, additional setup and maintenance fees will apply. This includes during development and while under any Active Care agreement.

Additional storage beyond the included hosting plan can be provisioned at $30 per month per additional 10GB.

The client guarantees that all content and assets provided to Jala Design — including text, images, graphics, logos, and other media — are either owned by the client or supplied with appropriate permission for use on the website.

Jala Design will deliver all agreed website assets, design files, content, and code as outlined in this proposal. Upon full payment of all related invoices, Jala Design will assign to the client all rights, title, and interest in the completed work — including web assets, source code, custom designs, and any project-specific outputs created, extended, or modified during the development process.

This assignment:

• Does not include design concepts or proposals submitted but not approved by the client during the course of the project.
• Excludes third-party assets (such as premium plugins, typefaces, or stock imagery), which are subject to their original licensing terms and remain the property of the respective vendors.
• Grants Jala Design the right to retain and reuse non-exclusive elements of the project (such as base code frameworks, modular components, boilerplate assets, or internal tools) for future client work.

Jala Design agrees to treat all confidential information received from the client as strictly private and proprietary. This includes, but is not limited to, business plans, account credentials, internal documents, customer data, and any other information not publicly available.

Confidential information will only be used as required to complete the scope of work defined in this proposal and will not be shared with any third party without the client’s prior written consent.

This obligation of confidentiality remains in effect during the project and continues indefinitely after its completion.

If the client subscribes to an Active Care plan, Jala Design will serve as the exclusive provider of website maintenance and support services for the duration of the agreement. This includes monitoring, updates, backups, and performance checks.

To ensure the integrity and security of the website, no third party may access, modify, or maintain the website during the Active Care period without Jala Design’s prior written approval. If external changes are made, any resulting issues or repairs required will be billed at our standard hourly rate.

Our backup platform supports up to 400,000 files per website. Backups are retained for three (3) months from the date they are created. If you require longer retention or higher storage limits, custom solutions can be arranged at an additional cost.

If the client subscribes to a recurring plan, they may cancel the agreement at any time by providing three (3) months’ written notice, provided that all payments are up to date. Cancellation will take effect at the end of the current billing cycle following the notice period. Please note that no pro-rata refunds will be issued for unused time within a billing cycle.

Jala Design reserves the right to cancel the recurring agreements at any time, for any reason, with written notice sent electronically or to the address on record for the client. In the event of cancellation by Jala Design, any unused portion of prepaid services will be refunded, unless the cancellation is due to a breach of agreement or misuse of the service.

The following exclusions apply to the accessibility audit and remediation:

• Externally embedded content (such as iframes, third-party widgets, or external scripts) are not included, as we cannot modify or guarantee the accessibility of code we do not control.
• Plugins are not included unless they provide supported methods for accessibility adjustments through template overrides, filters, or hooks.

All invoices are issued on 14-day payment terms, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

For new projects, the following milestone-based payment structure applies:

25% deposit required before project commencement
25% progress payment due at the start of the WordPress integration or development phase
50% final payment due prior to launch; the website will be scheduled for launch once this balance is paid

For projects that extend beyond initial timelines, Jala Design may issue fortnightly progress invoices based on completed work and allocated resources. Ongoing services (such as Active Care or hosting) are billed on a recurring basis and are subject to an annual price increase of 8%.

Suspension for Non-Payment

If payment is not received by the due date, Jala Design reserves the right to suspend all related services, including website access, support, hosting, email routing (if applicable), and ongoing development work. A reactivation fee will be charged to reinstate suspended services. Access to the website’s back-end and any staging environment may also be temporarily revoked.

In cases of prolonged non-payment, Jala Design may archive or remove hosted assets after 30 days of service suspension. Should restoration be required, this will incur additional fees to reinstate the environment, apply necessary plugin or platform updates, redeploy site files, and manually validate the integrity of the restored site.

We will always make reasonable efforts to notify the client in advance before taking such actions and will work with you to resolve payment issues wherever possible.

If a project is cancelled at the request of the client, Jala Design will issue a final invoice for all work completed and any project-related expenses incurred up to the date of cancellation. The amount invoiced will be based on the percentage of work completed, as determined by time logged and the original scope or timeline allocated.

Ownership of any development work completed will be transferred to the client only once the final invoice has been paid in full. Until that point, all design files, code, and digital assets remain the property of Jala Design.

Any unreleased or unapproved work — including drafts, internal tools, or exploratory concepts — will not be included in the final handover.