Terms of Service

1. Scope of Services and Statement of Work

The specific services, deliverables, timeline, milestone schedule, and total fees for any project are defined in a separate written proposal, invoice, or Statement of Work (“SOW”) agreed to by both parties before work begins. These Terms apply in addition to, and do not replace, any project-specific SOW. In the event of a direct conflict between these Terms and a signed SOW, the SOW controls for that project.

2. Payment Terms

Projects are billed in staged milestone payments as set out in the SOW — typically an upfront deposit due before work begins, one or more progress payments tied to specific deliverables (such as approval of a staging build), and a final balance due before launch or final handoff. The initial deposit is non-refundable once work has begun, as it compensates for discovery, planning, and the reservation of project time on our calendar. Invoices are due upon receipt unless the SOW states otherwise. Late payments may accrue interest at 1.5% per month (or the maximum rate permitted by Maryland law, if lower) and may result in a pause of all work until the account is brought current.

Online Orders. Certain fixed-price packages can be ordered directly on this website. An online order is made by signing an Order & Deposit Agreement and paying a deposit of 50% of the package price at checkout, or, for the Starter Site, by signing an Order Agreement and paying the full price at checkout, together with a required Maintenance & Hosting Plan whose billing starts at launch and which carries a 12-month commitment (a monthly plan cancelled early owes the remaining months of the 12). An online order is not final until the Company accepts it after the initial consultation. Work begins only after both parties sign the Project Agreement, which states the exact scope and final price and credits the deposit. If the Company does not accept the order, if the parties do not agree on a Project Agreement, or if the Client cancels in writing before signing the Project Agreement, the deposit is refunded to the original payment method, less a refund processing fee of five percent (5%) of the deposit. Once the Project Agreement is signed, the rest of this Section 2 applies to the deposit.

3. Staging, Review, and Launch

Development work is performed on a private staging environment controlled by the Company. The Client’s live production domain is not connected, and repository, hosting, or administrative credentials are not transferred, until the project is accepted and paid in full under Section 2. Once final payment is received, the Company will launch the site on the Client’s production domain and transfer access as described in the SOW.

4. Review, Feedback, and Deemed Acceptance

When a deliverable or milestone build is made available for review, the Client agrees to provide written approval or specific, actionable feedback within 10 business days. If no response is received within that window, the deliverable is deemed accepted for the purpose of triggering the next milestone payment and project phase. This provision exists so that a project cannot be held open indefinitely by silence.

5. Revisions

The number of included revision rounds is defined in the SOW. Additional revisions, feature additions, or structural changes outside the agreed scope will be treated as a change order and billed separately at the Company’s standard hourly rate, or added to the project via a written change order before the additional work begins.

6. Client Responsibilities and Project Delays

The Client is responsible for providing accurate content, branding materials, images, and timely feedback needed to complete the project, generally within 10 business days of a request unless otherwise agreed. If project progress stalls for more than 21 days due to missing Client materials or unresponsiveness, the Company may place the project on hold. In that event, any remaining balance tied to work already completed becomes immediately due, and the Company is not responsible for delays in the project timeline caused by the hold.

7. Ownership and Intellectual Property

Until the Company receives final payment in full for a given project, all code, designs, and deliverables remain the sole property of the Company, and the Client is granted no license to use, publish, or deploy them. Upon receipt of final payment, ownership of the final deliverables created specifically for that project transfers to the Client, excluding any third-party assets, licensed software, stock photography, fonts, or components that remain subject to their original license terms. The Company retains ownership of its own pre-existing tools, code libraries, and reusable components used to build the project (“Background IP”); the Client receives a license to use Background IP as incorporated into their delivered site, but the Company remains free to reuse its own Background IP on other projects. The Company also retains the right to display completed projects in its portfolio, case studies, and marketing materials unless otherwise agreed in writing.

8. Confidentiality

Each party agrees to keep confidential any non-public business, technical, or financial information disclosed by the other party in connection with a project, and to use it only for the purpose of completing that project.

9. Independent Contractor Status

The Company provides Services as an independent contractor, not as an employee, partner, or agent of the Client. Nothing in these Terms creates a joint venture, partnership, or employment relationship between the parties.

10. Third-Party Services

Projects may rely on third-party services such as hosting providers, payment processors, domain registrars, or licensed software. The Company is not responsible for outages, policy changes, pricing changes, or fees charged directly by these third parties.

11. Warranty Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

Services are provided on an “as is” basis without warranties of any kind, express or implied. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Company’s total liability for any claim arising from the Services is limited to the amount paid by the Client for the specific project giving rise to the claim. The Company is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including lost profits or lost business.

12. Termination

Either party may terminate a project engagement with written notice. If the Client terminates, the Client is responsible for payment for all work completed up to the termination date, and any deposit already paid is non-refundable, except a deposit paid on an online order before the Project Agreement is signed, which is refunded as described under Online Orders in Section 2. If the Company terminates without cause, any amount paid for work not yet performed will be returned to the Client.

13. Ongoing Maintenance and Retainer Agreements

Hosting, maintenance, and support services offered on a recurring monthly basis are governed by these Terms plus the specific scope and rate set out at signup or in a separate retainer agreement. Either party may cancel an ongoing retainer with 30 days’ written notice unless the retainer agreement states otherwise.

14. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. The parties agree to first attempt to resolve any dispute informally; unresolved disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Maryland.

15. Changes to These Terms

The Company may update these Terms from time to time. The “Last updated” date above reflects the most recent revision. Changes do not apply retroactively to a project already governed by a signed SOW.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to info@baltimorewebdeveloper.com.