About Sitemate Studio
Sitemate Studio is a UK-based web design and systems business for local businesses. We design and build websites, content management systems, booking flows, enquiry systems, automations, and related digital systems.
Contact: hello@sitematestudio.com
Postal address: 1, 23, The Limes, 23 Station Rd, Stoke Mandeville, Aylesbury HP22 5TZ
These terms
These terms apply to:
- use of sitematestudio.com;
- enquiries, demo requests, and proposal requests made through the website;
- free audits, reports, and demo concepts provided before a paid project; and
- general information about Sitemate Studio services.
Paid client work is governed by a separate written proposal, statement of work, service agreement, and where needed a data processing agreement. If these website terms conflict with a signed client agreement, the signed client agreement takes priority.
Business use
Sitemate Studio services are intended for businesses, charities, sole traders, and professional organisations. If you are treated as a consumer under applicable law, nothing in these terms limits rights that cannot legally be limited.
Website content
The information on this website is provided for general information. We try to keep it accurate, but it may not always be complete, current, or suitable for your specific business.
Nothing on this website is legal, financial, tax, medical, or professional regulatory advice. You are responsible for checking that your own business website, booking process, data handling, pricing, policies, and customer terms comply with the rules that apply to your business.
Services
Sitemate Studio may provide:
- custom website design and build;
- CMS and admin systems;
- enquiry, booking, and quote forms;
- local SEO setup;
- Google Business Profile support;
- analytics and Search Console setup;
- hosting and maintenance;
- email notifications;
- booking, calendar, SMS, payment, CRM, or automation integrations; and
- ongoing support and reporting.
The exact services for a paid project are only those listed in the accepted written scope.
Pricing
Prices shown on the website are guide prices unless a written proposal says otherwise. We may change public prices from time to time.
Third-party costs, usage charges, paid plugins, SMS charges, advertising spend, payment-processing fees, domain renewals, and other external costs are not included unless the written scope clearly says they are.
Written quotes are normally valid for 30 days from the date issued, unless the quote says a different period. After that, pricing and availability may need to be reviewed.
Quotes and project scope
Before paid work begins, we will provide a written scope or proposal that sets out the agreed deliverables, pricing, payment terms, and any important assumptions.
You are responsible for checking the scope before accepting it. Work outside the agreed scope may require a separate quote or change request.
If the written scope includes acceptance criteria or testing criteria, those criteria will be the main measure for whether that part of the work is complete. Requests outside those criteria may be treated as change requests.
When a contract is formed
An enquiry, call booking, free audit, demo, or proposal request does not create a paid contract.
A paid contract is formed only when:
- both parties agree a written proposal, scope, or service agreement; and
- any required deposit or first payment has been paid, unless the written agreement says otherwise.
Sitemate Studio is not obliged to start paid work until the agreed setup requirements are complete.
Review, testing, and sign-off
During a project, you may be asked to review designs, content, test links, CMS fields, forms, booking flows, or integrations.
You are responsible for checking that:
- business information is accurate;
- prices, services, opening hours, policies, and contact details are correct;
- forms and booking flows ask for the information your business needs;
- content is lawful and suitable for your customers;
- supplied images, logos, and assets can be used; and
- any industry-specific requirements have been raised before launch.
Approval by email, message, form, or project system may be treated as sign-off. Changes requested after sign-off may be quoted separately, especially where they require redesign, rebuild, retesting, or third-party configuration.
Payment terms
Unless a written agreement says otherwise:
- setup fees are split 50% before work begins and 50% before launch;
- monthly retainers are billed in advance;
- annual retainers may be offered with a discount;
- invoices are payable by the due date shown on the invoice;
- overdue invoices may lead to work being paused; and
- services may be suspended if payment is more than 14 days overdue.
You remain responsible for all valid charges incurred before suspension or termination.
Cancellations and refunds
Cancellation and refund terms for paid work should be set out in the written client agreement.
Unless a written agreement says otherwise:
- deposits and setup payments cover reserved time, discovery, planning, design, build, and project administration;
- payments for work already completed are not refundable;
- monthly retainers are not refunded for a month already started;
- unused future retainer periods may be cancelled according to the agreed notice period; and
- third-party charges already incurred on your behalf are not refundable by Sitemate Studio.
Client responsibilities
To deliver a project, we may need you to provide accurate information, content, images, brand assets, account access, approvals, and feedback.
You are responsible for:
- making sure information you provide is accurate and lawful;
- having the right to use any text, images, logos, fonts, or other assets you provide;
- reviewing and approving content before launch;
- checking business-specific legal, professional, or regulatory requirements;
- keeping your own account credentials secure;
- telling us promptly about issues you notice; and
- not using the website or systems for unlawful, harmful, misleading, or abusive activity.
Delays in providing required information, assets, access, or approval may delay delivery.
Delivery timelines
Any delivery dates or launch dates are estimates unless a written agreement expressly says they are fixed.
Timelines may change because of:
- delayed content, assets, access, feedback, or approval;
- scope changes;
- third-party provider delays;
- domain, DNS, email, booking, payment, or platform issues;
- illness, emergencies, or events outside reasonable control; or
- newly discovered technical constraints.
Sitemate Studio will take reasonable care to communicate material delays, but is not liable for loss caused by a reasonable change to an estimated timeline.
Regulated or specialist businesses
Some businesses have extra legal, professional, advertising, accessibility, safeguarding, medical, financial, consumer, or industry-specific obligations.
You are responsible for telling us about requirements that apply to your business and for having specialist advice where needed. Unless a written agreement specifically includes it, Sitemate Studio does not provide regulated compliance advice and does not guarantee that your website, copy, booking flow, or customer process satisfies every rule for your industry.
Third-party services
Sitemate Studio websites and systems may use third-party services such as hosting providers, domain registrars, analytics tools, form protection, booking tools, payment processors, SMS providers, email providers, automation tools, and databases.
Those services are governed by their own terms, availability, pricing, limits, and privacy policies. We are not responsible for outages, price changes, feature changes, account decisions, or failures caused by third-party providers, although we will take reasonable steps to help where the issue affects a service we manage.
You are responsible for complying with the terms of any third-party service, software, open-source library, plugin, image, font, map, feed, booking tool, payment provider, or platform used for your business.
Domains
Where Sitemate Studio registers or manages a client domain, the policy is to register the domain in the client's business name wherever possible.
If a client leaves, we will transfer the domain to the client or their chosen provider after any outstanding invoices and reasonable transfer requirements are resolved. We do not use domains to trap clients.
You are responsible for making sure you have the right to register and use your chosen domain name, business name, and brand name. Domain registration does not prove that you own trade mark or other legal rights in that name.
You must provide accurate registrant details where needed. Some domain registries, registrars, or legal processes may require registrant information to be verified or disclosed.
Hosting, maintenance, and support
Hosting, maintenance, security updates, monitoring, and support are provided according to the accepted plan or written agreement.
Unless a written agreement says otherwise:
- support is provided by email;
- response times are targets, not guaranteed fix times;
- planned maintenance may be carried out where needed;
- emergency fixes may depend on third-party provider availability; and
- work outside the agreed plan may be quoted separately.
Backups, access, and client-side changes
Where hosting or maintenance is included, we will take reasonable care to maintain the parts of the website or system we manage.
You should not change hosting, DNS, code, CMS structure, integrations, databases, automations, analytics, payment settings, or security settings without agreeing it with us first. Sitemate Studio is not responsible for faults, downtime, data loss, tracking issues, or security issues caused by unauthorised changes, shared credentials, third-party changes, or work carried out by someone outside Sitemate Studio.
Results and search performance
We aim to build practical websites and systems that improve enquiry, booking, management, and customer workflows.
We do not guarantee:
- a specific Google ranking;
- a specific number of leads, bookings, calls, or sales;
- uninterrupted website availability;
- approval by Google, Meta, directories, platforms, or payment providers; or
- any particular commercial result.
Free audits, reports, and demos
Free audits, reports, homepage demos, mockups, and recommendations are prepared for discussion only. They are not a guarantee of results, a complete compliance review, or a promise to build every shown feature unless later included in a written paid scope.
Demo websites may use publicly available business information or supplied assets. If you own any content shown in a demo and want it changed or removed, contact us.
Website accessibility
We aim to build clear, usable websites. Specific accessibility standards, audits, remediation work, or compliance targets must be agreed in the written scope. Unless expressly agreed, we do not guarantee compliance with a particular accessibility standard.
Browser, device, and platform compatibility
Websites and systems are designed for modern, commonly used browsers and devices at the time of build. Exact appearance may vary between browsers, devices, operating systems, screen sizes, accessibility settings, and email clients.
Unless a written agreement says otherwise, we do not guarantee support for outdated browsers, unsupported operating systems, unusual device configurations, disabled browser features, or future browser/platform changes.
If a third-party platform, browser, operating system, CMS, plugin, API, or integration changes after launch, any work needed to adapt the website or system may be quoted separately unless covered by the agreed support plan.
Intellectual property
Unless a written agreement says otherwise:
- you keep ownership of content, images, logos, business information, and assets you provide;
- Sitemate Studio keeps ownership of pre-existing tools, templates, methods, workflows, code libraries, and know-how;
- project-specific design and website deliverables transfer according to the signed client agreement after full payment; and
- no ownership transfer happens for unpaid work.
You must not copy, resell, reproduce, or adapt Sitemate Studio website content, proposals, reports, demos, code, or designs without written permission, except for your own internal review of materials we prepared for you.
Portfolio use
Unless a written agreement says otherwise, we may mention completed client work in our portfolio, proposals, or marketing after launch. We will not publish confidential commercial information or private customer data.
If a client needs work to stay private, this should be agreed in writing.
Credits and references
Sitemate Studio may ask to include a small website credit or portfolio reference for completed work. If a client does not want a visible credit, this should be agreed in writing.
We will not use confidential information, private customer data, or sensitive commercial details in portfolio material.
Data protection
Personal data is handled according to our Privacy Policy.
For client systems that process customer data, the client is normally the data controller and Sitemate Studio is normally the processor. A separate data processing agreement should be agreed before live customer data is processed through Sitemate Studio-controlled systems.
Acceptable use
You must not use the website, forms, demos, or systems to:
- break the law;
- infringe intellectual property rights;
- send spam or malicious content;
- upload malware or harmful code;
- attempt unauthorised access;
- abuse, harass, or threaten others;
- mislead customers; or
- process data you have no right to process.
We may block, suspend, or remove access where we reasonably believe these rules are being breached.
Confidentiality
If we exchange non-public business information during a project or proposal process, both parties should treat it as confidential unless it is already public, independently known, required by law to be disclosed, or agreed otherwise in writing.
Subcontractors and suppliers
Sitemate Studio may use trusted subcontractors, freelancers, software providers, hosting providers, automation providers, or professional advisers where reasonably needed to deliver services or run the business.
Sitemate Studio remains responsible for its own obligations under any signed client agreement, but is not responsible for failures caused by third-party services outside its reasonable control.
Suspension and termination
For paid services, suspension and termination terms should be set out in the written client agreement.
Unless a written agreement says otherwise, either party may end ongoing services with 30 days' written notice. Outstanding invoices, committed third-party charges, and work already completed remain payable.
Events outside reasonable control
Sitemate Studio is not responsible for delay or failure caused by events outside reasonable control, including internet outages, hosting failures, DNS issues, cyber incidents affecting third parties, supplier outages, platform changes, strikes, serious illness, legal or regulatory changes, fire, flood, extreme weather, war, civil unrest, or government action.
Where this affects paid work, we will take reasonable steps to reduce the impact and resume delivery when practical.
Client indemnity
To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree to protect Sitemate Studio from claims, losses, costs, damages, penalties, or legal expenses arising from:
- content, images, logos, data, or materials you provide;
- your products, services, advice, claims, prices, offers, or customer terms;
- your chosen domain name, business name, or brand name;
- your breach of third-party terms;
- your unlawful use of the website or systems;
- customer data you ask us to process without a lawful basis; or
- changes made by you or your chosen third party outside Sitemate Studio's control.
This does not apply where the claim is caused by Sitemate Studio's own negligence, fraud, wilful misconduct, or breach of a signed agreement.
Liability
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or fraudulent misrepresentation.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Sitemate Studio is not liable for:
- indirect or consequential loss;
- loss of profit, revenue, goodwill, opportunity, or anticipated savings;
- loss caused by inaccurate information or materials supplied by you;
- business interruption caused by third-party services;
- search ranking changes or platform decisions;
- security incidents caused by client credential sharing or unauthorised client-side changes; or
- loss that could have been avoided by following reasonable advice or maintaining backups.
For paid services, any financial cap on liability should be set out in the written client agreement. If no written cap applies, Sitemate Studio's total liability for a claim is limited to the amount paid by the client to Sitemate Studio in the three months before the event giving rise to the claim.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time. The latest version will be posted on this page with the updated date.
Changes do not automatically amend a signed client agreement unless the agreement says they do.
Severability
If any part of these terms is found to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, the rest of the terms will continue to apply.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, unless applicable law requires otherwise.
Contact
Questions about these terms: hello@sitematestudio.com