Skip to the content
Sep17

How an engagement works

Short, and in plain English on purpose. A contract nobody reads protects nobody, and a supplier who needs eleven pages to describe a fair arrangement is describing something else.

Last changed 17 September 2026

01What you are agreeing to

  • Each phase is a separate agreement. You approve the scope and the price for a phase before it starts, and you are never committed to more than the one you are in.
  • A phase ends when what was agreed for it has been delivered. If we both want to change what is in a phase while it is running, that is written down and priced before it happens.
  • Nothing on this website is an offer. A proposal from us is, and it says so on it.

02What it costs and when you pay

  • The price for each phase is fixed. Where we underestimate, that is ours to absorb, which is the point of quoting that way.
  • Invoices are due thirty days from issue. Longer phases are invoiced monthly against progress you can see in your own account.
  • Everything is exclusive of VAT, added at the prevailing rate. Statutory interest applies to late payment, though a phone call has always settled it first.
  • Hosting and third-party services are in your name and paid by you directly, so you can see the real cost and take them elsewhere.

03Who owns what

  • You own everything built for you, including the source code, and it transfers to you as it is written rather than on final payment.
  • We keep the right to use general techniques, patterns and components that are not specific to you, as any firm does. Nothing that identifies you, and nothing that is your competitive advantage.
  • Anything you give us stays yours. We use it only to do the work and return or destroy it when asked.
  • Third-party components stay under their own licences. We will use only ones that let you run, change and transfer what you own without further payment, and the list is given to you.

04What each of us has to do

  • We will do the work with the skill and care of a competent specialist, keep to what was agreed, and tell you promptly when something is going wrong.
  • You will give us access to the people and information the work needs, answer questions within a reasonable time, and name one person who can make decisions.
  • Where a delay is caused by waiting on you, the date moves by the length of the wait. We will always say so at the time rather than produce it as an excuse later.

05Ending it

  • You may end the engagement at the end of any phase, for any reason, with no fee. You keep everything produced up to that point.
  • You may end it mid-phase on thirty days' notice, paying for work done to that date. We will hand everything over within five working days either way.
  • Either of us may end it immediately if the other seriously breaks these terms and does not put it right within fourteen days of being asked.
  • Nothing is ever withheld as leverage in any of these situations, including a dispute about money.

06When something goes wrong

  • For three months after a phase completes we will fix anything that does not do what was agreed, at no charge. That is separate from any care arrangement.
  • Our liability for any one engagement is limited to the total paid under it. Neither of us is liable to the other for lost profit, lost business or indirect losses.
  • Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow to be limited.
  • We hold current professional indemnity and public liability cover, and will send the certificates on request.

07Confidentiality and your records

  • Anything you tell us about your business is confidential and stays that way, during the engagement and afterwards, whether or not anything is signed.
  • We will not name you as a client, publish anything about your system, or use your logo without asking you first.
  • Where we handle personal data on your behalf we do so on your instructions and under a separate written agreement, as UK GDPR requires.

08The dull but necessary part

  • These terms and the proposal together are the whole agreement. Where they disagree, the proposal wins.
  • A change to them has to be in writing and agreed by both of us.
  • English law applies, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.
  • Nobody other than the two of us can enforce any part of this.

No Fear Tech Ltd, trading as Sep17, registered in England and Wales. Questions about any of this to hello@sep17.co.uk, and we will answer them plainly.

What we keep about you is separate and covers personal information.