Payment Obligations, Renewals, and Cancellations

Website Development Payment Obligations: A 50% downpayment is required in order to begin development of your website. The balance due on your website is due after the design has been approved, the navigation has been approved and built, and the website pages have been built (regardless of whether content for the pages has been sent by the client). This provision is in place to not only encourage the client to get content submitted ASAP so that their site can go live, but also to ensure that Shortgrass is paid the balance due even though the client does not have their content ready. In the event a page publishes as "under construction", Shortgrass will post ONE copy of any text/pictures on existing pages only, for up to three months. After the three months have expired, content posted to site will be billable at our regular hourly rate. In the event that design and navigation changes are requested after they have been approved, these changes will be billable at our regular hourly rate.
Website Development Cancellation: If site development has already begun (design concepting) the downpayment is non-refundable.
Stock Photography Payment Obligations: Stock photography are any photos and/or images not provided by the client. Stock photography purchased on behalf of client for use in website development is billable at a minimum of $10 per picture. This amount is seperate from the amount quoted for website design and development.
Descripton of Ongoing Costs There are 3 types on ongoing costs: domain registration, hosting, and website maintenance
1. Domain name registration This cost recurrs annually. Domain name registration gives you exclusive rights to a certain name, such as www.mygroup.org, so that you can use it for your web-based purposes. You are NOT required to register a domain through us, but we strongly PREFER that you do. Many services are not honest in the way they sell names and we spend a lot of time helping people re-secure rights to the name they thought they had already purchased. Or people do not properly enter the correct information, making it impossible to renew or transfer their name if the need arises.
2. Hosting: This cost recurrs annually. Hosting places the name on a particular server connected to the web, which allows you both to post a website for universal viewing, and also build the many features you plan to offer behind a secure login. Hosting comes with domain-based emails, bandwidth, storage space, database and security tools, etc. For projects that involve custom programming, we strongly suggest that you host with us, unless your organization has its own internal IT Dept with web servers. There are no required annual maintenance fees (other than domain registration and hosting. However, most people do some work on their site every year, for which we offer several plans. We can make certain parts of the site updatable by you by implementing a custom Content Management System, or installing a blog. For work we do on the site after going live, we charge hourly. Or you can buy a prepaid maintenance contract that affords a discounted hourly rate. If need be, we can customize a maintenance plan for your particular needs. But NO plan is required.
3. Website Maintenance: There are no required annual maintenance fees (other than domain registration and hosting. However, most people do some work on their site every year, for which we offer several plans. We can make certain parts of the site updatable by you by implementing a custom Content Management System, or installing a blog. For work we do on the site after going live, we charge hourly. Or you can buy a prepaid maintenance contract that affords a discounted hourly rate. If need be, we can customize a maintenance plan for your particular needs. But NO plan is required.
Website Maintenance Payment Obligations: Depending on nature of website changes, prepayment is required. In certain circumstances a client can be invoiced after changes are completed. In this situation the invoice is due within 30 days. If payment is not received within 30 days, the maintenance changes will be taken down until payment received. After 60 days, there will also be a $35 reposting fee added to the outstanding maintenance invoice balance.
Hosting Renewal Payment Obligations: Your hosting account will be automatically renewed under the same time and fee structure unless you give written notice to Shortgrass fifteen (15) days before the renewal date that you do not wish to renew such account.
Hosting Cancellation Payment Obligations: You may cancel at anytime. If you cancel before the first 30 days, please refer to the details under "Limited 30-day Money Back Guarantee." If you cancel after the first 30 days from the opening of your account, you will be obligated to pay all fees and charges accrued prior to the effectiveness of the cancellation. Shortgrass will refund to you the prepaid fees for basic hosting for the full months remaining after effectiveness of cancellation, less any prior fees and charges, and an early cancellation fee of $25. Accounts that are terminated by Shortgrass will not receive any refund. All cancellations must be received in writing as per the deadlines indicated; regular mail, e-mail and fax notifications are acceptable. Phone requests will not constitute acceptance of any cancellation. Cancellation request will reflect the day of your submission. Refunds will be issued back to you within 7-10 business days from your cancellation date.
Hosting Transfer Payment Obligations: If you wish to transfer your hosting to another provider Shortgrass can, upon request, download your site onto a CD and mail it to you. The cost for this service $50 per copy. FTP access to your site is not available for transfer purposes.
Limited 30-day Money Back Guarantee on Hosting: If you are not completely satisfied with our services within the first 30 days from the opening of the account, you will be given a refund on your hosting fee excluding setup fees, days hostings expired, and additional services. If paid by credit card, refunds will be issued to the original credit card provided at the time of purchase. If your account has been cancelled by us due to a breach of the terms and conditions on your part, you will not be eligible for a refund. Domain name registration is non-refundable. Phone requests will not constitute acceptance of any cancellation.

Development Process

Homepage Design – Once site design is signed off on (via email consent), design is considered approved. Any subsequent changes to design are billable at our standard hourly rate.
Navigation – Once site outline/map is signed off on (via email consent), site navigation is considered approved. Any subsequent changes to navigation are billable at our standard hourly rate.
Content – Provision of content is customer’s responsibility.
- Text content - Copy for all website pages/links needs to be delivered as one electronic, proof-written batch. Two rounds of revisions will be provided free of charge. Subsequent revisions will be billable at our regular hourly rate.
- Copy development – Development of website copy is billable at our regular hourly rate. Development of copy is accomplished via Shortgrass Web Development interviewing the client about the topic areas to be addressed on their web pages. Shortgrass then composes appropriate copy, submits to the client for review, edit, and approval. Approved copy is then posted to the web pages.
- Graphical content - Images outside of the website design must be provided in digital form or in a form that can be easily scanned, unless otherwise provided for in customer’s contract. Subsequent revisions will be billable at our regular hourly rate.
Database Implementation – Entry of data for database applications is considered client’s responsibility. Entry of data by Shortgrass is billable, unless otherwise provided for in customer’s contract.
Email - We offer free domain-based email accounts to our clients.
Training – For websites with administrative backends, two (2) one-hour training sessions will be provided.
Techinical Support - We offer local, in-house phone support to our clients. We do not normally bill for technical support depending on the problem's fault, severity, and time invested.

Development Process Payment Obligations, Renewals, and Cancellations

The deposit paid to Shortgrass Web Development covers the cost of design work carried out. It is not possible to refund a deposit once Shortgrass Web Development has sent the first design to the Client. Shortgrass Web Development reserve the right to decide whether a refund is applicable if requested by the Client for any reason. A refund is not guaranteed by Shortgrass Web Development, but possible providing Shortgrass Web Development decides upon this option. If paid by credit card, refunds will be issued to the original credit card provided at the time of purchase. If your account has been cancelled by us due to a breach of the terms and conditions on your part, you will not be eligible for a refund. Phone requests will not constitute acceptance of any cancellation.

Domain Transfers and DNS Management

For domains not originally registered with us there will be a $25 transfer-in / transfer-out fee. If your domain is not registered with Shortgrass, DNS management tasks are billable at our hourly rate.

Websites with Proprietary Source Code

If during the course of a website engagement, Shortgrass writes custom source code for a website application, this code is not transferable to a new developer or host. Custom written source code is considered the property of Shortgrass Web Development and cannot be shared with other developers. Clients are granted a license to use custom software code while on Shortgrass servers only. Shortgrass Web Development retains ownership of the code.

Access to or transfer of proprietary source code could result in a security to risk to Shortgrass and all of its clients who are running similar pieces of code. In order to provide custom software development services, clients give us access to their most sensitive information, trade secrets, proprietary pricing and business methods. If clients believed that we may be sharing this information with outside developers, they could lose faith that we are protecting their proprietary information. Therefore, neither access nor transfer of any code built for any purpose that is unique and not commonly and publicly available can be granted.

Website components that ARE transferable to another host include html, graphics, logos, pictures, navigation, text, and the data residing within a database (but not the code). Hourly fees will apply for any special work that needs to be done to transfer those parts of website that do not violate the first and second paragraphs in this section.

Non-Domain-Based Troubleshooting

Shortgrass Web Development maintains and troubleshoots the websites we develop for our clients, as well as any domain-based email accounts of those websites. We do NOT assume responsibility for upkeep or provide non-billable troubleshooting on our clients' ISPs (Internet Service Providers), ISP-based email accounts (name@bresnan.net, name@3rivers.net, etc), your home or office internet connections, or any other non-domain-based issues outside Shortgrass Web Development's realm of service. Provision of non-domain-based troubleshooting services will be billable at our normal hourly rate.

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Shortgrass Web Development is a team of qualified professionals who offer our clients quality work with friendly, Montana-style service and support. We are a highly reputable Montana website design and development company that you can trust. Shortgrass Web Development offers professional website design and development for individuals, organizations, and companies nationwide.

Our company specializes in web site design, web site development, web site hosting, custom web site programming, web site applications, PHP and MySQL database programming, Flash Programming, e-Commerce credit card processing and online shopping carts, content management systems and web site editors, blogs and forums, and search engine optimization.