Terms & Conditions

Hermes Digital · ABN 18 180 768 086 · Central Coast, NSW · Effective [DATE – confirm]

The short version: we build your website for FREE because you're one of our first 5 trade case studies. You pay $219.99 a month for the care plan. There's a minimum term so the FREE build is covered, then it's month to month. Your domain and content are always yours. And the “You’ve Gone F*%?ING Crazy” Guarantee has your back.

1. Who these terms are between

These terms are between Hermes Digital (ABN 18 180 768 086), Central Coast, NSW ("Hermes", "we", "us") and the business that signs up ("you"). They apply once you accept a proposal, sign an agreement or pay your first invoice. If a written proposal says something different, the proposal wins for that item.

2. The case study offer

We're picking 5 Australian trade businesses as case studies. If you're picked and lock in, we build your website (valued at $5,821) for FREE. A spot only counts once you've accepted these terms and paid your first monthly fee. Applying or booking a call doesn't hold a spot. We choose who gets picked and don't have to accept every application.

What being a case study involves

You let us show your business name, logo, website (before and after) and the results we get together on our website, social media, ads and sales calls.
Results means real numbers from your site (for example more quote requests or calls), shown accurately. We won't share your revenue, customer details or anything confidential without your written OK.
A testimonial, review or video is only used if you choose to give one. You never have to.
We'll show you a case study before it's published the first time, and fix anything that's wrong.
You can ask us to stop using your name and logo in new material at any time with written notice. Material already published (for example, a past post) doesn't have to be pulled down, but we'll remove it from our own website within [SUGGESTED: 30 days – confirm].

3. Price and payment

The care plan is $219.99 a month [CONFIRM: inc. GST / + GST / not registered for GST].
No build fee and no setup fee for case study clients.
Billed monthly in advance by direct debit or card [CONFIRM payment provider], starting [SUGGESTED: when you lock in your spot – confirm].
Your price is locked for the minimum term. After that, we may change the price with at least [SUGGESTED: 30 days'] written notice. If you don't like it, you can cancel before it starts.
The plan is generally tax-deductible as a business expense. That's general info, not tax advice. Check with your accountant.

4. What's included every month

Hosting, maintenance and security: hosting, updates, backups, security monitoring and an SSL certificate.
Unlimited revisions (fair use, see below).
2 new local SEO pages every month, built around the suburbs and services you want more of. You give the topics (or we suggest them). Unused pages don't roll over unless we agree.
The Hermes tool suite: forms, video player, calendar, booking and social proof tools, while you're on the plan.

What "unlimited revisions" means

Unlimited changes to your existing site, like swapping text or photos, adding a new service or suburb to an existing page, updating prices, hours or contact details, and small design tweaks. We work on one request (or one list of requests) at a time, and aim to finish small changes within [SUGGESTED: 2 business days – confirm].

It doesn't cover: a full redesign, new pages beyond the 2 SEO pages a month, online shops, custom software or integrations, logo or brand design, writing long new content from scratch, or fixing problems caused by someone else changing the site. We'll quote those before doing them, and you can say no.

Fair use means requests a normal trade business would need. If requests become excessive (for example, rebuilding the site every week), we'll talk to you first and agree a reasonable plan.

5. Minimum term and cancelling

Minimum term: [SUGGESTED: 12 months from launch – confirm]. This covers the cost of the FREE $5,821 build.
Months that are FREE under the “You’ve Gone F*%?ING Crazy” Guarantee still count towards the minimum term.
After the minimum term: month to month. Cancel any time with [SUGGESTED: 30 days'] written notice (email is fine).
Leaving early: you can leave during the minimum term by paying the remaining monthly fees for the minimum term [SUGGESTED: or a lower early exit fee of $X – confirm]. That's it. No other exit fees.
If we cancel without you being in breach, you pay nothing more and get the cancellation options in section 6 for free.

6. Ownership: what's yours and what happens if you leave

Your domain name is always yours. It's registered in your name (or transferred to you on request). We'll never hold it hostage.
Your content is always yours: your words, photos, logo, reviews and customer enquiries.
Site design and code: we own the design, code, templates and tool suite. While you're on the plan, you get a licence to use them.
When you leave, you can:
1. take a copy of all your content (sent within [SUGGESTED: 14 days – confirm]), and we'll help point your domain wherever you like; or
2. buy the site outright (design and code, a full copy you can host anywhere) for [SUGGESTED: $1,500 + GST after the minimum term – confirm].
The tool suite, hosting and SEO work stop when the plan ends. SEO pages you've paid for are part of your site and go with it if you buy it out.
After cancellation we may take the site offline and delete our copies after [SUGGESTED: 30 days – confirm].

7. Late or failed payments

If a payment fails, we'll let you know and try again.
If it's still unpaid after [SUGGESTED: 7 days – confirm], we'll send a written reminder.
If it's still unpaid after [SUGGESTED: 14 days – confirm], we may pause work and suspend the site and tools until it's paid. We'll warn you in writing first.
If it's unpaid after [SUGGESTED: 60 days – confirm], we may end the agreement. Unpaid amounts stay owing. We won't charge interest or fees beyond [SUGGESTED: reasonable recovery costs – confirm].

8. Your part

Give us accurate information about your business, licences, insurance and services.
Only give us photos, logos and content you own or have permission to use. You're responsible if they infringe someone else's rights.
Make sure claims on your site (licences, prices, warranties) are true and allowed for your trade.
Give us access we need (domain, Google Business Profile, analytics) and respond to questions within a reasonable time. Delays on your side can push back launch dates.
Don't use the site for anything illegal, misleading or spammy.

9. No promise of rankings or revenue

We'll do skilled, careful work. But Google rankings, leads, jobs and revenue depend on things we don't control (competitors, search engine changes, your pricing, how fast you answer the phone, your reviews). So apart from the “You’ve Gone F*%?ING Crazy” Guarantee below, we don't promise any specific ranking, number of leads or income. SEO builds over time and isn't overnight.

10. The “You’ve Gone F*%?ING Crazy” Guarantee

The promise: if your new website doesn't convert better than your current one, every month is FREE until it does.

How it's measured

Before the build, we agree in writing on one main conversion: quote requests, bookings, tracked calls or one opt-in.
Baseline: the number of that conversion on your current website in the 30 days before launch.
Test: the same conversion on the new site in the 30 days after launch.
If the test number isn't higher than the baseline, the next monthly fee is waived (or refunded if already paid). We keep checking each 30-day period, and every month stays FREE until a 30-day period beats the baseline. After that, normal billing starts again.

Conditions (so it's fair both ways)

You need a current website with at least 30 days of trackable data for the main conversion. [SUGGESTED: if you have no website or no tracking, we agree a different baseline in writing before the build, or the guarantee doesn't apply – confirm]
You give us the access we need to measure it (for example analytics, form notifications or call tracking) and leave our tracking in place.
Counts come from the tracking we've set up, plus any records you can show. Spam and duplicate enquiries don't count.
If something big outside the website changes in the test period (you shut for holidays, stop or massively cut ads, change your phone number, or your licence is suspended), we'll agree a fair replacement 30-day period instead.
Your account must be paid up to date and you must not be in breach of these terms.
The guarantee waives monthly fees. It isn't a cash payout and doesn't cover other losses.

11. Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or changes any rights you have under the Australian Consumer Law or other laws that can't be excluded. Where the law lets us limit our liability for a failure to meet a consumer guarantee, our liability is limited to supplying the service again or paying the cost of having it supplied again.

Subject to that, and to the extent the law allows:

our total liability under these terms is limited to the fees you paid us in the [SUGGESTED: 12 months – confirm] before the claim;
neither of us is liable to the other for indirect losses like lost profits or lost jobs;
we're not responsible for outages or problems caused by third-party providers (for example hosting, Google or Meta) outside our reasonable control, but we'll work to fix them quickly.

These limits don't apply to fraud, or to either party's deliberate wrongdoing.

12. Intellectual property

You keep all rights in your content, brand and domain, and give us a licence to use them to build and run your site and for the case study uses in section 2.
We keep all rights in our designs, code, templates, tools and know-how. We can reuse general ideas and techniques, but not your content or confidential info.
If you buy out the site, the design and code of your site transfer to you (excluding the tool suite and our general templates, which we license or swap for standard alternatives).

13. Ending the agreement for breach or abuse

Either of us can end the agreement with written notice if the other seriously breaches these terms and doesn't fix it within 14 days of being asked. We can also end it straight away if you use the site for anything illegal or harmful, or if you're abusive or threatening to us or our team. If we end it for your breach during the minimum term, the early exit rule in section 5 applies. If you end it for our breach, you owe nothing more.

14. Confidentiality

We both keep the other's confidential information (logins, pricing, customer data, business plans) private, except where we need to share it to deliver the service or the law requires it. See our Privacy Policy.

15. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We'll give you at least [SUGGESTED: 30 days'] written notice of any change that affects you. Changes won't take away anything you've already been promised for your minimum term. If you don't agree to a change, you can cancel before it starts without an early exit fee.

16. Disputes and governing law

If something goes wrong, tell us first and we'll try to sort it out together within 30 days. These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, and both of us can use the courts of NSW.

17. Contact

Hermes Digital · ABN 18 180 768 086 · Central Coast, NSW
Email: [hello@hermesdigital.com.au – confirm]