The short version
You hire us to build something specific for a fixed price. We deliver working code on the agreed schedule. You pay in milestones and own the source code at the end. If something goes wrong before the build starts, we refund the deposit. If you stop the project mid-build, you pay for the work completed to that point. That's the deal. The rest of this page is the long-form version.
1. The engagement
Every Jarvis Creations engagement begins with a discovery call where we discuss your goals, scope, and timeline. After the call, you receive a written proposal with a fixed price, a deliverables list, and a project schedule. The proposal is not binding until you accept it in writing (email is fine) and pay the deposit.
2. Payment terms
Deposit. A 50% deposit is due upon proposal acceptance. Work begins once the deposit is received.
Balance. The remaining 50% is split into milestones tied to deliverables. Each milestone payment is invoiced when its associated deliverable is complete. Final payment is due at project handoff.
Larger projects ($25k+). May be split into 30/30/30/10 milestones across kickoff, mid-build, build complete, and post-launch acceptance.
Late payments. Invoices not paid within 14 days of issue may pause active work until the balance clears. Payments more than 30 days late accrue interest at 1% per month.
Currency. All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise stated. We accept ACH, wire, Stripe (3% surcharge), or check.
3. Refunds and cancellation
Discovery-phase refund. If you are not satisfied with the discovery output (proposal, scope, or technical approach), notify us in writing within 7 days of receiving the proposal. We will refund 100% of the deposit, no questions asked.
After build starts. Once the deposit is paid and work begins, refunds are not available — but milestone gating limits your downside. You only owe payment for milestones that have been completed and accepted. If you cancel a project mid-build, you pay for the work completed to date and we hand over whatever has been built so far, including source code.
Our right to withdraw. If a client engagement becomes abusive, illegal, or impossible to deliver due to factors outside our control, we may terminate the engagement. In that case, we refund any payments for unstarted work and hand over what's been built.
4. Source code and ownership
You own the work. Upon final payment, all custom source code, designs, and project assets created specifically for your project are transferred to you with full ownership. We will deliver to your GitHub organization, your private repository, or zip-file delivery — your choice.
What we retain. We retain ownership of generic tooling, libraries, internal frameworks, and reusable components that exist independently of your project. You receive a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use those components within your project.
Portfolio rights. Unless you request otherwise in writing, we may include your project in our public portfolio (screenshots, descriptions, your brand name). You can opt out of this anytime — just email and we will remove it.
Open source. If your project includes open-source libraries, those remain governed by their original licenses. We will document third-party dependencies in the project README.
5. Confidentiality
We treat your business information, customer data, and proprietary technology as confidential by default, even without a signed NDA. We will sign a mutual NDA on request before discovery if you have specific concerns. We do not share client information with other clients or use one client's data to inform another's project.
6. Maintenance plans
Optional ongoing maintenance is $400/month and covers: hosting on our infrastructure, security patches, dependency updates, monitoring, bug fixes, and a monthly improvement sprint of up to 4 hours of new work. The plan can be cancelled with 30 days' notice. Maintenance is billed monthly in advance.
7. Service level (be honest about this)
We are a senior boutique studio, not an enterprise vendor. We do not offer 24/7 on-call, sub-1-hour SLAs, SOC 2 audits, HIPAA-compliant infrastructure, or dedicated account management. For projects requiring those, we will say so on the discovery call and refer you to a firm that does. During active engagements, we respond to email within one business day. During the post-launch support window (30 days included with most projects), we respond within 4 business hours for urgent issues.
8. Warranties and liability
We warrant that the work we deliver will substantially conform to the agreed scope. If you discover a bug or scope deviation within 30 days of project handoff, we will fix it at no charge.
Beyond that warranty, our services are provided "as is." We do not warrant uninterrupted operation, error-free output, or compatibility with future third-party services we don't control. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us for the affected project. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages — including lost profits, lost data, or business interruption — even if we were advised of the possibility.
9. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify us against claims arising from your use of the deliverables, including content you provide, third-party integrations you choose, or business decisions you make. We agree to indemnify you against claims that our original code infringes on a third party's intellectual property — but not against claims arising from open-source libraries, third-party APIs, or content you supply.
10. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the state where the studio is based. Any disputes will be resolved in that jurisdiction. We strongly prefer mediation over litigation — if a dispute arises, both parties agree to attempt good-faith mediation before any other action.
11. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated to active clients in writing. Your existing engagement is governed by the terms in effect when you accepted your proposal — changes do not apply retroactively to active projects.
12. Contact
Questions about these terms? Email [email protected]. The studio is operated by Heath Wilson, doing business as Jarvis Creations.