Terms & Conditions

These terms govern every engagement between you and Built by Blakes. Please read them before instructing me — accepting a quotation, paying a deposit or asking me to begin work means you accept them.

Last updated: 23 August 2026

1. Who I am

"Built by Blakes", "I", "me" and "my" mean Paul Blakeman, a sole trader trading as Built by Blakes, of 43 Millmount Road, Sheffield, S8 9EG, United Kingdom. "You", "your" and "the Client" mean the person or organisation who instructs me.

You can reach me at [email protected] or on 07920 281738.

2. Definitions

Services — the design, development, consultancy, hosting, maintenance, support or other work described in a Proposal.
Proposal — the written quotation, estimate, statement of work or scope document I issue to you.
Deliverables — the websites, applications, code, designs, documents and other materials I produce for you under a Proposal.
Client Materials — anything you supply for use in the Deliverables, including text, images, video, logos, data, trade marks and credentials.
Third-Party Services — any product or service operated by someone other than me, including hosting, domain registration, payment processors, email delivery, mapping, analytics and software libraries.

3. These terms apply

These terms, together with the applicable Proposal, form the whole agreement between us. They apply to the exclusion of any terms you put forward, whether in a purchase order, supplier portal, onboarding form or elsewhere, unless I have agreed to them in writing and signed. If a Proposal conflicts with these terms, the Proposal takes precedence for that engagement only.

4. Quotations and forming a contract

A Proposal is an invitation to instruct me, not a binding offer, and is valid for 30 days from its date unless it says otherwise.
A contract forms when you accept a Proposal in writing, pay a deposit against it, or ask me in writing to begin work — whichever happens first.
Prices are quoted in pounds sterling. I am not currently VAT registered; if that changes, VAT will be charged at the prevailing rate on invoices issued after registration.
A Proposal covers only what it describes. Anything not written down is not included.

5. Scope and changes

I will carry out the Services described in the Proposal with reasonable care and skill.
If you want to change the scope — new features, additional pages, a different direction after designs are approved, or extra rounds of revision beyond those quoted — tell me and I will quote for the change before doing the work.
No change is binding until we have both agreed it in writing. Agreed changes may affect both the price and the timescale.
Work outside an agreed Proposal, including small ad-hoc requests, is charged at my then-current day or hourly rate.

6. What I need from you

You will supply Client Materials, feedback, approvals and any access I need (hosting, domains, registrars, analytics, third-party accounts) promptly and in a usable form.
You will nominate a single person with authority to approve work on your behalf.
You are responsible for checking that copy, prices, product details and legal content are accurate before approval. I do not proofread or fact-check your content.
If a project stalls waiting on you for more than 30 days, I may invoice for the work completed to that point and reschedule the remainder around my other commitments.
If a project stalls for more than 90 days, I may treat it as terminated under clause 19 and invoice accordingly.

7. Timescales

Any dates I give are estimates made in good faith on the basis of the scope agreed and the assumption that you will respond within a few working days. Time is not of the essence unless a Proposal expressly says so. I am not liable for delays caused by late or incomplete Client Materials, changes of scope, or failures of Third-Party Services.

8. Fees, invoicing and payment

Unless a Proposal says otherwise, project work is invoiced 50% on acceptance and 50% on completion. Longer projects may be invoiced in agreed stages.
Deposits secure your place in my schedule and are non-refundable once work has begun.
Invoices are payable within 14 days of the invoice date by bank transfer.
Recurring services — hosting, maintenance, support retainers — are invoiced in advance for the agreed period and are non-refundable in part once the period has started.
Late payment: I reserve the right to charge statutory interest and compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 on overdue business invoices, and to recover reasonable costs of recovery.
You may not withhold or set off any payment against a claim you say you have against me.

9. Suspension for non-payment

If an invoice is more than 14 days overdue I may, after giving you written notice, suspend the Services, withhold Deliverables, and suspend or take offline any website or application I host for you, until payment is received in full. Suspension does not relieve you of the obligation to pay, and I am not liable for any loss arising from a suspension properly made under this clause.

10. Expenses and third-party costs

Domain registrations, hosting fees, stock photography, fonts, plugins, commercial licences, SMS and email delivery credits and similar costs are yours to bear. Where I buy them on your behalf I will pass the cost on at the price I paid. Where a licence is registered in your name, its renewal is your responsibility.

11. Intellectual property

On receipt of payment in full for an engagement, I assign to you the intellectual property rights in the Deliverables produced specifically for you under that engagement.
Until payment in full is received, all rights in the Deliverables remain mine and you have no licence to use them commercially.
I retain ownership of everything pre-existing: my tools, libraries, frameworks, code snippets, templates, techniques and know-how, including anything developed before or independently of your engagement. You receive a perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use those elements as incorporated in your Deliverables.
Deliverables commonly incorporate open-source software. That software remains subject to its own licence, is not mine to assign, and your use of it is governed by those licences.
Concepts, designs and code not selected or not paid for remain mine to reuse.
You warrant that you own or are licensed to use all Client Materials, and that my use of them will not infringe anyone's rights.

12. Credit and portfolio

I may describe the work, show screenshots and link to live sites in my portfolio, case studies and marketing, unless you ask me in writing not to. I may place a discreet "Built by Blakes" credit and link in the footer of sites I build; tell me if you would rather I did not.

13. Third-party services

Where the Services depend on Third-Party Services, those services are supplied on their own terms, over which I have no control. I am not responsible for their availability, performance, pricing changes, security, or for any loss caused by their failure or withdrawal. Where I set up an account on your behalf, you accept the provider's terms.

14. Hosting, availability and backups

Where I provide hosting, I will use reasonable efforts to keep your site available, but I do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free service. Planned maintenance will be notified where practicable.
Hosting is provided for lawful, reasonable use. I may suspend a site that is being used unlawfully, that is compromised, or whose resource use materially affects other sites.
Where a Proposal includes backups, I will take them at the stated frequency and retain them for the stated period. Backups are a mitigation, not a guarantee, and you remain responsible for keeping your own copy of business-critical content and data.
Where hosting is not provided by me, backups, updates and server security are yours or your host's responsibility.

15. Testing, acceptance and defects

You will test Deliverables promptly on delivery. If you do not report defects within 14 days of delivery, the Deliverables are deemed accepted.
For 30 days after acceptance I will correct, at no charge, any defect that means the Deliverables do not materially perform as described in the Proposal.
That correction does not extend to changes of mind, new requirements, content changes, faults in Client Materials or Third-Party Services, faults introduced by anyone else editing the Deliverables, or breakages caused by browser, plugin, framework or operating-system updates released after delivery.
Software is not warranted to be free of every defect. Beyond the 30-day period, corrective work is chargeable or covered by a maintenance agreement.

16. No guarantee of results

I do not guarantee search engine rankings, traffic volumes, conversion rates, sales or any other commercial outcome. Search engines and advertising platforms change their algorithms and policies without notice and are wholly outside my control. Where a Proposal includes search or performance work, it commits me to defined activity, not to a result.

17. Confidentiality

Each of us will keep the other's confidential information confidential, use it only for the purposes of the engagement, and not disclose it to anyone else except to staff or subcontractors who need it and are bound by equivalent obligations. This does not apply to information that is public through no fault of the receiver, was already lawfully known, or must be disclosed by law. These obligations continue for three years after the engagement ends.

18. Data protection

Where I handle personal data on your behalf — for example data held in a site or application I build or host — you are the controller and I am the processor, and I will process that data only on your documented instructions.
I will apply appropriate technical and organisational measures, keep processing staff bound by confidentiality, assist you with data-subject requests and security incidents so far as is reasonable, and delete or return the data at the end of the engagement on request.
I may engage sub-processors (such as hosting and email delivery providers) and will remain responsible for their performance.
Personal data I collect in my own right — your contact details, enquiry correspondence, invoicing records — is handled as controller under my privacy notice.
Where required, we will enter into a separate data processing agreement, which will take precedence over this clause.

19. Term and termination

Either of us may end a project engagement by giving 30 days' written notice.
Recurring services may be ended by either of us by giving 30 days' written notice expiring at the end of a billing period.
Either of us may end the agreement immediately in writing if the other commits a material breach that is not remedied within 14 days of being asked to, or becomes insolvent.
On termination you must pay for all work carried out and all costs committed up to the termination date. Rights in Deliverables pass only for work paid for in full.
Clauses that by their nature should survive termination — including payment, intellectual property, confidentiality, data protection and limitation of liability — do so.

20. Your indemnity

You will indemnify me against any claim, loss or expense arising from Client Materials, from your use of the Deliverables in breach of these terms or of any law, or from content you publish through a site or application I have built or host.

21. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.
Subject to that, I am not liable for loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of anticipated savings, loss of goodwill, loss or corruption of data, or for any indirect or consequential loss, however arising.
Subject to that, my total liability arising out of or in connection with an engagement, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, is limited to the total fees you have paid me under that engagement in the 12 months before the claim arose.
These limits reflect the price of the Services and the fact that you are best placed to insure against loss to your own business. You are advised to maintain your own insurance and your own backups.

22. Force majeure

Neither of us is liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond reasonable control, including power or internet failure, failure of Third-Party Services, cyber attack, flood, fire, epidemic, industrial action or government restriction. If such an event continues for more than 60 days, either of us may end the affected engagement on written notice.

23. Subcontracting and assignment

I may subcontract parts of the Services and remain responsible for work subcontracted. Neither of us may assign the agreement without the other's written consent, except that I may assign it to a successor to my business.

24. Non-solicitation

During an engagement and for six months afterwards, you will not directly engage any subcontractor I have introduced to you for work of the kind I provide, without my prior written agreement.

25. If you are a consumer

Where you instruct me as a consumer rather than for business purposes, nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights, including your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. You have the right to cancel a distance contract within 14 days of it being made; if you ask me to start work within that period, you remain liable for the value of work done up to the point you cancel, and the right to cancel is lost once the Services are fully performed.

26. General

Notices must be in writing and may be sent by email to the addresses we normally use for the engagement.
Entire agreement. These terms and the Proposal are the whole agreement between us and replace anything said or written beforehand.
No waiver. A delay in enforcing a term does not waive it.
Severance. If a provision is found unenforceable, the rest continues in force.
Third parties. No one other than you and I has any right to enforce these terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
Independent contractor. Nothing here creates a partnership, joint venture or employment relationship.
Changes. I may update these terms from time to time. The version in force when your Proposal was accepted governs that engagement; recurring services are governed by the current version, and I will give 30 days' notice of any material change.

27. Governing law

These terms and any dispute arising from them are governed by the law of England and Wales, and we each submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.