Web design contract: the parts that set who owns the site

What should a web design contract include?

A web design contract should cover the job, the money, the timing and the ownership of what you make. Write each part as a plain answer to a plain question.

• The work. Which pages, features and rounds of changes are part of the job?
• What's left out. Which tasks aren't part of the job, so nobody assumes them later?
• The client's part. What content, photos and logins does the client owe you, and by when?
• The fee and the payment dates. What's due at the start, at each stage and at the end?
• Sign-off. Who on the client's side says yes to the design and to the finished site?
• Ownership. Who owns the site and its code, the domain name and each login, and on what day does that change?
• The ending. How can either side end the deal, and what gets handed back if it ends early?

Settle the price and the scope in the proposal first, then carry them into the contract. For the proposal that comes before the contract, see the web design proposal template.

What does a simple web design contract leave out?

A simple contract can leave out who owns the domain, the hosting, the code and the logins, and what happens if the deal ends early. If it does, the gaps show up later, when the client wants to move the site or the two of you part ways.

Read your contract for these questions. If one has no answer, add it.

1. Whose name is the domain registered in?
2. Whose account does the hosting sit in?
3. Who owns the design files and the code once the bill is paid?
4. Whose account holds paid themes and plugins, and can those move?
5. Which logins does the client get, and at what level?
6. What happens to ownership if the client stops paying partway through?
7. Does the contract call the work a "work made for hire", and has a lawyer read that clause?

What should the contract say about transferring ownership of the website?

The contract should name each thing that changes hands, who holds it before the move, and the event that moves it, such as the final payment. Put all of it in writing before the build starts.

US copyright law gives one way for ownership to start with the party that ordered the work. The Copyright Office's circular gives two kinds of "work made for hire". The first is work an employee does within the scope of the job. The second is a specially ordered work that fits one of nine listed kinds, where both sides sign a written agreement that says so. If the work counts as made for hire, the circular says the employer, or whoever ordered the work, owns the copyright first, unless it signed a written deal that says otherwise. The nine kinds don't list a website by name, so before you rely on that clause, ask a lawyer how a client site is classed. For the California side of who owns a site, see What must a California client site post, and who answers for it?.

Once the contract is signed and the work is paid for, the handover follows. For the handover steps themselves, see how to hand a WordPress site over.

What do web design terms and conditions cover?

Terms and conditions are the standing rules that sit behind every job you take on. The contract says what this one build is. The terms say how you work on every build.

Common items in web design terms include:

• how and when invoices are paid, and what happens when a payment is late
• how many rounds of changes come with the job, and how extra changes are priced
• what the client has to supply, and what happens when it arrives late
• who owns the work, and when that changes
• how either side ends the work, and what's handed back
• how you keep the client's logins and data safe

Keep the terms in one document and point to it from each contract. Then each new contract can stay short, and the rules stay the same from one client to the next.

Nothing on this site is legal or tax advice.