The terms we work under.

By engaging Upcoming Brand for any service — discovery call, audit, project, or care plan — you agree to these Terms & Conditions and to the project-specific Statement of Work (SOW) we attach to your quote. The SOW takes precedence where it differs from these general terms.

These terms apply to anyone who engages us, including individuals, partnerships, and corporate entities, in any country.

Upcoming Brand provides:

• Custom WordPress design and development
• WooCommerce setup, configuration, and customisation
• Schema architecture and on-page SEO implementation
• Core Web Vitals and performance optimisation
• Site migrations and redesigns
• Care plans (ongoing maintenance, monitoring, and support)
• Audits (technical SEO, schema, performance, security)

We don't provide: hosting, domain registration, paid advertising management, generic content marketing, or services unrelated to WordPress and the surrounding stack.

Every engagement follows the same path:

• You complete the discovery form or send a project brief
• We schedule a free 45-minute discovery call within 4 business hours
• If we're a good fit, we send a fixed-scope quote (PDF) within 48 hours
• The quote is held at the stated price for 30 days
• You sign the quote; we invoice the deposit; project kickoff scheduled within 5 business days

We reserve the right to decline any engagement that violates our operating principles or that we cannot deliver to our standard. We'll explain why if asked.

All projects are fixed-scope. The total project price is documented in the SOW. There is no hourly billing. Scope changes are handled as written change orders (see Revisions below).

Milestone schedule

Methods, currency, and timing

• Payments processed by Stripe in USD
• Wire transfer or ACH available for projects over $10,000
• Invoices due within 7 days of issue
• Late payments accrue 1.5% per month after 30 days
• Care plans billed monthly in advance, month-to-month, no annual contract

Refunds

The discovery call and pre-signature quote are free. After deposit, refunds are pro-rated based on completed milestones. The deposit itself is non-refundable once design work has begun, except where we cancel the project on our end.

Project timelines are documented in the SOW and depend on both sides hitting milestones on time. The standard delivery windows are:

• Starter (8 pages) — 4-6 weeks from kickoff
• Growth (15-20 pages) — 6-8 weeks
• Custom (WooCommerce, IDX, multi-location) — 8-10 weeks or as scoped

If client-side delays push the timeline past the SOW completion date by more than 30 days, we may pause the project and re-scope or re-quote at then-current rates. We'll always notify you in writing before doing so and never invoice retroactively.

If we miss a contractual milestone for reasons within our control, we credit 1% of the project total per business day of delay, capped at 10%.

Each project tier includes two structured design rounds. Small content tweaks during the build phase are part of the project. Larger design or scope changes after final approval are handled as written change orders.

What counts as a change order

• Adding, removing, or significantly restructuring pages after design approval
• Switching design direction after the second review round
• Adding integrations, plugins, or features not in the original SOW
• Migrating to a different host, theme framework, or CMS mid-project

Change orders are quoted as fixed prices, sent in writing, and require your signature before work resumes. They are billed on launch with the final milestone unless they exceed 25% of the original project value, in which case they may be billed on signature.

For projects to ship on time and on budget, we ask that you:

• Provide content (text, images, brand assets) within the agreed window — typically week 2 of the build
• Provide timely access to existing accounts (hosting, domain, Google Workspace, current site) when scoped
• Designate one primary point of contact authorised to approve designs and content
• Respond to design and content reviews within 5 business days
• Pay invoices within the 7-day window
• Inform us immediately of any change in business circumstances that affects the project

If we don't have what we need to keep building, we pause the project and notify you. Pause periods don't count against our timeline.

You own your site. On final payment, all custom design, custom code, custom blocks, content, and configuration produced for your project become your property. You can move it, modify it, hire other developers to work on it, or take it down — without our permission.

What stays ours

• Internal tools, libraries, and frameworks we use across projects
• The right to display the finished work in our portfolio and case studies (you can opt out in writing)
• Open-source plugins, themes, and software covered by their respective licences

Third-party assets

Stock photography, premium plugins, fonts, and themes are licensed to you under their respective terms. We document every paid licence in the SOW and the post-launch report so you know exactly what you own and what you license.

We warrant that:

• Custom code is free of malicious functionality at delivery
• Sites ship at 90+ Lighthouse on every page (Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, SEO)
• We have the right to deliver the work we deliver
• Bugs reported within 30 days of launch that are caused by our work are fixed at no charge

We do NOT guarantee: specific Google rankings, specific Local Pack placements, specific traffic numbers, or specific conversion rates. Search engine algorithms change continuously and outcomes depend on factors beyond our control (your industry's competitiveness, your business inputs, Google updates, market conditions).

Beyond the express warranties above, the services are provided "as is" without warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Upcoming Brand's total liability under any project is limited to the amount you paid us under that specific engagement.

We are not liable for: indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages; lost profits or revenue; lost data (we ship with backups; we recommend keeping your own); loss of business opportunity; or claims by third parties.

These limitations apply even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose.

Either side can terminate

Either party may terminate a project for convenience with 14 days written notice. On termination, you pay for completed milestones and any work in progress at the milestone rate. The deposit is non-refundable. Care plans cancel month-to-month with no notice required.

For cause

Either side may terminate immediately for material breach (non-payment after notice, repeated missed milestones, demonstrable bad faith). On termination for our breach, we refund unused milestones. On termination for client breach, we retain payments for work delivered.

What you get on termination

Whatever has been delivered or built and paid for becomes yours. We provide a complete handover: code, credentials, asset files, schema documentation, and any third-party licences transferred to your name.

Both sides treat the other's non-public business information as confidential. We don't share your strategy, financials, customer data, or anything else marked confidential with anyone outside the project team. Specialists in our network are bound by the same NDA we operate under.

Confidentiality survives termination of the project. The only exception is information legally required to be disclosed (court order, subpoena, regulatory request).

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising under these terms or any project is resolved in the state or federal courts located in Maryland.

Before filing suit, both sides agree to attempt good-faith resolution by direct negotiation for 30 days. If that fails, mediation through a mutually agreed mediator. If mediation fails, the courts are next.

We may update these terms as our services or applicable laws change. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision. Material changes are notified to active clients by email at least 30 days before they take effect, and the SOW you signed governs unless you accept the updated terms.

Past versions are archived and available on request.