Legal and compliance
What is Terms of business?
The commercial contract between a supplier and a client: what is being delivered, for how much, on what schedule, how changes are handled, what the client must supply, and who owns the result. It is the document that decides who is right when a project goes wrong.
Also called: client terms · engagement terms
The clauses that prevent most disputes
- Scope, described specifically enough that both parties would recognise a change
- Payment schedule, with what triggers each stage
- Revision allowance, and the rate for work beyond it
- Client obligations — content, approvals, access — with the effect of delay
- Ownership transferring on final payment, stated explicitly
- How either party ends the engagement, and what happens to work in progress
The ownership clause specifically
Without a written transfer, a developer generally retains copyright in what they wrote. "Ownership of all deliverables passes to the client on receipt of final payment" is one sentence, costs nothing to include, and is the difference between owning a site and licensing one. Ask for it before signing rather than at handover.
Why fixed scope is kinder than hourly
A fixed-scope quote puts the estimating risk on the person best placed to manage it. An hourly arrangement puts it on the client, who cannot see the work. Fixed scope only works if the scope is written down, which is why the two clauses belong together.
Where this is covered in depth
A definition can only go so far. Writing a website brief that gets you comparable quotes covers this properly — 3 minutes, free, no email required.
Who wrote this
Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada and Pakistan. These definitions come from client work rather than from a content brief — where an entry describes a mistake, it is usually one found on a real site. More about how I work.