Software Development includes Web Design, Web Application, Mobile Application and Back-end development.

By confirming an order with By Afro LLC, you acknowledge your acceptance of all the below mentioned By Afro Software Development Terms and Conditions:

QUOTATIONS AND ESTIMATES

  1. All quotations and estimates provided by By Afro are valid for a period of 30 days from date of issue. Quotations not accepted within this time-frame must be re-issued.
  2. All quotations are required to be accepted using the supplied Quotation Acceptance Form and returned to By Afro within the 30 day period from date of issuance.
  3. All quoted prices, excluding where indicated. do not include Goods and Services Tax.
  4. Estimates may be provided by By Afro to offer the client a guide on the projected costing of a project prior- to any discovery or research for said project. All estimates will be clearly marked as such and are not an indication of the exact final cost to develop the application.
  5. All estimates will need to be formalized to a quotation or invoice before acceptance by either party as the final cost of the application.
  6. By Afro reserves the right to suspend the services/quotation at any time. without any prior information.

PAYMENT OBLIGATIONS, RENEWALS, AND CANCELLATIONS

  1. Website Development Payment Obligations: A down payment is required in order to begin development of your website. This is usually 50% of the upfront design fee, unless an alternative contract or proposal specifies a different amount. The outstanding balance on your website is due after the design, navigation and pages have been approved and built. Final payment is due regardless of whether all content for the pages has been sent by the client. This provision is in place to encourage the client to get content submitted promptly so that their site can go live. It also ensures that By Afro gets paid for performing their duty under the proposal, despite tardy content from the client. After payment, By Afro will still post outstanding content AT NO CHARGE for 1 month. In the event an “under construction” page is posted due to missing content, By Afro will post ONE copy of any text/pictures on existing pages only, for up to 1 month after publish date. After the one month have expired, content posted to site will be billable at our current regular hourly rate. In the event that design and navigation changes are requested after they have been specifically approved by the client, these changes will be billable at our current regular hourly rate.
  2. Website Development Cancellation: If site design and development work has already begun (such as creating a design concept), then the down payment or deposit is non-refundable. By Afro my elect at its sole discretion to offer a partial refund depending upon the circumstances.
  3. Stock Photography Payment Obligations: Stock photography includes most photos and/or images not provided by the client. Stock photography purchased on behalf of client for use in website development is billable at a minimum of $10 per picture. This amount is separate from the amount quoted for website design and development. Some pictures are more expensive than $10, in which case we will solicit client approval and communicate the price before purchasing.
  4. Description of Ongoing Costs: There are 2 types of ongoing costs: domain registration and hosting.
    • Domain name registration: This cost recurs annually. Domain name registration gives you exclusive rights to a certain name, such as www.mygroup.org, so that you can use it for your web-based purposes. You are NOT required to register a domain through us, but we strongly PREFER that you do. Many services are not honest in the way they sell names and we spend a lot of time helping people re-secure rights to the name they thought they had already purchased. If you have registered your own name, make sure you have yourself as the Registrant and Administrative Contact with a current, easily accessible email address. This will help to ensure that your domain can be renewed or transferred should the need arise. Domain name registration fees are not refundable.
    • Hosting: This cost recurs monthly or annually. Hosting places the domain name on a particular server connected to the web, which allows you to post a website for viewing through a browser. You are NOT required to host through us, but we strongly PREFER that you do. Hosting comes with domain-based emails, bandwidth, storage space, database and security tools, and other features. Projects that involve custom programming must be hosted with By Afro’s choice to ensure the programs that we write will work. If you want to host your site on another server this must be disclosed before we begin programming.
    • Hosting Renewal Payment Obligations: Your hosting account will be automatically renewed under the same time and fee structure unless you give written notice to By Afro fifteen (15) days before the renewal date that you do not wish to renew the account.
    • Hosting Cancellation Payment Obligations: You may cancel at anytime. If you cancel after the first 30 days, you will be obligated to pay all fees and charges accrued prior to the effective date of the cancellation. By Afro will refund the prepaid fees for basic hosting for the full months remaining after effective date of the cancellation, less any prior fees and charges, and an early cancellation fee of $25. Accounts that are terminated by By Afro for abuse or violations of internet standards or these terms and conditions will not receive any refund. All cancellations must be received in writing according to the deadlines indicated: regular mail and e-mail are acceptable. Phone requests will not constitute acceptance of any cancellation. Refunds will be issued back to you within 10 business days from your cancellation date.
    • Hosting Transfer Payment Obligations: If you wish to transfer your hosting to another provider By Afro can, upon request, download your site onto a cloud drive and email is to you. The cost for this service $50 per copy. FTP access to your site is available for transfer purposes.
    • Sites NOT Hosted by By Afro: Should client decide to host their site on another server, By Afro cannot guarantee the all elements of the site will work. By Afro will make a reasonable effort to research the problem on the foreign platform to let the client know what we think the problem is. However, we cannot take responsibility for problems caused by or on another hosting server, including but not limited to email, FTP, SSL, database, server software, and site security issues. If By Afro believes it will take a significant amount of time to fix the problem, we will advise the client before proceeding. In most cases, fixing problems on a foreign hosting server is billable.
  5. Website Maintenance: There are no required maintenance fees other than domain registration and hosting. Most people do some work on their site every year, for which we offer several plans. We can make certain parts of the site updatable by you by implementing a custom Content Management System, or installing a blog. For work we do on the site after going live, we charge on an hourly basis. If you expect that maintenance will be a regular occurrence, you can buy a prepaid maintenance contract that affords a discounted hourly rate. If need be, we can customize a maintenance plan for your particular needs, but no plan is required.
  6. Website Maintenance Payment Obligations: Depending upon the nature of the website changes, prepayment may be required. Should the client be invoiced after the changes are completed, the invoice is due upon reciept. If payment is not received within 30 days, the maintenance changes may be taken down until payment is received. After 60 days, there may also be a $35 reposting fee added to the outstanding maintenance invoice balance.

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

  1. UI/UX Design
    • For Web Applications, Mobile Apps and Web Pages a proposal of the home page / dashboard will be submitted to the client. Customer is required to provide all branding material including logo, colors and brand guidelines. Up to 2 additional proposals will be submitted for the home page if the first is not approved. In some cases customer will approve layout pending some changes in branding (styling, fonts, colors).
    • Once the site design is approved by the client, usually via email consent, the design is considered ready for implementation. Should the client wish to make changes to a design they have approved, those changes are billable at our standard hourly rate. (REFER TO ALTERATIONS SECTION BELOW)
  1. Navigation – Once site outline/map is approved by the client, usually via email consent, the site navigation is considered ready for implementation. Combined with the approved graphic design, this becomes the site structure. Once we build this structure per client approval, any subsequent changes are billable at our standard hourly rate.
  2. Content – Provision of content is customer’s responsibility, unless specifically negotiated ahead of time as part of the project proposal.
    • Text content – Copy for all website pages and links needs to be delivered digitally and should be carefully proof-read by the client. Two rounds of revisions will be provided free of charge. Subsequent revisions will be billable at our regular hourly rate.
    • Copy development – Should client wish By Afro to develop content for the site, website copy is billable at our regular hourly rate. Development of copy is accomplished via By Afro Web Development interviewing the client about the topic areas to be addressed on their web pages. By Afro then composes appropriate copy, submits to the client for review, edit, and approval. Approved copy is then posted to the web pages.
    • Graphical content – Images outside of the website design must be provided in digital form or in a form that can be easily scanned, unless otherwise provided for in customer’s contract. Subsequent revisions will be billable at our regular hourly rate.
  3. Database Implementation – Entry of data for database applications is considered client’s responsibility. Entry of data by By Afro is billable, unless otherwise provided for in customer’s contract.
  4. Email – We offer free domain-based email accounts to our clients as part of any hosting contract. If site is not hosted by By Afro, we take no responsibility for setting up and troubleshooting email problems.
  5. Training – For websites with administrative control panels or content management systems, two (2) one-hour training sessions will be provided.
  6. Technical Support – We offer local and long-distance phone support to our clients. We do not normally bill for technical support depending on the source of the problem, its severity, and our time invested. If By Afro is not the source of the problem, technical support may be billable.

ALTERATIONS

  1. Any alterations requested by the client after development has begun will incur extra development and regression testing time. Dependent upon the alteration or change requested an average of 3 days extra development time per alteration should be allowed for. The 3 day average may not be indicative of the time required and can be extended commensurate of the time involved to implement said changes.
  2. By Afro will not accept responsibility for any alterations performed by the client or any third party which may cause or induce errors within the quoted application.
  3. If By Afro are required to correct said alterations or errors resulting from said alterations, induced, injected or otherwise caused by parties other than By Afro, the dient will be charged at the hourly rate that is current for By Afro at the time said errors are to be fixed.

COMPLETION OF WORK

  1. All time frames offered by By Afro to the client are estimates. The intrinsic nature of software development and its intricacies do not offer By Afro the luxury of defining definite timeframes.
  2. By Afro will endeavor to complete all work within the estimated time frames discussed with the client in the quotation. However, By Afro will not be liable for any penalties, monies or hardships otherwise incurred by the client if the application cannot be delivered within the estimated time frame.
  3. By Afro will not release the quoted application unless all payments have been met under the obligations of the quotation or work agreement.
  4. The quoted application remains the property of By Afro Software until all obligations have been met for release of said application to the client.
  5. If By Afro is working as a third party to another company said company is responsible in meeting the obligations for release of the quote application to their client.

TRAINING AND TUTORIALS

Because customer service is in integral part of our business strategy, all of our projects include a one-time complimentary training session in order for our clients to better make use of their new web technology. Additional training hours can be purchased at our standard hourly rate or applied against your existing maintenance contract.

DOMAIN TRANSFERS AND DNS MANAGEMENT

For domains not originally registered with By Afro, there will be a $25 fee to either transfer to the domain into our registration platform, or to transfer-out to another registrar. If your domain is not registered with By Afro, DNS management and troubleshooting tasks are billable at our hourly rate.

WEBSITES WITH PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODE

Should client contract with By Afro to write custom code for a website application, this code is not transferable to a new developer or host.  Custom written source code is considered the property of By Afro Web Development and cannot be shared with other developers. Clients are granted a license to use custom software code while on By Afro servers only.  By Afro Web Development retains ownership of the code.

In some cases, By Afro will install software for the client’s use that has been built by a third party. Examples include WordPress blog software, FCK editor software, shopping carts, photo galleries, etc. In these instances, clients will be subject to the terms and conditions of the third party who owns the software, and may use the software as a licensee only. No ownership rights of any kind are transferred to the client.

Access to or transfer of proprietary source code could result in a security risk to By Afro and its clients who are running similar pieces of code.  In order to provide custom software development services, clients give us access to private and/or sensitive information, trade secrets, proprietary pricing and business methods.  If clients believed that we may be sharing this information with outside developers, they could lose faith that we are protecting their proprietary information.  Therefore, neither access nor transfer of any code built for any purpose that is unique and not commonly and publicly available can be granted. Should client want us to build software to run on another server, it must be disclosed upfront and specifically contracted for.

Website components that ARE transferable to another host include html code, graphics, logos, pictures, navigation, text, and the data residing within a database (but not the code).  Hourly fees will apply for any special work that needs to be done to transfer those parts of website that do not violate the other paragraphs in this section.

NON-DOMAIN BASED TROUBLESHOOTING

By Afro Web Development maintains and troubleshoots the websites we develop for our clients, as well as any domain-based email accounts of those websites. We do NOT assume responsibility for upkeep or provide non-billable troubleshooting on our clients’ ISPs (Internet Service Providers), ISP-based email accounts (name@charter.net, name@3rivers.net, etc), your home or office internet connections, or any other non-domain-based issues outside By Afro Web Development’s realm of service. Provision of non-domain-based troubleshooting services will be billable at our normal hourly rate.