Terms of
Business.

1. Who you are dealing with

Kivo is a web design and software studio based in Cheshire, trading as a sole trader. Where these terms say "we" or "us" that means Kivo; "you" means the business instructing us. You can reach us at [email protected].

2. What these terms cover

These terms apply to every piece of work we do for you unless we have both signed something different in writing. Your quote sets out the specific work, the price and the timescale; these terms fill in everything the quote does not say. If the two ever disagree, the quote wins.

A contract starts when you accept a quote in writing — an email saying yes is enough.

3. Quotes

Every quote is fixed before we start. It stays open for 30 days and it lists exactly what is included. If we have misunderstood what you need, tell us before you accept and we will requote rather than argue about it later.

Quoted prices do not include anything bought on your behalf — a premium domain, a paid font licence, stock photography, a third-party booking or payment service, or ongoing fees charged by someone else. Where those are needed we will tell you the cost before committing you to it.

4. Prices and payment

We are not currently VAT registered, so no VAT is charged. If that changes, VAT will be added to invoices issued after the date we register, and we will tell you before it happens.

One-off builds are invoiced 50% when you accept the quote and 50% on the day the site goes live. Monthly plans have no upfront cost and are billed monthly in advance from the day the site goes live.

Invoices are due within 14 days. If an invoice is more than 14 days late we may pause work and, for monthly plans, suspend the site until it is paid — we will always email you first. We reserve the right to charge interest and recovery costs on late commercial payments under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

5. Monthly plans and the 12-month term

Monthly plans run for an initial term of 12 months from the day the site goes live. That term is what lets us build the site with nothing to pay upfront, so it is a genuine commitment: if you cancel inside the first 12 months, the remaining monthly payments for that term fall due.

After month 12 the plan does not renew for another fixed term. It continues month to month at the same price as a care plan, covering hosting, the domain, SSL and content updates. From month 13 you can cancel at any time by giving 30 days' written notice, and nothing further is owed after that notice period.

We will not increase the price during the initial 12 months. After that we may change the monthly price with at least 30 days' written notice, and you are free to cancel within that notice period if you do not want to pay it.

6. One-off builds and care plans

On a one-off build, the care plan alongside it is optional. It covers hosting, the domain, SSL, security updates and the content changes described in your quote. It is billed monthly, has no minimum term, and either of us can end it with 30 days' written notice.

If you end the care plan we will help you move the site to your own hosting at no charge. What we cannot do is keep hosting it for free.

7. What we need from you

We will ask for your content, your photos, your logo if you have one, and access to anything we need to connect to. We will draft copy for you if you would rather not write it, but you are responsible for checking that everything published about your business is accurate — prices, qualifications, opening hours, claims about what you do.

You confirm that anything you send us is yours to use. If a photo or a logo you supply turns out to belong to someone else, that is on you, and you agree to cover us for any claim that results.

We will give you a clear point at which to review and approve the site. If we do not hear from you for 30 days at a review stage we may invoice the work completed so far and pause the project until you come back to us.

8. Who owns what

You own your website. On a one-off build, ownership of the design, the code and the content passes to you on final payment. On a monthly plan, it passes to you once the 12-month term has been paid in full. Your domain is yours from the day it is registered, whoever registered it.

Until those payments are made we keep ownership of the work, which is the only real protection we have against non-payment.

Some parts of a site are licensed rather than owned — fonts, stock images, plugins, third-party services. Those stay under their own licences and we will tell you which ones apply to your site.

We keep ownership of our own underlying tools, components and templates, and of anything we build that is not specific to your business. That never stops you using, changing or moving your site.

Unless you ask us not to, we may show your site in our portfolio and describe the work we did. Say the word and we will leave you out.

9. Changes and extra work

Small changes during a build are normal and we do not nickel-and-dime them. If you ask for something that is genuinely outside the quote — an extra page, a booking system that was not in scope, a rebuild of something already approved — we will tell you what it costs before we do it, and you decide. We will never add a charge you have not agreed.

10. Ending the agreement

You can end a one-off project at any time before launch. You pay for the work done up to that point and we hand over what exists.

Monthly plans end as described in section 5. We may end any agreement with 30 days' notice, or immediately if an invoice is more than 30 days overdue or if you ask us to do something unlawful.

However it ends, you can ask for a full export — files, content, database and domain — and we will provide it. We will not hold your content hostage.

11. What we are and are not responsible for

We will build your site with reasonable skill and care, and we will fix genuine faults in our own work free of charge for 30 days after launch. Beyond that, a care plan covers ongoing fixes.

We cannot promise a particular position in Google, a particular number of enquiries, or that any website will be free of every bug. We are not responsible for failures of services outside our control — your hosting provider, a payment processor, an email provider, the wider internet.

Except where the law does not allow it to be limited, our total liability for any claim is capped at the amount you have paid us for the work in question, and we are not liable for loss of profit, loss of business or loss of data. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

We recommend you keep your own backup of anything irreplaceable. We take backups too, but two is better than one.

12. Your information

How we handle information you send us is set out in our Privacy Policy. Where we process personal data on your behalf as part of running your site, we do so only on your instructions and in line with UK GDPR.

13. If something goes wrong

Email [email protected] and tell us plainly what the problem is. We would far rather sort it out directly than let it become a formal dispute, and in a studio this size you will be talking to the person who did the work.

15. Buying plugins and software from the store

This section applies when you buy a product from the Kivo store rather than commissioning work. If you are buying as an individual rather than for a business, you are a consumer and the rights below are in addition to your statutory ones, which nothing here takes away.

What you are buying

A licence to use the software, not the software itself. The licence is yours permanently, there is no subscription, and it covers installation on up to three machines you own or control. You may not resell it, share your key, or distribute the installer.

Prices shown include VAT where it applies. VAT is worked out at checkout from the country you give us.

Your right to cancel — read this before you buy

Downloadable software is digital content. Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations you normally have 14 days to change your mind, but that right ends as soon as the download begins. By downloading, you are asking us to supply immediately and accepting that you lose the right to cancel. If you have paid but not downloaded, email us within 14 days and we will refund you in full, no questions.

Refunds beyond that

If a plugin does not work as described, is faulty, or will not run on a system that meets the stated requirements, you are entitled to a repair, replacement or refund — that is the law and we are not going to argue about it. Email [email protected], tell us your DAW and what happened, and we will either fix it quickly or refund you. We cannot refund simply because you have changed your mind after downloading, or because your computer does not meet the requirements listed on the product.

What it runs on

Each product lists its format and system requirements on its page in the store. At present that means VST3 on Windows. Check that before buying; if you are not sure whether it will work for you, ask us first and we will tell you honestly.

Updates

Updates within a version are free and your key keeps working. If a future major version is a paid upgrade, we will say so clearly and the version you bought will keep working regardless — we will not switch anything off.

If a key stops working

Licence keys are checked when you activate. If you reinstall, change machine, or run out of activations, email us and we will reset it. We will only ever disable a key where the order was refunded or charged back.

Support

Email, from the person who wrote it. We aim to answer within two working days.

16. The legal bits

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction. If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still stands. Nobody other than you and us has any right to enforce them.

We may update these terms for new work. Changes never apply retrospectively to a project already quoted and accepted, or to a product you have already bought.