01. Who we are
South Digital Ltd provides website design and development, ongoing website support, website migrations and SEO & AI search for businesses. We are registered in England and Wales, company number 11859310, VAT number GB396566634, with our registered office at Unit 8 The Courtyard, Gaulby Lane, Stoughton, Leicester, LE2 2FL. We work remotely and may use contractors under our direction.
02. How these terms work
These terms apply to all work unless a different arrangement is documented in writing. A project may also have a proposal, quote and timeline. If documents conflict, the signed proposal or statement of work applies first, then any special terms, then these terms. Our former Delivery and Refund & cancellation policies are now part of these terms.
03. Who you are
The client is the company, organisation or individual that signs a proposal or engages our services.
04. Proposals, scope and changes
Proposals and quotes are usually valid for 30 days from the date issued. Clear scope is what keeps a project on its timeline: work outside the agreed scope needs written approval before it starts, and a discovery phase may be its own engagement.
05. Your responsibilities
You agree to give us access to the tools and accounts the work needs, and to provide accurate information, the content the project needs, and timely feedback and approvals within the agreed time frames. You are responsible for making sure what you ask us to publish, including legal and regulatory content, is lawful. Delays on your side can move timelines and may affect fees.
06. Timelines
Start dates, milestones and launch windows are agreed in advance and set out in your proposal or project plan. They are estimates, not guarantees: they depend on the agreed scope, timely feedback, approvals and content, and no major unplanned changes.
If something outside our control causes a delay, we will tell you as soon as reasonably possible and propose a revised timeline. If feedback or content is delayed for an extended period, we may need to replan the schedule or, where the scope or context has materially changed, adjust fees. We are not liable for delays caused by factors outside our control or by client-side delays.
07. How work is delivered
Everything we deliver is digital: links, logins, files or access rights. We do not ship physical goods. Your proposal sets out exactly what you receive; typically:
- Design: Figma files or links, prototypes or previews. You are usually invited into the design file to review and comment.
- Development: a staging site for review and testing, then a live deployment to your domain once you approve it. We set up accounts in your name wherever the platform allows, and transfer anything we hold at handover.
- SEO & AI search: audits, advice and plans as documents, or updates made directly in your website where agreed.
- Launch: we agree a launch window with you and take reasonable steps to test key pages, forms and functionality before and after launch. You decide when to launch and remain responsible for the content that is live.
- Ongoing support: we agree how you send requests and typical response times, and keep you updated on what has been done. Unless a formal service level agreement is in place, support is provided with reasonable efforts during standard business hours.
08. Review, sign-off and fixes
Your proposal sets out the review rounds included. A stage is delivered and accepted when we have provided the agreed deliverables and you have either confirmed in writing (email is fine) that you are happy, or used them in a live environment without raising issues within a reasonable period. Changes after sign-off may be treated as new work and quoted separately.
If you find a genuine bug or error in our work, such as a broken layout or a form that does not work, we fix it at no extra charge within a fair window: usually 30 days from delivery or launch, unless your proposal says otherwise. This does not cover new features or changes of mind.
09. Fees, invoicing and payment
Work is charged as a fixed fee, an hourly rate or a monthly retainer, as the proposal states. Projects usually start with a deposit (for example 30–50%), followed by milestone payments and the balance on completion; your proposal sets out the split. Prices exclude VAT, which is added where it applies.
Invoices are due within 14 days of the invoice date. Late payment may pause work and can attract statutory interest.
10. Expenses and third-party costs
Reasonable out-of-pocket expenses are agreed in advance. Third-party fees such as hosting, domains, email services and paid tools are your responsibility unless we agree otherwise in writing, and are usually paid directly to the provider. Refunds or cancellations of those services are handled by the provider under its own terms; we cannot refund charges paid to other companies. A provider’s pricing, features or availability are outside our control, but we will suggest alternatives where we can.
11. Deposits, pausing and cancelling
Our work is custom and delivered in stages, so we charge for time and work already done. If your plans change, talk to us and we will discuss the options. Unless your proposal says otherwise, and subject to your rights if you are a consumer:
- Deposits are non-refundable once we have confirmed your project and set time aside for it. They cover planning, early work and the time we reserve for you.
- If you cancel before meaningful work has started, we may keep some or all of the deposit. If only light admin has happened, we may agree a partial refund.
- If you cancel after work has started, you pay for the work done up to the cancellation date, including reasonable preparation. We do not charge for future stages that have clearly not started. Deposits are set against the work done and are not normally returned. We hand over completed deliverables once they are paid for.
- If you need to pause, tell us as soon as possible. We may be able to hold the project for a short time; a longer pause may mean replanning or requoting. Pausing does not make a deposit refundable.
- Care plans and other ongoing support can be cancelled on the notice your agreement sets out, normally 30 days. Work done during the notice period is billed as usual. Prepaid fees and unused prepaid time are not usually refundable unless we failed to provide the agreed capacity, but we complete agreed tasks within the paid period where possible and may let unused time roll over for a short agreed period.
- If we cancel a project because we are unable to deliver it, we refund any deposit for work we have not done.
- We may pause or end a project for unpaid invoices, missing approvals, unlawful use or a conflict of interest. We may end an ongoing arrangement with reasonable notice, or straight away for a serious breach such as non-payment or abusive behaviour.
12. Refunds and putting things right
If you believe something we delivered is wrong, missing or below the standard you reasonably expected, email hello@
We will review it against the agreed scope and tell you whether it is an error for us to fix, a change that needs extra work, or something we need to clarify.
We correct genuine errors at no extra charge, and consider refunds only after we have had a reasonable chance to fix or complete the agreed work.
Refunds are not normally offered for:
- a change of mind after work has been completed as agreed;
- deciding not to use delivered work, such as not launching a site we built;
- delays caused by you or by third parties outside our control;
- differences in personal taste where the work matches the agreed brief and feedback;
- outcomes we never guaranteed, such as rankings, lead volumes or revenue.
13. Intellectual property
Tools, methods, frameworks and reusable code we had before a project remain ours. Once a project is paid in full, you own the final designs, layouts, copy and front-end code created specifically for you. We may show the work in our portfolio unless you flag material as confidential.
14. Data protection and confidentiality
Both sides keep project information confidential. We handle personal data in line with our Privacy policy and applicable data protection law. You remain responsible for your own privacy disclosures and for having a lawful basis to process the data you give us.
15. Warranties and limits of liability
We provide services with reasonable skill and care. We cannot guarantee specific rankings, traffic, uptime or conversion outcomes. Our total liability for a project is capped at the fees paid for it. Nothing in these terms excludes liability for death or personal injury, fraud, or anything else the law does not allow to be excluded.
16. Non-solicitation
You will not, without our prior written consent, directly hire or solicit any South Digital employee or key contractor who worked on your project for 12 months after it completes. Someone applying to you independently is not solicitation.
17. If you are a consumer
We mainly work with businesses. If you engage us as a consumer, meaning an individual acting wholly or mainly outside your trade, business, craft or profession, you have legal rights that these terms cannot exclude or limit. Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights, and where a term conflicts with them, your rights apply. Please tell us at the start if you are engaging us as a consumer.
If you agree to our services as a consumer online, by email, by phone or away from our business premises, you can normally cancel within 14 days of the day you agree, without giving a reason. To cancel, tell us clearly, for example by email to hello@
We will not start during the cancellation period unless you expressly ask us to in writing. If you then cancel, you pay only a proportionate amount for the work supplied before cancellation, provided we gave you the required information about cancellation and these costs before you agreed. We refund the balance, including any deposit, within 14 days.
Your cancellation right ends on full completion during those 14 days only if, before we started, you expressly requested early performance and acknowledged that completing the work would end that right.
18. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction unless mandatory law says otherwise.
19. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time. Continuing to work with us after a change takes effect is acceptance of the updated terms; a signed project keeps the version in place when it was signed.
20. Contact
Questions about these terms reach us at hello@