Terms and Conditions

• Scope & Execution: Project timelines and specific deliverables are outlined and mutually agreed upon in writing prior to kickoff. Scope is determined by our current studio workload and your specific project blueprint.

• Phased Billing: Deposits are strictly non-refundable and are required to secure your placement on our active production schedule. Final balances are due in full upon project completion and prior to any live deployment, launch, or asset transfer.

Web design projects require active momentum. When projects stall due to delayed client assets or communication leaks, it clogs our studio capacity.

• The 30-Day Window (Dormancy): If a project becomes inactive for more than 30 consecutive calendar days due to a client-side delay (e.g., missing content, unapproved copywriting, or lack of feedback), the project will be marked as Dormant and removed from our active schedule. To restart a Dormant project, a 10% reactivation fee (based on the total project contract) will be invoiced and must be paid to secure a new production slot.
• The 60-Day Window (Abandonment): Projects left inactive for 60 calendar days or more are deemed Abandoned and subject to immediate termination. In these cases, all paid deposits and milestone payments are forfeited to Seaport Webworks LLC to cover allocated resources, and we are under no obligation to deliver incomplete files.
• Price Adjustments: Project quotes are locked for up to six months from the date of the initial deposit, provided the project remains active. Delays stretching beyond the six-month mark will require a contract revision to reflect our current studio rates.

To prevent final payments from being held up indefinitely during minor review loops, we employ an auto-acceptance framework:

• Review Timeline: Upon written notification that a project (or major milestone) is ready for final review, the Client has 14 calendar days to submit a unified list of feedback edits or formal approval.

• Substantial Completion: If no communication is received within this 14-day window, the project is automatically deemed approved and Substantially Complete.

• Payment & Deployment: Once a project is Substantially Complete, the remaining contract balance is immediately due in full. Seaport Webworks LLC strictly retains all server access, live domain pointing, and final file handoffs until the outstanding financial balance is entirely cleared.

Seaport Webworks LLC provides premium, managed hosting infrastructure to deliver a seamless, secure, and fast user experience without requiring clients to manage technical operations directly.

Our Managed Stack Includes:

• Enterprise-grade cloud hosting and routing.
• SSL certificates for secure encrypted browsing.
• Regular, redundant system backups.
• Continuous malware scanning and proactive security monitoring.
• Regular maintenance updates for WordPress core, architecture themes, and functional plugins.

To protect our custom engineering, preserve site performance metrics, and prevent unexpected technical liabilities, Seaport Webworks LLC maintains clean-room server environments.

• Standard Restricted Access: By default, clients do not receive core administrative credentials (super-admin access) or raw file-system access while hosted on our infrastructure. This strict boundary prevents catastrophic layout breaks, plugin version conflicts, or security vulnerabilities caused by untrained modifications. Full WordPress administrator access is available only on a dedicated CloudPanel instance. Shared hosting remains editor-only.
• Content-Only Exceptions: For platforms requiring routine internal updates (such as updating blog posts or managing a real-time Daily Specials menu), we will configure custom, limited-access editor accounts during onboarding. We provide basic operational instructions for these specific tasks. Any troubleshooting or site restoration required due to errors made via client access will be billed as additional work at our standard hourly rate.
• Unauthorized Interference: Any attempt to grant unauthorized third-party developers backend access or install conflicting software voids all performance and security coverages, and may result in immediate hosting termination or recovery fees.

• Included Revisions: Every custom project includes a dedicated, reasonable round of refinements explicitly outlined in your project proposal.
• Scope Creep: Any request for new features, structural changes, extra pages, or structural revisions outside the signed blueprint will be treated as an addendum and billed separately at our standard hourly studio rate.

• Troubleshooting or repairing code, embeds, or plugins added by the client or by a tool the client used is billable work and is not included in Site Care or Foundation.

•  One-Time Custom Services: Invoices for standalone tasks, emergency edits, or ad-hoc development are due immediately upon receipt.

• Recurring Retainers: Monthly fees for hosting, management plans, and digital marketing retainers are billed in advance and are due within 14 calendar days of the invoice date.

Late Payment Matrix — 

• • Day 30 Past Due – A 2% monthly late fee is automatically applied to the total outstanding balance.
  • Day 35 Past Due – Service Suspension: Website hosting, public domain visibility, and marketing workflows are paused. We are not liable for lost revenue, offline business impacts, or drops in search indexing during a suspension.
  • Day 60 Past Due – Permanent Termination: The account is permanently closed, software licenses are stripped, and all stored server data or site backups may be permanently wiped from our databases.

• Studio rate: Unless a different rate is stated on an estimate, additional work is billed at $125/hour. Work that is not on a Foundation (or higher) plan is subject to a one-hour minimum. Foundation overflow is billed at $125/hour in 15-minute increments. Specialized work — including server or terminal work and debugging code we did not write, including AI-generated embeds — is quoted before we start and may be billed at a higher rate.

• Terms: Site Care and Foundation are 12-month commitments, billed monthly or annually as invoiced. Any dedicated CloudPanel instance is a 12-month commitment, including when it is added to Growth or Performance. Growth, Performance, and add-ons are month-to-month and end with 30 days’ written notice.

• External Systems: While we build seamless bridges to third-party tools (Google Analytics, payment processors, reservation systems, API feeds), Seaport Webworks LLC exerts zero control over external platforms. We are entirely exempt from liability for outages, API modifications, or data policy changes enacted by third-party corporations.
• SEO & Digital Advertising: Our search optimization and advertising methodologies follow data-grounded best practices. However, because search engines and advertising platforms constantly shift their proprietary machine-learning algorithms, we cannot guarantee specific algorithmic rankings, exact traffic volumes, or fixed conversion returns.

We believe in absolute transparency regarding who owns what code, software, and personal history.

• Client Operation Ownership: Upon receipt of final payment, the compiled outward-facing website visual design, page layouts, and client-supplied commercial copy become the client’s legal property for the ongoing operation of that specific business entity. Seaport Webworks LLC retains the irrevocable right to display imagery of the completed project within our professional portfolio.
• Proprietary Tools & Licenses: Custom code libraries, scripts, database frameworks, and premium software licenses (including developer-tier theme and plugin licenses purchased and held by Seaport Webworks LLC) remain our exclusive intellectual property or that of their respective software developers. These licenses are provided to you as a utility strictly while your site is actively hosted and managed by Seaport Webworks LLC. They are legally non-transferable.
• Pre-Transfer Data Sanitization: Prior to any transfer of ownership, domain control, or site repository access to a third-party buyer, the Developer will, at the express direction of the original Contracting Client, remove specified personal data assets (including personal photography, biographical text, and proprietary family media) from the production environment and underlying database.

• Site Care and managed hosting: Site Care and other managed hosting are a 12-month commitment, billed monthly or annually as invoiced. A dedicated instance is a 12-month commitment. Prepaid time in the current 12-month term is non-refundable. Written notice 30 days before the term ends stops the next year from starting.

• Partnership Plans: Foundation is a 12-month commitment, billed monthly or annually as invoiced, because it includes hosting. Growth and Performance are month-to-month and end with 30 days’ written notice. If Growth or Performance includes a dedicated instance, that instance remains a 12-month hosting commitment if the plan is cancelled.
• Add-ons: Active Local Visibility, AI Visibility Monitoring, Conversion & UX Monitoring, and any future add-ons may be added or cancelled on their own with 30 days’ written notice.
• Business Sales & Corporate Transfers: A custom engineered platform built by Seaport Webworks LLC is an ongoing digital service infrastructure, not an unconditional physical commodity. If you sell or transfer ownership of your business, the website structure does not automatically pass to the new buyer or their outside agency without a formal audit.

• • Verification: We will never grant database access, administrative control, or source file packaging to a third-party buyer or outside entity without notarized or explicit written confirmation from the original contracting client.
  • Heritage Strip: We reserve the right—and will act upon the request of the original founding family—to completely scrub personal historical photographs, family bios, or private heritage data from the site database before files are transferred to a new corporate owner.
  • License Stripping: Upon moving a site off our infrastructure to a new owner or outside server, all developer-tier plugin, security, and theme licenses tied to our corporate agency accounts are immediately revoked. The new owner is completely responsible for sourcing, purchasing, and installing their own valid commercial software licenses to maintain site utility.
  • Migration Fees: Packaging database files, executing asset removals, or assisting an outside developer with server migration is specialized labor and will be invoiced at our standard hourly studio rate.

• Limitation of Liability: To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Seaport Webworks LLC shall not be held liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages—including but not limited to loss of business revenue, commercial profits, data corruptions, or operational downtime stemming from server interruptions or security events.

• Security Reality: We employ rigid industry-standard firewalls, encrypted protocols, and monitoring practices. However, no digital system is entirely impervious to modern cyber warfare or advanced security breaches. Clients are advised to maintain independent records of critical business data as an ultimate safeguard.

• Exclusive Jurisdiction: These terms are governed entirely by the laws of the State of North Carolina. Any unresolved legal actions, disputes, or proceedings arising from our business relationships must be brought exclusively within the state or federal courts located in North Carolina. Both parties explicitly consent to this personal jurisdiction and waive any objections regarding inconvenient forums.

For official billing notifications, scope requests, or clear documentation inquiries, connect with our team directly:

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (252) 349-3280
• Mailing Address: PO Box 4152, Emerald Isle, NC 28594