Hello,
I own a web design firm that hosts our own clients. My question is this;

We have a standard web design contract we use for everyone. We would like to ask others if you use a webhosting contract along with your standard design contract or do you combine them? I'm not sure which way I want to go with this, either A. have a seperate webhosting contract, sorta like a terms of use, or B. have it all listed under 1 contract, the web design and the hosting. Which do you feel would be best to do?

Thanks,
M. Williams

I know I'm not another design firm, but personally I'd recommend covering both services in the same contract. You definitely need to cover the terms of the hosting agreement somewhere, and asking the clients to sign two different contracts is unnecessary. I wouldn't make the client jump through any more hoops than necessary. That's my two cents, take it for what you will ;)

You have a valid point yes but it is 2 different types of services though. I am considering combining the 2 contracts together to make one big contract.

Honestly, In my opinion it would probably be better to keep the two separated. For reasons of updating, and so your clients know what they are signing. Also if a client might not want you to host them(Hopefully Not) then they sign a contract for your hosting services, Just too many loose legal ends.

Portal Planet does both. No contract for hosting. That puts the burden on us to make sure the servers are fast and reliable. If you had them on a contract then legally they couldn't leave without paying the rest of their contract.

How many of you hosts have contracts? I didn't know hosting had contracts unless it's a higher spec of hosting like dedicated servers or something.

Justin

TOS, AUP, EUA, etc. These are all contracts. Thats what that is when you click I agree to these terms and services set out by (company name here).

Yep I agree there. I was just thinking of a time based contract. TOS, EUA, and AUP are all valid contracts that is agreed upon when signing up.

Justin

100% of my clients are local as I only deal with local businesses so I meet them face to face and ALOT of them don't know anything about Hosting. So I provide a very detailed contract for design and for hosting or TOS / AUP. They have to sign and agree to the hosting contract and to the design contract. All my clients host with me. A couple of them didn't want "all thier eggs in one basket" but majority of them do. Makes it easier on them and me.

I was just wondering id I should combine them both or leave them as 2 seperate contracts. So I left them as 2 contracts considering it's 2 different services.

Thanks for all the replies.

Seperate contracts, without a doubt.

From a legal stand point, combining the services is a bad idea, as voiding one aspect (design or the hosting) by either party will void the whole thing.

Also, what if your client decides to move to another host halfway through the design? New contract or no contract?

You have two seperate services that have two clear and very different objectives, deadlines and goals. In my mind they have no reason to be merged. We always have seperate 'sign offs' for every service that is taken. It provides more flexibility to the client but also to us (we can trim or change one service, without it impacting related contacts in other services like support, installation, etc).

Just my own personal experience, bare in mind I'm no legal expert and thankfully we've never had any issues with this approach.

If the project is worth decent money, it might be worth your time to get a definitive answer from a quick consultation with a legal professional.