What should a website contract include?

Scope you could hand to someone else

The scope should be specific enough that a stranger could read it and know what’s being built. List the pages, the features (forms, booking, a blog, a CMS), who provides copy and photos, and what SEO setup is included. “A modern website” isn’t a scope.

It should also say what’s out of scope. That’s not pessimism. It’s the line that stops arguments in week four.

Money, revisions and time

• Price and payment schedule. A deposit, then milestones, is common. Know what triggers each payment.
• Revision rounds. How many per stage, and what counts as a revision versus new work.
• Change requests. How extra work is quoted and approved before it starts.
• Timeline. Including what happens when either side causes a delay.

Ownership and intellectual property

This is the clause to read twice. It should say that on final payment you own the design, the custom code and the content created for you, and that the domain is registered to you. In Canada, copyright in work by an outside contractor generally stays with them unless it’s assigned in writing, so the wording matters. Some designers keep rights to reusable components or licence them to you. That can be reasonable, as long as it’s stated and you can still move the site.

Third-party items, such as fonts, stock photos and plugins, come with their own licences. The contract should say whose name they’re in. More on this in who owns my website.

Ending, warranty and support

Look for a termination clause that says what you get if the project stops partway, and what you pay for work done. A short warranty period for fixing bugs after launch is common and worth having in writing. If there’s a maintenance plan, it should be a separate agreement you can cancel without losing the site.

Contracts vary by province and situation. For anything high-stakes, have a lawyer look it over.

My proposals list every page, every feature and every exclusion, plus the ownership terms in plain English: you own the code, design and domain once the project is paid. I’d rather a client find a gap on paper than discover it at launch.

If you’re reviewing someone else’s contract, read the ownership and termination clauses first. If those are fair, the rest is usually negotiable.