Terms & Rates of Service

It's well to keep it crystal-clear with terms and rates of service. You get what you expected, as initially agreed upon, at the cost you budgeted — with mid-process change requests billed per established terms. We share a coherent development process and receive fair compensation for all aspects of the work done. No hidden costs, no glitches or ambiguities.

Definition, Delivery and Payment

When you collaborate with us on a development project, the basic process unfolds through:

• Initial review and clarification of your task and requirements
• Formal quote describing deliverables, rates and timeframes
• Delivery of work in full, or in set increments, as appropriate
• Payment for work as up-front and final payment, or in increments

Once the formal quote is signed off and an initial payment delivered, proper development will commence. While we strive to deliver on or ahead of schedule, we have no control over delays caused by waiting for further materials and instructions from the client. We appreciate if you can respond/deliver within 48 hours from our request to help keep the schedule straight.

While we're in the process of developing your solution, please be aware that we can't stage demos for "want to see how far is it now", unless we've established delivery and demonstration increments. Witnessing software progress isn't quite like watching the progress on a construction site, so please be patient and let us work until we have wares mature enough to stage for you.

Project Quote & Rates Agreement

After reviewing your task request, we'll send you a formal quote/proposal detailing:

• An itemized description of your task and the exact deliverables
• A delivery timeframe with possible phases and set increments
• Itemized and total cost, all-inclusive, based on the above description
• Policy on work rates involving changes or additions to the original task
• Terms of service that govern our collaboration and responsibilities
• For complex tasks, extended description with specs and blueprints

Please review the task description carefully to ensure everything you expect is included. When you sign off on the formal quote, we'll start the development. After that, any emergent requests and non-obvious expectations or requirements will be treated as mid-development changes. We're not fussy over a bit of tuning and evolution, but we can't provide unlimited free services.

The exact rate applicable for your task will vary depending on its volume, complexity, and timeframe. Hourly rates typically range between USD $50–$90 for tight productive hours. Substantial discounts apply when the volume of your task is 24+ hours. You then qualify for reduced hourly rates or a bulk total price. Ask for an initial quote for more details with your case.

You can read the detailed terms on our complete terms of service page (included with your project quote). Please see the sample project quote (PDF) for a more thorough sense of how we proceed with establishing your proposed work assignment.

Mid-Development Change Requests

Sometimes project requirements evolve mid-way down the journey for good reason. When you inform us of a change or addition to the development task, as described in the agreed-upon formal quote:

• If the change is minor and is an equivalent replacement to an aspect not yet developed, it's free of charge.
• If the change conflicts with work already done, both the scrapped work and the replacement will be billed for.
• If the change is a redaction of an aspect not yet developed, it will be deducted from the cost in proportion.
• If the change is a redaction of an aspect already developed, it will be billed per the original agreement.
• If there's an addition of the same nature as the rest of the task, it's billed at the same rate in proportion.
• If the addition diverges substantially from other aspects of the task, we’ll provide you with an additional quote.

Be aware that mid-development changes will impact your delivery schedule. While we seek to deliver the modified task within a proportionate timeframe, we can't do it at the expense of other ongoing work and client schedules.

The more we can pin down into your initial project description, the more seamless our development and delivery process will be. If there are changes in the horizon, please inform us at the earliest to prevent wasted work and unnecessary expense.

Ownership, Licenses and Reuse

Software and solutions delivered by CMS Wares is owned by you, and governed by any applicable software licenses. Aspects of the work that are specific and distinct to you, such as content, design and structuring solutions, will be exclusive to you and will not be reused by us. You have the freedom to modify, publish, distribute, and resell the solution delivered.

Aspects of work that are generic and not distinct to you, typically abstract code and reusable components, will be absorbed into our pool of development resources. We won't charge you for the additional time we may invest toward the reusability of any given feature. Such code is typically governed by an open-source license (GPL or MPL) and may be freely used, modified, and shared.

Any third-party software included, with your request or consent, will ship with their particular licenses to which you must agree, and which may limit your rights for the use, modification, and distribution of the complete solution. We typically choose only open-source components with compatible and non-restrictive licenses to expedite our development work.

This document was last revised on April 18th, 2019, with immediate effect.
The above terms, along with the complete terms, supplement, but do not supersede, any specific agreements with the client.