This covers keeping your site hosted, monitored and updated, and getting it back online when routine failures happen. If you have an accepted proposal from me, this agreement sits alongside it, and the two should be read together. If something ever feels inconsistent, I will flag it and we will agree the practical interpretation in writing before I act on it.
What I look after
Website maintenance is a retainer. Setup gets your site onto my managed hosting (where that is part of your plan), turns on monitoring, and confirms backups and restores work. After that, I do the ongoing work on a repeating cycle: monitoring runs all the time, I handle incidents as they come in, and I run a monthly update pass for the CMS, theme and plugins.
Your proposal lists what is included for your plan:
* Managed web hosting * Domain and DNS management * SSL/TLS renewals * Core CMS updates * Theme and plugin updates * Uptime monitoring and response
Response and updates
If your site goes down or starts throwing errors, I respond to alerts as they come in and I start triage as soon as I can. I will message you what I am seeing, what I am doing next, and then update you again when the site is back or I have an ETA.
I group issues by severity so you know what to expect. A “Site down” issue is treated first. A “Broken but usable” issue (for example a form not sending) is next. “Background” items (like update warnings) are handled in the next planned maintenance window, usually as part of the monthly update pass. If I miss a service level I have agreed with you, I will tell you why and what I am changing so it does not repeat.
Payment
Website maintenance is paid in two parts: setup (if included) and the ongoing retainer. Setup is billed 40% to start and 60% when setup is complete. Setup covers moving the site onto my hosting, putting monitoring in place, and confirming backups and restores work. If I find anything that needs extra time, I will message you with options and any price impact before I do it.
Ongoing website maintenance is invoiced at the start of each month. Every invoice is payable within 7 days of its date. If an invoice is overdue, I will pause non-urgent work until the account is up to date, but I will still tell you if monitoring shows the site is down.
Price changes
I review retainer pricing from time to time to make sure it still matches the amount of attention your site needs and my underlying costs (hosting, monitoring and upstream services). If I think your price needs to change, I will tell you in writing before the new price applies, and I will explain what has changed and what you can do about it.
Sometimes the change is on your side, not mine, for example a large increase in traffic, a move to a heavier plugin stack, or a site that starts generating frequent incidents. In that case I will suggest either a revised retainer or a separate quote for the extra work. I will agree the notice period with you in writing.
Logins and keys
To do website maintenance properly I need working access to the things I am responsible for. This usually includes your domain registrar, DNS, hosting, CMS admin login (WordPress or similar), and any service tied to delivery and security like email sending, backups and SSL/TLS.
You keep ownership of the domain, hosting accounts and all logins. I do not want passwords sent in a web form or in an ordinary email. I will tell you my preferred safe method for sharing access, and I will store the details in a way you can take back at any time. If access changes, tell me straight away so I am not locked out during an incident.
What I need from you
Website maintenance works best when I have one named contact and quick decisions. You agree to tell me who can approve changes, receive incident updates, and make billing decisions. If you want more than one person copied into updates, tell me and I will use the list you give me.
You also agree to tell me about changes that affect the site, before they happen where possible. Common examples are: a new payment provider, a new booking tool, a marketing campaign that will spike traffic, changes to your domain ownership, or another supplier making edits to the site. If someone else is working on the site, tell me what they are changing so I can avoid update clashes and so I know what “normal” looks like when an alert comes in.
Insurance
I carry business insurance that fits the work I do: hosting and maintenance services, remote access to client systems, and the day-to-day risks of running this kind of service. If you want proof of cover, ask and I will share what I can.
You are responsible for insuring your own business risks that sit around the website. That includes your trading losses, stock, staff, and anything that depends on your website being available. If your business needs specialist cover for online trading, card payments, or cyber incidents, it is worth speaking to your broker. My job is to reduce day-to-day website risk through monitoring, updates and recoveries, not to replace your business insurance.
If something breaks
Most of this work is about preventing breakage, but updates and upstream changes can still cause problems. If I believe an action I took caused an issue, I will tell you straight away, in writing, along with what I am doing to put it right.
If an update breaks the site, my first aim is to get you back online fast. That usually means rolling back from backup to a working state, then isolating the update that caused the failure and applying a safer fix, configuration change, or replacement. If the problem is caused by a third party service I do not control (for example a payment gateway, DNS provider, or upstream host), I will investigate and share what I can see from logs and monitoring, but I cannot promise a fix where I do not have the keys.
No poaching
Part of what you are paying for is continuity. You are hiring me to be the person who knows how your setup works, where the sharp edges are, and what to do when something breaks at an awkward time.
If you want to change the way we work together, talk to me and I will offer options that fit. If you need this restriction to continue for a period after the agreement ends, I will agree that period with you in writing when you start.
How the retainer runs
Website maintenance is an ongoing retainer that runs month to month. I invoice at the start of each month for that month’s cover, and invoices are payable within 7 days of the invoice date.
The retainer renews automatically each month unless one of us ends it with notice. Because different businesses need different handover time, I will confirm the notice period with you in writing when you start, so you know exactly when billing stops once notice is given. If you give notice part way through a month, I will tell you what I will cover until the end of the paid period, and what I recommend doing next so you are not left exposed.
Handing things back
If website maintenance ends, you still need to be able to run your business. I will help you take back your files and access in a usable form, and I will not hold your domain or logins hostage. My aim is that you can move to another provider without scrambling.
On request, I will provide a handover pack that includes: where the site is hosted, how DNS is set, what I manage (SSL, monitoring, backups), and the admin access I hold. If the plan includes hosting with me, I will either assist with a DNS cutover to your new host or provide a copy of the site data for migration, depending on what you choose. Once handover is done, I will remove my access from your accounts.
What I am responsible for
I take responsibility for doing the work I have agreed to do, and for acting with care when I make changes to your hosting, DNS, SSL/TLS and updates. I also take responsibility for communicating in plain English when something goes wrong, so you are not guessing.
There are limits. I cannot be responsible for losses in your business that sit beyond the website itself, like lost sales, missed leads, or knock-on costs from downtime. I also cannot guarantee fixes for systems I do not control, such as third party payment providers, booking platforms, email marketing tools, or an upstream outage. What I can do is investigate, share what I find, and work with you on the next sensible step.
Ending this agreement
Either of us can end website maintenance with notice. I will confirm the notice period and the handover steps in writing when you start, so you know exactly when billing stops and what you will receive at the end.
When the agreement ends, you agree to pay for work done up to the end date and for any agreed setup that has been completed. If you are ending because you are moving provider, I will not make it difficult. I will hand over your site data and the access information I hold, and I will remove my access once you confirm you are safely in control. If there is an active incident when notice is given, I will tell you what I can reasonably complete within the remaining paid period.
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