I’ll do the ongoing maintenance, monitoring, backups, and small fixes described below, along with any one-time setup listed in your accepted proposal (if there is one). This document sets the day-to-day rules for how I work with you, how billing runs, and what you can expect when something breaks.
What this covers
This plan covers routine upkeep and quick fixes on your existing WordPress site, done on a repeating monthly cycle. Each month I keep the site updated, monitored, backed up, and checked for security and performance issues. When something needs a larger change, a new feature, new pages, or a new integration, I’ll quote it separately and agree the price with you before I start.
* Core, theme, plugin updates * Uptime monitoring and outage triage * Daily off-site backups * Security patching and hardening * Performance checks and page-speed fixes * Small content and link fixes
Response and coverage
Monitoring runs all the time, including weekends. When an alert comes in, I treat it as one of three levels: Critical (site down, checkout or booking broken), High (major function partly broken, security concern), or Routine (updates, minor display issues, small edits). I’ll tell you which level it is when I reply.
For Critical and High issues, I aim to acknowledge quickly and start triage as soon as I’m at my desk, including weekends when alerts fire. For Routine requests, I reply during normal working hours and schedule the work into the next maintenance window. If I miss a response level I’ve set with you in writing, I’ll explain why and agree a catch-up plan. Provider-wide outages and third-party limits can reduce what I’m able to fix directly, but I will still keep you posted.
Payment
The WordPress website support plan is a retainer. I invoice the plan fee at the start of each month, and each invoice is payable within 7 days of its date.
If your proposal includes a one-time setup or baseline work, that is split 50% to start and 50% when it is complete. “Complete” means the baseline tasks listed in the proposal have been done, access is confirmed, and I’ve run the first checks needed to begin steady monthly support.
If you ask for work that is outside the plan, I’ll price it first and confirm the cost with you in writing. If you approve it, I’ll invoice it either upfront or alongside the next monthly invoice, depending on the size of the work.
Price changes
I review plan pricing from time to time, usually once per year, because plugin ecosystems, security workload, and hosting conditions change. If I need to change your monthly price, I’ll tell you in writing before the new price starts and I’ll give you a clear choice: accept the new price for the next billing period, or end the plan before the change takes effect.
I won’t change the price mid-month for the same scope. If your site changes a lot over time, for example a new theme, a new builder, new ecommerce features, or a larger plugin stack, I may suggest moving you to a different level of support. When that happens, I’ll explain what changed and what I’m basing the new price on.
Access I need
To support your site properly, I need working admin access to WordPress, plus access to your hosting account and DNS where relevant. If you use extra services that affect the site, like a CDN, email sending service, or payment gateway, I may also need access there for troubleshooting.
Send credentials through your password manager, or a one-time secure link that expires. I will not ask you to paste passwords into a form, a chat box, or an ordinary email. If you want, you can create a separate admin account for me and remove it when the plan ends. I’ll store access details securely and only use them for the support work you’ve asked me to do.
What I need from you
This plan works best when I have one named contact on your side who can approve fixes and answer questions. When something is time-sensitive, I’ll ask direct questions and offer options. Please reply in a reasonable time so I can keep the site stable, especially during an outage or a security issue.
Tell me before you or anyone else makes changes that affect the site, like installing new plugins, changing the theme, switching hosting, editing DNS, adding tracking scripts, or giving another vendor admin access. Unannounced changes are a common reason things break and can slow down recovery.
If you supply content for a small edit, please send it in a copy-and-paste ready form, along with the page link and what you want to change. That keeps edits quick and reduces back-and-forth.
Insurance
I carry business insurance that fits the kind of WordPress support work I do, including the risk of accidental mistakes while working on a live site. If you want a summary of the types of cover I carry, ask and I’ll confirm what I have in place.
You should keep your own cover for your business operations and your website’s commercial activity. For example, if you take bookings, take payments, or collect customer data, your own insurance should match those risks. This plan reduces the chance of incidents by keeping the site maintained and backed up, but it can’t remove business risk that sits outside the website itself.
If something goes wrong
If I spot a problem caused by my work, I’ll tell you as soon as I know, in writing, with what happened, what I changed, and what I’m doing next. My first step is to stabilise the site. That usually means rolling back a change, restoring from a backup, or holding back a plugin or theme update that failed checks.
If a restore is needed, I’ll use the most recent working backup and I’ll confirm with you what content might be lost between the backup time and the incident. If the cause is a third-party provider, a plugin vendor, or a hosting outage, I’ll still document what I found and I’ll work with their support where needed. Any fees they charge are yours to pay directly.
Hiring and poaching
The monthly price covers not just time, but the way I run the service: monitoring setup, maintenance routines, restore testing, and the repeatable process behind it.
This also applies for a period after the plan ends. I’ll confirm that time period with you in writing if it ever becomes relevant. If you genuinely want to change the relationship, talk to me first. If it makes sense, I’m open to agreeing a clean handover or a new arrangement, as long as it’s agreed in writing before anything changes.
How the retainer renews
The WordPress website support plan runs month to month as a retainer. It renews automatically each month and I invoice at the start of the month for that month’s coverage. Your support stays active as long as invoices are paid on time and the plan hasn’t been ended.
Either of us can end the plan with notice. I’ll agree the notice period with you in writing, and I’ll confirm the last covered month so there’s no confusion. If you give notice partway through a month, the plan still runs through the paid period unless we agree something different in writing.
If an invoice becomes overdue, I may pause non-urgent work until the account is brought up to date. I’ll tell you before I pause anything so you can avoid surprise downtime in coverage.
Your site and access
Your website, content, and accounts are yours. When the plan ends, I’ll hand back what I created for you in a usable form. That usually means: a short support summary, any restore notes I wrote, and a list of the tools and services involved (hosting, monitoring, backup location) so the next person can take over without guessing.
If you want, I can also provide a final backup snapshot from the off-site backup system, as long as I still have access and the backup tool allows export.
Once handover is done, I’ll remove my admin access from WordPress and any related services that you control, or I’ll ask you to remove it and confirm when it’s done. I don’t keep access “just in case” after the plan ends.
What I’m responsible for
I’m responsible for doing the plan work with care: testing updates on a staging copy before pushing live, keeping backups running, and taking reasonable steps to keep the site secure and stable. I’ll also be honest when something is outside the plan or outside my control, and I’ll give you options.
There are limits. I can’t promise your site will never go down, because hosting providers, internet routing, plugin vendors, and attacks can still cause incidents. I also can’t take responsibility for lost revenue, missed bookings, or knock-on business losses if the site has an outage. What I can do is focus on fast detection, safe changes, and a documented recovery path so you can get back online with minimal disruption.
Ending this agreement
Either of us can end this agreement with notice. I’ll agree the notice period with you in writing, and I’ll confirm the final month that will be covered and billed.
You’ll pay for any plan fees invoiced up to the end date, plus any extra work you approved that I’ve already completed. If there is approved work in progress when notice is given, I’ll tell you what’s left, what I can finish before the end date, and what should be handed to someone else.
On or shortly after the end date, I’ll do the handover described above, then I’ll remove my access. If you need help after the plan ends, I can quote for ad-hoc support, but it won’t be treated as part of the retainer unless we agree a new plan in writing.
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