Terms & Conditions

Last updated: 30 October 2026. These terms apply to orders accepted on or after that date. Orders accepted earlier remain subject to the terms in force when they were accepted.

1. About these terms

These terms apply to the services Real Code Ltd ("we", "us") provides to you ("you", "the client"): the 5-Day Admin Elimination Sprint, managed retainers, integration and automation projects, technical consultancy, and - in section 16 - website design, hosting and maintenance.

They apply together with the written quote, order form or confirmation we give you for each engagement (an "Order"). If an Order conflicts with these terms, the Order prevails for that engagement. We work with businesses; these terms are not intended for consumers.

2. The 5-Day Admin Elimination Sprint

Booking and payment. The Sprint is a fixed fee, set out in your Order and payable in full at booking before the Sprint week is held. Fees exclude VAT.
Monday diagnostic. We start with a 60-minute diagnostic. We inspect the APIs, webhooks and exports of the systems involved and agree a written fixed scope and acceptance criteria (the "Scope Sheet") with you.
Refund if we cannot scope it. If we cannot agree a fixed scope after the Monday diagnostic, we refund the Sprint fee in full within 14 days and neither of us has further obligations to the other, other than confidentiality.
What a Sprint covers. One workflow across systems that expose an API, a webhook or a reliable export. Anything outside the Scope Sheet is a change request, which we quote in writing before any work starts.
Delivery. After the diagnostic we build and test in staging, harden against edge cases and go live, as described on the Sprint page. The five business days run from the point we have the access, credentials, test data and decisions we need from you; if those are delayed, delivery dates move accordingly.
Acceptance and defects. The Sprint is complete when the workflow meets the acceptance criteria in the Scope Sheet. We will correct, at no charge, any failure to meet those criteria that you report within the 30-day period below.
30 days of managed hosting and monitoring. Every Sprint includes 30 days of managed hosting and monitoring after go-live. Before that period ends we will contact you to agree next steps. If you do not take a retainer or move the workflow to your own team, we will give you at least 7 days' written notice before switching it off, and hand over the code and data on request.
Rescheduling. If you need to move a booked Sprint week, tell us as early as possible and we will reschedule where we can.

3. Managed retainers

Plans. We offer Core Pipeline Care, Growth Automation Partner and Fractional Lead Architect plans, with the scope and fees stated on our Sprint and retainers page and in your Order. Fees exclude VAT and are payable monthly in advance by Direct Debit.
Term and notice. Retainers run month to month. Either of us may end a retainer by giving 30 days' written notice, which can be given at any time after the first 30 managed days. Fees are payable up to the end of the notice period.
Included hours. Each plan includes the monthly hours stated for it. Unused hours do not carry over. Work beyond the included hours, or outside the scope of your plan, is agreed and quoted in writing before it starts.
What retainers cover. Hosting and monitoring of the pipelines we run for you, automated alerting, failed-run recovery, API and token management, prompt fixes when a connected system changes its API, and workflow adjustments within your included hours. They do not cover new products, system rebuilds, faults caused by changes to your systems that we were not told about, or outages of third-party services.
Support and response times. Support is provided by email, or the channel named in your Order, during UK working hours (Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays). We aim to respond to non-urgent requests within 48 hours on Core Pipeline Care, and the same working day on Growth Automation Partner and Fractional Lead Architect. A response means acknowledgement and a plan; it is not a promise of resolution time.
Changing plan. You may upgrade at any time. A downgrade takes effect at the next billing date after 30 days' written notice.
Fee changes. We will give at least 60 days' written notice of any fee increase, and you may end the retainer before it takes effect.
Non-payment. If an invoice is more than 14 days overdue we may, after written notice, suspend the services until it is paid.

4. Hosting, environments and your data

Your own hosting. If you already have hosting we can access - for example your own cloud account or server - we deploy there and it stays in your name. You are responsible for its costs and for giving us, and keeping in place, the access we need.
Hosting we supply. If you do not have your own hosting, we supply managed hosting for the systems we build for you, as part of the Sprint's 30-day period and your retainer plan.
Moving. You may move to your own hosting at any time. On request we will hand over the code and data in a standard, usable format within 10 working days. Migration assistance beyond that is covered by your included hours or quoted in writing.
Third-party charges. Charges made by services you hold accounts with - such as your CRM, accounting software or AI model providers - remain your responsibility. Where we supply hosting, ordinary hosting and monitoring costs are included in the plan fee, and we will discuss any unusually high usage-based costs with you before they are incurred.
Backups. Backups for systems we host are as set out in your Order.
Your data. Your data remains yours. We use it only to provide the services (see section 10).

5. Intellectual property

Code, scripts, workflows and documentation we create specifically for you under an Order belong to you once you have paid the fees due for that Order.
Our pre-existing tools, libraries, templates and know-how remain ours. We grant you a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use them as part of what we deliver.
Third-party and open-source components remain under their own licences.
With your prior written consent we may name you as a client and describe the work in our portfolio. We will not publish confidential information or architecture details you ask us to withhold.

6. Third-party systems and AI

Integrations depend on systems and APIs we do not control. We are not responsible for third-party outages, API or pricing changes, rate limits or changes to their terms. During a retainer we will make reasonable efforts to adapt promptly where a change falls within your plan.

Where a workflow uses AI, outputs can be wrong. We design human review into any step where an error would matter, and you remain responsible for decisions you make based on outputs outside those controls.

7. Your responsibilities

Give us timely access, credentials (ideally least-privilege), test data and decisions, and name a contact who can make them.
Keep credentials you give us secure, and tell us promptly about changes to connected systems.
Make sure you are entitled to give us access to the systems and data we need, and that you have a lawful basis for the processing you ask us to carry out.

8. Fees, VAT and payment

All fees exclude VAT, which we add at the prevailing rate.
The Sprint is payable in full at booking. Retainers are payable monthly in advance by Direct Debit. Projects are payable as set out in the Order; unless the Order says otherwise, 50% is due when we start and the balance when we deliver.
Fixed quotes are valid for 30 days unless the quote says otherwise.
Expenses are only charged if agreed in advance.
If you pay late, we may charge statutory interest and compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
Fees are refundable only as set out in these terms.

9. Projects and consultancy

Bespoke development, integrations, SQL Server and .NET rescue work, and consultancy (including GDPR and information-security advice) are carried out under an Order that states the scope, fee and timetable. Work outside the Order is a change request, quoted in writing before it starts. Data-protection officer or similar ongoing compliance services are scoped separately in writing.

10. Data protection

Each of us will comply with applicable data protection law. Where we process personal data on your behalf in the Sprint or a retainer, you are the controller and we are the processor. We will put our Data Processing Agreement (UK GDPR Article 28 terms) in place before we process that personal data; it is available on request and forms part of the Order.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ZB939242). See our privacy policy and information security pages for how we handle data and secure our work.

11. Confidentiality

Each of us will keep the other's confidential information confidential, use it only for the services, and disclose it only to people who need it for that purpose or where the law requires. This does not apply to information that is public through no fault of the recipient, was already known to it, or is independently developed. These obligations continue after the engagement ends.

12. Warranties and liability

We will provide the services with reasonable skill and care.
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.
Subject to that, we are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, goodwill or anticipated savings, or for indirect or consequential loss.
Subject to that, our total liability to you arising from or in connection with an Order, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, is limited to the fees paid or payable to us under that Order in the 12 months before the claim arose.
We are not liable for loss caused by third-party system changes or outages, by inaccurate data or instructions you supply, or by your failure to follow our reasonable advice.

13. Term and termination

An Order starts when we accept it (by receiving payment or your signature) and continues until the work is delivered or it ends under these terms. Either of us may end an Order immediately by written notice if the other commits a material breach that is not fixed within 14 days of being notified, or becomes insolvent. When an Order ends you pay for work done to that date, and we return or delete your data as set out in section 10 and hand over the code and data you own under section 5. Clauses that by their nature should continue (including confidentiality, intellectual property and liability) do so.

14. Events outside our control

Neither of us is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control, provided we tell the other promptly and do what we reasonably can to limit the effect. This does not excuse payment of fees that are due.

15. General

These terms and the Order are the whole agreement between us for the engagement, and replace earlier discussions about it.
Changes must be in writing and agreed by both of us.
Neither of us may transfer our rights or obligations without the other's written consent, which will not be unreasonably withheld.
Associates and subcontractors. We may use associate engineers and other subcontractors to deliver the services. We make sure they are bound by written confidentiality and data-protection obligations no less protective than ours, and we remain responsible to you for their work.
Nothing creates a partnership or agency between us.
If part of these terms is unenforceable, the rest continues.
Only the parties may enforce these terms; the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 does not apply.
Notices may be sent by email to the addresses in the Order.
These terms and any dispute arising from them are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

16. Website design, hosting and maintenance

This section applies to website design, hosting and maintenance services, in addition to sections 1 and 8 to 15. If it conflicts with an earlier section for a website engagement, this section prevails.

General

We will design the website layout based on any branding or promotional materials, logos and style sheets you already have, for your approval.
We can write copy for the website for your approval if required. This copy will be optimised for search engines. If you provide the copy, we will sub-edit it, subject to your approval, in order to optimise it for search engines.
If you are providing images, they must be of sufficient size, resolution and format for the web - we will resize and crop as necessary for your approval.
We will handle the process of registering an available new domain and hosting the website. We will renew the domain on your behalf as necessary in accordance with the domain renewal fee set out.
The domain name will belong to you. If at any point after the end of the minimum term you decide to terminate the contract with us, you will still own the domain name and can help someone else set up and run a website for you using the same address. (There may be a nominal transfer fee.)
We will optimise the site for search engines such as Google so that potential customers can find your website when they search for relevant keyword terms. It is impossible to guarantee where you will appear in search results.
In accordance with industry best practice we build websites to work with the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge.
The minimum term is as stated in each client's contract. At any time after the minimum term, either party may give 3 months' notice in writing to terminate the contract. WebCare maintenance plans have no minimum term: either of us may end a WebCare plan by giving 30 days’ written notice.
Support after launch. Each fixed-price website package includes three months of support after launch: help with questions and advice, and fixes to the work we delivered, by email within the response times below. Ongoing maintenance after that is available on a WebCare plan.

Website payment terms

Fixed-price website projects: a 50% deposit, payable on contract signature; the balance is due when you sign off the finished site, before it is published.
Monthly fees are payable in advance by Direct Debit, standing order or card subscription.

Nature of requests

Requests under a WebCare plan (maintenance of WordPress websites) should fall within the following categories.

UI troubleshooting (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
Styling elements with CSS
Content population and image manipulation
Creation of basic graphics (for example buttons and banners)
WordPress consulting
Optimisation of CSS, JavaScript and images
Theme and plugin audits
Plugin installation and implementation

If you are unsure whether a request meets these criteria, submit it as a ticket to our support system and we will accept or decline it.

Examples of requests that are not covered by monthly development time:

Website redesign
Landing page design
Custom plugin development
Custom theme development
Search marketing and SEO services

Support requests and monthly support time

Support must be requested through the proper channels to be received and responded to in a reasonable amount of time. To request support please email our helpdesk. We aim to respond to non-emergency requests within 48 hours. Emergency or rush requests may be subject to a rush surcharge of £50/hour + VAT.

About Real Code Ltd

Real Code is the trading name of Real Code Ltd, registered in England and Wales.

Registered office: Real Code Ltd, 3rd Floor, 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE

Company registration number: 08919593

VAT registration number: 211343364

ICO registration number: ZB939242