Terms of Service

Last updated: May 2026

These terms form a binding agreement between you (“Client”) and The WP Consultant (“we,” “our,” “us”), an organization based in Ontario, Canada. By engaging our services or using our website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to these terms.

Definitions

  • Services: All consulting, development, optimization, and maintenance work we provide.
  • Project Work: A fixed-scope engagement with a defined deliverable and timeline (custom development, site migrations, redesigns, performance overhauls).
  • Monthly Retainer: An ongoing engagement billed monthly for continuous services such as SEO optimization, maintenance, and monitoring.
  • Site Audit: A one-time assessment of your WordPress site covering performance, security, SEO, or other agreed areas.
  • Business Days: Monday through Friday, excluding statutory holidays in Ontario, Canada.
  • Client: The individual or organization engaging our services.
  • Site: The WordPress website(s) specified in the engagement scope.

Scope of Services

Project Work

Project engagements include custom WordPress development, site migrations between hosts or platforms, full redesigns, and performance overhauls. Each project is defined by a written scope of work that outlines deliverables, timeline, and cost.

Monthly Retainers

Retainer engagements provide ongoing SEO optimization, WordPress maintenance, security monitoring, and performance upkeep. The specific deliverables for your retainer are defined in your service agreement.

Site Audits

A site audit is a one-time assessment that evaluates your WordPress site against defined criteria. You receive a detailed report with findings and recommendations.

What Is Not Included

Unless explicitly included in a separate scope of work, our services do not cover:

  • Content creation, copywriting, or content strategy
  • Hosting fees or domain registration costs
  • Third-party plugin or theme license purchases
  • Problems caused by modifications you or another party made to the site
  • Issues resulting from hosting provider failures or DDoS attacks
  • Ongoing support after project delivery (unless you are on a retainer plan)

Client Responsibilities

To allow us to deliver work on time, you agree to:

  • Provide access to WordPress admin, hosting control panel, and DNS management in a timely manner
  • Respond to requests for feedback or approval within 14 business days
  • Maintain your own independent backups of your website
  • Notify us of any changes made to the site by you or other parties during an active engagement

If required access or approvals are not provided within the timeframes above, project timelines will be extended by the equivalent number of days delayed.

Payment Terms

Project Work

Projects require a 50% deposit before work begins. The remaining 50% is due upon completion, before final deliverables are transferred.

Monthly Retainers

Retainer fees are billed monthly in advance and due on receipt. Each billing cycle begins on the date specified in your service agreement.

Site Audits

Audit fees are paid in full before the report is delivered.

Late Payments

If payment is more than 7 days overdue, we reserve the right to pause all active work until the balance is resolved. We will notify you before pausing.

All work is priced as fixed-fee projects or flat monthly retainers. We do not bill hourly.

Refunds

Retainers

Retainer fees are non-refundable for partial months. You may cancel your retainer with 30 days written notice, and service will continue through the end of the current paid period.

Projects

Deposits are non-refundable once work has begun. If we are unable to deliver the agreed scope for reasons within our control, you will receive full documentation of all work attempted and any partial deliverables completed.

Audits

Audit fees are non-refundable once the report has been delivered.

Cancellation and Termination

Client Cancellation

You may cancel a retainer engagement at any time by providing 30 days written notice. An email to [email protected] is sufficient.

Our Right to Terminate

We may terminate an engagement with 30 days notice for any reason. We may terminate immediately if: payment is overdue by 14 or more days, the site is used for illegal purposes, you engage in abusive behavior toward our team, or continued work poses a security risk to our systems.

Upon Termination

When an engagement ends for any reason, we will deliver all completed work, transfer any credentials we hold, and remove our access to your systems. We have no obligation to maintain, host, or support anything after the termination date.

Intellectual Property

Upon full payment, you own all custom code, designs, and content created specifically for your project. This transfer of ownership applies only to work built uniquely for your engagement.

We retain ownership of our reusable internal tools, starter frameworks, code libraries, and methodologies that existed before your project or were developed independently of it. You receive a perpetual, non-exclusive license to use these components as part of your delivered site.

Third-party plugins, themes, and services remain the property of their respective creators and are subject to their own license terms.

We retain the right to reference our work with you in our portfolio and marketing materials without disclosing confidential business details. If you prefer not to be referenced, let us know in writing and we will honor that request.

Confidentiality

We treat all client credentials, business information, and project details as confidential. This information will not be shared with any third party except as strictly necessary to deliver our services (for example, providing hosting credentials to a migration tool) or as required by law.

All client credentials are permanently deleted within 7 days of engagement completion or termination.

Limitation of Liability

Our total liability for any claim related to our services is capped at the total fees you paid to us during the 3 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

We are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages. This includes lost revenue, lost search rankings, data loss, or business interruption.

We do not guarantee specific outcomes such as search rankings, page speed scores, or uptime percentages. Results depend on many factors outside our control.

We are not liable for failures caused by third parties including hosting providers, plugin developers, DNS services, or search engine algorithm changes.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold The WP Consultant harmless from any claims, losses, or damages arising from: content you publish on your website, your breach of these terms, or your violation of any applicable law or regulation.

Warranties

All work is performed with professional care and skill consistent with industry standards. Custom code delivered as part of a project includes a 30-day warranty against defects from the date of delivery.

This warranty does not cover issues caused by: third-party plugin or theme updates, changes to your hosting environment, modifications made by you or another party after we deliver, or external factors like server outages.

Force Majeure

Neither party is liable for delays or failures in performance caused by circumstances beyond reasonable control. This includes natural disasters, internet outages, government actions, pandemics, and infrastructure failures at third-party providers.

Dispute Resolution

If a dispute arises, both parties agree to attempt informal resolution through good-faith discussion for at least 30 days before pursuing formal proceedings.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein. Any unresolved disputes will be settled through binding arbitration conducted in Ontario, Canada.

Any claim related to services provided under these terms must be brought within 1 year of the event giving rise to the claim.

Modifications to These Terms

We may update these terms as our services evolve. We will provide 30 days notice before material changes take effect. Continued use of our services after the notice period constitutes acceptance of the revised terms. Changes do not apply retroactively to existing active engagements.

General Provisions

If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions continue in full force. These terms, together with any signed scope of work or service agreement, represent the entire agreement between you and The WP Consultant regarding the services described.

Contact Us

Questions about these terms? Reach out at [email protected].