Welcome to the consultancy services of Andrew Palmer. By engaging my services, accessing my strategic advice, or utilizing my professional network and connections, you agree to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions. Please read them carefully before commencing our professional engagement.
1. Nature of Services
I provide high-level strategic consulting, operational blueprints, monetization advice, connection facilitation, and sounding board services for service-based web businesses, plugin developers, and SaaS offerings. All services, advice, insights, and recommendations are based entirely on my decades of commercial experience within the web ecosphere and are designed to assist you in making informed decisions for your business.
These terms also cover the other services I offer: website design and build work, business coaching, representation of your company at industry events, and non-executive board appointments. Where a section below applies to one of those services in particular, it takes precedence over the general terms for that engagement.
2. Fees, Rates and Estimates
My rates are published rather than quoted case by case, and are not negotiated. The rate that applies to your engagement is the rate confirmed in writing at the point that engagement is agreed.
Definition of a working day: A working day is five hours of my time. For the purpose of estimating and invoicing, one week means four working days and one month means sixteen working days. These are billable working days and do not necessarily correspond to consecutive calendar days.
Extended engagements: The first thirty working days of a continuous engagement are charged at the full daily rate. Each working day beyond the thirtieth is charged at ten per cent below the full daily rate. The reduction applies only to days beyond the thirtieth and is never applied retrospectively to days already worked or invoiced.
Estimates are not quotations: The calculator, package prices and worked examples published on my website are indicative estimates provided for guidance only. They do not constitute a quotation, an offer capable of acceptance, or a fixed price. A binding price arises only from a written engagement confirmation between us.
Currency and tax: All fees are stated in pounds sterling and are exclusive of VAT and any other applicable taxes or duties, which will be added where they apply.
Changes to rates: Published rates may change at any time. A change to published rates does not affect an engagement already confirmed in writing.
3. Payment Terms
Payment in advance: Unless otherwise agreed in writing, fees are payable in full in advance of work commencing. Coaching blocks are payable in full in advance without exception.
Longer engagements: Where an engagement is agreed in stages, each stage is invoiced and paid before that stage begins.
Expenses: Expenses are invoiced separately and are payable before any commitment is entered into on your behalf. See section 4.
Late payment: I reserve the right to suspend or decline to commence work while any invoice remains unpaid, and to charge interest and recovery costs on overdue commercial invoices in accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
4. Expenses and Third Party Costs
My daily rate covers my time only. The following are additional in every case and are charged to you at cost, or purchased by you directly.
Third party products and services: Hosting, domain names, plugin and theme licences, stock imagery, fonts, email and payment services, and any other third party product required to deliver the work.
UK travel: Charged at 45p per mile, or at the equivalent cost of rail or air travel where that is used instead.
International flights: Economy plus on flights of less than seven hours, premium economy on flights of more than seven and a half hours, and business class on flights of ten hours or more.
Transfers and accommodation: Airport transfers and accommodation of a minimum three star standard are additional. These are invoiced and must be paid before any flights or accommodation are booked.
If you book travel yourself: Please book accommodation as close to the venue as is reasonably possible, to keep the cost of taxis and ride hailing down. Where accommodation is booked further away, the resulting local travel costs are recharged to you.
5. Website Build Engagements
Published build packages are priced on a defined scope. A brochure site is one day of discovery and one day of build. An ecommerce site is ten working days for up to two hundred products with up to three variations for each product, plus two working days for the configuration and installation of delivery, payment, security and backup extensions.
What you supply: Package prices assume that copy, product data, images, branding and all necessary access credentials are supplied by you, in a usable form, before work begins.
Delay: Where material is late or incomplete, booked days may be rescheduled and are chargeable in accordance with section 9.
Change requests: Anything beyond the stated scope, including additional products, additional variations, additional pages, or additional extensions, is a change request. Change requests are charged at the prevailing daily rate and are agreed in writing before they are carried out.
Not included: Hosting, domains, licences and third party services are excluded from package prices and are dealt with under section 4. Ongoing maintenance, support and content updates are not included unless separately agreed.
6. Business Coaching
Minimum commitment: Coaching is sold in blocks of six sessions of one hour each, ordinarily delivered over six weeks at a time and day agreed between us.
Payment: Each block is payable in full in advance, with no exceptions. Sessions are not delivered until the block is paid.
Introductory session: A free thirty minute introductory session may be offered at my discretion where appropriate. It carries no fee and no obligation on either side.
Rescheduling: A session may be rescheduled once, provided at least forty eight hours notice is given. Where less notice is given, or where you do not attend, the session is treated as delivered and is not refunded or replaced.
Expiry: Unused sessions expire six months after the first session of the block, after which no refund or replacement is available.
7. Representation at Events
Rate: Representing your company at an industry event is charged at half my prevailing daily rate, applied equally to event days and travel days.
Travel days: Travel days means one day for arrival and one day for departure, in addition to the days of the event itself.
Expenses: All travel, transfers and accommodation are additional and are dealt with under section 4. Event tickets, exhibitor passes and stand costs are your responsibility.
Branded apparel: Any branded apparel and promotional material is supplied at your cost and must reach me before I travel to the destination. Where it does not arrive in time, I will attend in my own attire and the fee is unaffected.
8. Board Appointments
Non-executive director appointments are not covered by my published rates. Fees, term, time commitment, insurance and any other arrangements are agreed case by case under a separate written agreement, and that agreement takes precedence over these terms in respect of the appointment.
9. Availability and Booked Time
Working pattern: I do not ordinarily work on Mondays and I finish early on Fridays. I work remotely by default. I am happy to attend board and project meetings in person anywhere in the UK by arrangement, subject to section 4.
Booked days are reserved: Days booked for you are held exclusively for you and are turned away from other clients.
Cancellation of booked days: Booked days cancelled or postponed with less than ten working days notice are chargeable in full.
10. Intellectual Property
Transfer on payment: On receipt of payment in full, ownership of the deliverables created specifically for you under an engagement passes to you.
Before payment: Until payment has been received in full, you have no licence to use the deliverables in any form, including in a live or production environment.
What I retain: I retain ownership of all pre-existing material, tools, frameworks, templates and methods used in delivering the work, and I remain free to use the general skills, knowledge and techniques applied.
Third party components: Plugins, themes, fonts, imagery and other third party components remain the property of their owners and are used by you under their own licences.
11. Confidentiality
Each of us will keep confidential any non-public information disclosed by the other in the course of an engagement, and will not disclose it to a third party without consent, except where disclosure is required by law. I may name you as a client and describe the nature of the work in general terms, unless you ask me in writing not to.
12. No Guarantees or Assurances
While my advice is designed to help you scale, optimize profitability, and navigate complex environments like M&A, business growth is inherently subject to external market forces, execution risks, and variables beyond my control.
Good Faith: All advice, strategies, and introductions are provided in good faith and are intended for educational and consultative purposes.
No Revenue Claims: I make no guarantees, warranties, or representations regarding specific financial outcomes, revenue increases, platform growth, or the successful completion of mergers, acquisitions, or investments.
No commission: I do not work on commission and I take no share of the outcome. You are paying for my time and experience.
13. Absolute Limitation of Liability
By entering into this agreement, you acknowledge that you are the final authority on all business decisions for your company.
No Professional Liability: I am a strategic business consultant, not a certified financial advisor, legal counsel, or registered accountant. Any financial, investment, or structural advice should be vetted by your own legal and financial professionals.
Indemnification: Under no circumstances shall I be held legally or financially liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, data loss, business interruption, or soured partnerships, arising out of your implementation of my advice, operational frameworks, or introductions. You execute all strategies entirely at your own risk.
14. Cancellation, Rescheduling and Refunds
My consulting and connecting services are built on the immediate deployment of proprietary strategic insights, decades of specialized operational expertise, and valuable industry relationships.
All Sales Are Final: Once payment is made or an engagement begins, fees are 100% non-refundable under any circumstances.
No Exceptions: There are absolutely no refunds, partial refunds, or chargebacks permitted for completed hours, monthly retainers, project fees, or unused consultative blocks. If you choose to terminate an engagement early, or if a specific business deal or M&A transition does not close, no past payments will be returned.
Booked time: Cancellation and rescheduling of booked days is dealt with under section 9, and of coaching sessions under section 6.
Business customers: These terms are written for engagements entered into in the course of a business. If you engage me as a consumer rather than in the course of a business, nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights.
15. Independent Contractor Status
Our engagement is strictly that of an independent consultant. Nothing in our professional relationship shall be construed to create a partnership, joint venture, employer-employee relationship, or agent relationship. Unless explicitly agreed upon in a separate full-time asynchronous agreement, I retain absolute autonomy over my schedule, location, and consulting methods.
16. Changes to These Terms
I may amend these terms from time to time. The version published on this page at the point your engagement is confirmed in writing is the version that applies to that engagement.
17. Governing Law
These terms and conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom. Any disputes arising out of or in connection with these terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the United Kingdom.
By proceeding with payment, signing a project agreement, or scheduling a consultation, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and explicitly agreed to this strict No-Refund and Limitation of Liability policy.