General Terms and Conditions

(1) These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter "GTC") apply to all business relationships between the Contractor and the client (hereinafter the "Client"). The Client must be an entrepreneur within the meaning of § 14 BGB. These GTC do not apply to consumers within the meaning of § 13 BGB. By way of exception, § 14 of these GTC (free content and downloads) applies to all users, including consumers; mandatory statutory consumer rights remain unaffected.

(2) Deviating, conflicting, or supplementary terms and conditions of the Client shall only become part of the contract if the Contractor expressly agrees to their validity in writing. This consent requirement applies in all cases, even if the Contractor performs services without reservation while being aware of the Client's terms.

(3) The Contractor's services include web development, software development, hosting, consulting, and related digital services.

(1) Presentations and price information on the Contractor's website do not constitute an offer within the meaning of § 145 BGB; § 4 paragraph 1 applies in addition.

(2) A contract is only concluded upon the Contractor's written order confirmation. Text form via email satisfies the written form requirement.

(3) Offers by the Contractor are valid for 30 days unless otherwise stated. Oral side agreements require written confirmation to be effective.

(1) The type and scope of services to be provided are determined exclusively by the respective individual contract (proposal and order confirmation).

(2) Changes requested by the Client after contract conclusion require a written change request. The Contractor will specify the additional effort and any extra costs in advance. Without written approval of the change request, there is no obligation to perform the requested change.

(3) The Contractor is entitled to provide partial services and invoice them separately, provided this is reasonable for the Client. Services outside the agreed scope are invoiced only where they were approved in advance pursuant to § 3 paragraph 2.

(4) Hosting is not part of the contract covering the build; it is agreed separately pursuant to § 4a paragraph 5. Technical recommendations by the Contractor do not constitute legal advice.

(1) All prices are net prices plus the statutory value-added tax of currently 19%. Price information on the Contractor's website does not constitute an offer within the meaning of § 145 BGB; however, the prices stated there apply to the scope of services described there, provided the Contractor accepts a project and nothing different is agreed. Prices for services outside that scope are quoted individually.

(2) Where the total price is paid in a single sum, the following payment model applies unless otherwise agreed: 50% on placing the order (deposit), 50% on acceptance. For larger projects, milestone-based payments may be agreed upon. For contracts under § 4a, paragraph 2 of that section applies.

(3) Invoices are due within 14 days of the invoice date without deduction.

(4) In the event of late payment, the Contractor is entitled to charge default interest at a rate of 9 percentage points above the respective base interest rate (§ 288(2) BGB). The right to claim further damages for delay remains unaffected.

(5) If the Client is in payment default for more than 14 days, the Contractor is entitled, upon written notice, to suspend all services until the outstanding balance is settled in full. The suspension does not constitute a breach of contract and extends agreed deadlines accordingly.

(1) Building the website is a contract for work and services covering a fixed total price. The Client may pay this total price either in a single sum or in twelve equal monthly instalments. The choice of payment method changes neither the total price nor the scope of services; no surcharge is levied for payment in instalments.

(2) Where payment is made in instalments, the first instalment is due on conclusion of the contract and each further instalment on the first day of the month. The obligation to pay exists irrespective of the fact that the website is usually completed and accepted before the twelve months have elapsed; the instalments are part payments towards the total price and are not remuneration for an ongoing service.

(3) If the Client is in default, in whole or in part, on two consecutive instalments, the Contractor is entitled, after a prior reminder with a reasonable deadline, to declare the entire outstanding balance immediately due.

(4) The granting of usage rights and the handover of the source code are governed by § 9.

(5) Operating the website after acceptance, in particular hosting, domain and technical maintenance, is not the subject of this contract. It is agreed in a separate care contract that begins when the website goes live and runs for an indefinite period; remuneration for care accrues from go-live. Where the Client pays the total price in instalments, concluding the care contract is a condition of that payment method; in that case the care contract may first be terminated with effect from the end of the month in which the last instalment falls due or the total price is paid in full early, and otherwise pursuant to § 13 paragraph 1. Where the Client pays the total price in a single sum, concluding the care contract is optional; the Client may terminate it at any time pursuant to § 13 paragraph 1.

(6) Changes and extensions to the website after acceptance are the subject neither of this contract nor of the care contract under paragraph 5. The Contractor carries them out on a separate order placed by the Client in text form and bills them by actual time spent, at the hourly rate communicated when the order is placed. If the expected effort exceeds two hours, the Contractor submits a quote before starting work; work begins only once that quote has been accepted in text form. Ongoing support beyond hosting, domain and technical maintenance requires a separate agreement.

(1) On completion, the Contractor notifies the Client in text form that the website is ready for acceptance and sets a deadline of 14 calendar days for acceptance. In that notification the Contractor points out the consequences set out in paragraph 3.

(2) Acceptance is declared in text form. Making the website publicly available under the Client's domain also constitutes acceptance where the Client arranges for it or consents to it.

(3) If the Client does not refuse acceptance within the deadline under paragraph 1 while specifying at least one defect, the website is deemed accepted (§ 640 paragraph 2 BGB).

(4) Acceptance may not be refused on account of insignificant defects (§ 640 paragraph 1 sentence 2 BGB). The claim to have them remedied remains unaffected.

(5) Acceptance ends the obligation to produce the agreed result. Outstanding instalments under § 4a paragraph 2 remain owed in accordance with the agreed payment schedule.

(1) The Client shall provide all information, materials (texts, images, access credentials, logos), and approvals required for service provision in a timely manner and free of charge.

(2) The Client shall designate an authorized contact person responsible for all project communication and approvals within the agreed deadlines.

(3) Partial deliverables submitted for acceptance shall be reviewed by the Client and approved or objected to in text form within 14 calendar days. Acceptance of the finished website is governed by § 4b.

(4) Delays caused by the Client's failure to fulfill cooperation obligations shall shift agreed timelines and deadlines accordingly. The Contractor shall not be liable for resulting delays.

(1) Time estimates and deadline estimates by the Contractor are non-binding and do not constitute fixed dates within the meaning of § 323(2)(2) BGB, unless a binding date is expressly agreed upon in writing.

(2) Timeframes indicated on the Contractor's website for individual service packages are typical estimates based on experience and serve as orientation only.

(3) Force majeure (see § 12), delays caused by the Client, and unforeseen technical difficulties shall extend agreed deadlines accordingly.

(1) The warranty period is 12 months from acceptance of the service (shortened warranty period pursuant to § 634a BGB in business-to-business transactions).

(2) The warranty does not cover defects caused by: (a) subsequent modifications or interventions by the Client or third parties engaged by the Client, (b) browser or operating system updates released after acceptance, (c) unauthorized modifications to the source code, (d) incompatibilities with third-party software not part of the contract.

(3) The Contractor has the right to choose between rectification and new production. If rectification fails after two attempts, the Client is entitled to a price reduction or withdrawal.

(4) No warranty is provided for achieving specific search engine rankings, conversion rates, loading times, or comparable metrics, unless specific values were expressly warranted in writing.

(5) During an ongoing care contract under § 4a paragraph 5, the Contractor remedies technical faults of the website as part of the technical maintenance owed, irrespective of the warranty period under paragraph 1 and of the exclusion in paragraph 2 letter b. Paragraph 2 letters a, c and d remain unaffected.

(1) The Contractor shall have unlimited liability only for damages caused by intentional or grossly negligent conduct.

(2) In cases of slight negligence, the Contractor shall only be liable for the breach of essential contractual obligations (cardinal obligations). In such cases, liability is limited to the foreseeable, contract-typical damage.

(3) Liability is limited in amount to the net contract value, but not less than EUR 1,000.00. For continuing obligations, the net remuneration paid in the twelve months preceding the damaging event takes the place of the contract value. For services provided free of charge, the liability cap is EUR 1,000.00.

(4) The Contractor is not liable for: indirect damages, lost profits, data loss (to the extent it exceeds the typical recovery effort with proper data backup), lost business opportunities, or reputational damage.

(5) The Contractor is not liable for outages or disruptions attributable to circumstances outside its sphere of responsibility, in particular the Client's internet service provider, DDoS attacks, third-party services, outages at the infrastructure providers engaged by the Contractor, or power failures. The Contractor's obligation to remedy a disruption without undue delay once it becomes aware of it, or to switch to alternative infrastructure, remains unaffected.

(6) The above limitations of liability do not apply to damages resulting from injury to life, body, or health, or to claims under the Product Liability Act. The Client shall indemnify the Contractor against third-party claims arising from content provided by the Client.

(1) The copyright in the contractual deliverables remains with the Contractor (§ 29 UrhG). The Client receives, in the website developed individually for the Client, that is, in source code, design and content, an exclusive, temporally and geographically unlimited, transferable usage right for all types of use, including the right to edit and further develop the website and to have it edited by third parties; § 40a UrhG remains unaffected. The usage right under sentence 2 arises upon full payment of the total price. Until then, the Client receives upon go-live a simple usage right limited to operating its own website.

(2) Excluded from paragraph 1 are tools, libraries, components, structures and concepts that the Contractor has developed independently of the specific project or uses across projects. In these, the Client receives a simple, temporally and geographically unlimited usage right insofar as they form part of the website. The Contractor remains entitled to use these components as well as general knowledge and methods in other projects.

(3) The Contractor hands over the website's source code to the Client upon full payment of the total price, at the latest upon termination of the contract.

(4) Open-source libraries used in the project are subject to their respective open-source licence terms. The Contractor documents the licences used.

(5) If the Client is in default on instalments under § 4a paragraph 2, the simple usage right under paragraph 1 sentence 4 is suspended until the arrears are settled. Upon full payment it revives without further declaration.

(1) The Client grants the Contractor a perpetual right to use the completed project for reference and advertising purposes. This includes, in particular, presentation in the portfolio, website, social media, case studies, presentations, and mention of the Client's name and logo.

(2) This right continues beyond the end of the contract. Revocation is only possible for justified reasons with four weeks' notice in text form.

(3) Revocation has no effect on already published print materials or archived digital content whose removal would be disproportionate.

(1) Both parties undertake to treat all confidential information received during the collaboration as confidential and not to disclose it to third parties without prior written consent.

(2) In particular, individually agreed financial terms (fees, daily rates, individual prices) are to be treated as confidential. This does not apply to prices the Contractor itself publishes on its website. Reference usage pursuant to § 10 remains unaffected.

(3) The confidentiality obligation continues beyond the end of the contract. Statutory disclosure obligations are excluded.

(1) Neither party shall be liable for non-performance or delayed performance of contractual obligations due to force majeure. Force majeure includes, in particular: natural disasters, pandemics, war, terrorism, government orders, failures of telecommunications networks or power supply, cyberattacks, and industrial disputes.

(2) The affected party shall immediately inform the other party of the occurrence and expected duration of the force majeure event. Contractual obligations are suspended for the duration of the force majeure; agreed deadlines are extended accordingly.

(3) If the force majeure event lasts longer than three months, either party is entitled to terminate the contract with four weeks' written notice.

(1) Ongoing contracts may be terminated by either party with four weeks' notice to the end of the month. This applies in particular to the care contract under § 4a paragraph 5, although where payment is made in instalments only in accordance with § 4a paragraph 5 sentence 3. Outstanding instalments under § 4a paragraph 2 are unaffected by any termination. The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected; extraordinary termination requires a prior written warning, provided the cause permits remedy.

(2) In the event of termination, the source code of the project completed up to that point shall be delivered to the Client. Hosting services shall be maintained for a transition period of 30 days (remuneration pro rata). The handling of personal data shall be governed by the provisions of the GDPR.

(3) The Contractor's hosting accounts and the associated infrastructure remain with the Contractor; these accounts are not transferred. This does not apply to accounts, domains and services that are set up in the Client's name under the individual contract - those remain with the Client. The Client's domain is in every case registered in the Client's name or, at the Client's request, transferred by means of an auth code.

(1) The Contractor provides free content on its website, including checklists, templates, guides, and similar materials (hereinafter "Lead Magnets"). Access is granted via a double-opt-in procedure in which the user enters an email address, receives a confirmation link, and is granted access to the material only after clicking that link.

(2) The Lead Magnets and all content contained therein (texts, graphics, layouts, structures) are protected by copyright and remain the property of the Contractor. Upon confirmation, the user receives a simple, non-transferable, non-exclusive right of use for their own internal or personal purposes.

(3) Distribution, publication, reproduction for dissemination purposes, resale, and uploading to publicly accessible platforms (social media, download portals, AI training data sets, or similar) are prohibited without prior written consent from the Contractor. Mention in reviews or editorial pieces with proper attribution remains unaffected.

(4) The content contained in the Lead Magnets is for general information and orientation purposes only. It does not replace individual professional, legal, tax, or technical advice. The Contractor makes no warranty as to the completeness, accuracy, currency, or suitability of the content for any particular purpose. The user applies the content at their own risk.

(5) The Contractor's liability for damages arising from the use or non-use of the information contained in the Lead Magnets is excluded, except in cases of intent or gross negligence or where mandatory statutory liability applies. The liability provisions in § 8 apply accordingly.

(6) The Contractor reserves the right to modify, update, or withdraw Lead Magnets at any time without prior notice. There is no claim to continued availability or to a specific version.

(7) The user's email address is processed exclusively for sending the requested material and the confirmation email. No newsletter or other promotional use takes place. Consent may be revoked at any time via the unsubscribe link in the confirmation email or by informal notice to the email address in the imprint. Further information on data processing can be found in the privacy policy.

(1) Should any provision of these GTC be or become invalid or unenforceable, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected. In place of the invalid provision, the valid provision that comes closest to the economic purpose of the invalid provision shall apply.

(2) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

(3) The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with this contract is Borken (Westfalen), provided the Client is a merchant, a legal entity under public law, or a public-law special fund (§ 38 ZPO).

(4) Amendments and additions to these GTC and contractual agreements require written form; text form via email is sufficient. No oral side agreements exist.