Mutual Expectations

When each of us brings to the table our own unique gifts in mutuality, we can then accomplish excellent work together, to the mutual benefit of both parties. Here's what you should expect from us as a service provider, and what we expect from you as a client.

Integrity and Skill

You can expect from us integrity and proven skill within our specialized area of expertise (just as everyone demonstrates within theirs). If in doubt whether a certain web-related topic is within our area of expertise, we expect you to ask. You can expect us to honestly tell you this in advance when you ask. We expect you to check our references before we begin work together and give us the benefit of the doubt until we have an opportunity to show you our integrity and skill.

If you have had a bad experience with a contractor in the past, this frankly has nothing to do with us. We are the opposite of that, and deserve to be rewarded for our own integrity and skill, not punished for someone else's lack of it. Beware of this common danger: If you're projecting a past experience, you will find whatever you expect to find, so it's important that we get a fresh start together in any new business relationship.

Disclosure and Responsibility

You can expect us never to charge you for anything you didn't ask for, and provide an itemized invoice, and not recommend expensive recurring subscription-based services where a less expensive one-time service would suffice. We never “pad” our bill unnecessarily, and often help our clients eliminate unnecessary expenses. We expect you to take responsibility to pay for what you asked for. This includes products and services explicitly ordered, and any implied by your orders. We expect you to ask in advance if there is any question about billing. You can expect us to disclose charges in advance when you ask for it. Keep in mind, however, that estimates and bids in advance are more expensive than direct hourly billing, so this saves you risk but may increase your expense in the long run.

It would be awkward for us to discuss charges every time you ask for something, so we don't. That doesn't mean we would hide anything from you. You always deserve the opportunity to make fully informed decisions. But it does mean you have to bring it up if it's a concern to you. Our not discussing charges frequently doesn't mean there's no charge. We don't work for free (unless there's an advance verbal agreement regarding volunteer work).

You can expect us to provide sufficient disclosure to empower you to make fully informed decisions without burying you in an avalanche of unnecessary details. We expect you to tell us when you're experiencing information overload, so that we can courteously accomodate your learning style by adjusting our pace or method of information delivery. We expect you to equip yourself to make fully-informed decisions about your business and the technology it depends upon (by asking for support where needed), and then take responsibility for the outcome of those decisions.

We appreciate your trust, and do everything possible to earn and keep it. But please don't trust us to make your decisions for you. We can only help you make informed decisions by helping you weigh the pros and cons of each alternative, and make recommendations. Even if we do everything a web professional should, there are still risks associated with running any business. You must be the decision maker, because it's your business.

Technical Proficiency and Courtesy

You can expect us not to exploit your unequal technical proficiency. (Inequality is assumed because, if you had equal proficiency, you probably wouldn't need us.) You can expect us to respect the dignity of your soul and your rights as a business owner, and treat you courteously, regardless of your level of technical proficiency. We also expect you to treat us courteously; as our business relationship is mutual. There are no awards or judgments associated with a particular level of technical proficiency (we really don't care), but there are negative consequences for misrepresenting it. We need to know where you're at in order to serve you well. We expect you to be honest with yourself and with us about your level of technical proficiency, to speak up with confidence where you have already acquired the knowledge you need in order to make an informed decision, and to ask for support where you have not yet done so. We expect you to order products and services that are appropriate to your level of technical proficiency (or that of your staff). You can expect us to advise against products or services that require technical proficiency higher than yours.

Technology is often not what it appears to be from a non-technical perspective. You could create a lot of problems for yourself, including wasting money, by not asking for help where you need it. Let us help you prevent such problems. We are good at it.

Consultation and Training

You can expect us to help you select those products and services that will support you in reaching your goals. You can expect us to consult with you about technical strategies for meeting your goals before performing technical work. We expect you to bring your requirements to us in terms of goals (not technical strategies), and let us help identify the technical strategies by which to best meet those goals.

You could create a lot of problems for yourself, including wasting money, by ordering products or services that require training you're not prepared to undertake, or by trying to do our job for us by bringing your requirements to us in terms of technical strategies rather than goals. If you insist on a particular technical strategy, without considering other approaches, without considering the associated pros and cons, without asking for our recommendation, this may create preventable problems for you. Let us help you weigh pros and cons before making decisions. There may be a less costly more professional solution you hadn't thought of. It's part of our job to figure out how best to reach your goals via appropriate recommendations. Let us save you money and stress, and help you create an optimal outcome, by working with you to identify the most cost effective, professional, accessible means to accomplish your web-related goals.

We expect you to recognize that your consultation and training needs are generally billable services, and to recognize that most website owners need more support than they anticipated in the process of making decisions about their web-related requirements. We expect you to be aware that consultation and training regarding technology services is a primary component of providing quality customer service; and that this is inevitable when contracting with a technology service provider.

Web professionals are like lawyers and accountants, inasmuch as we bill for consultation and training time, as time is our primary offered asset, so be aware that requesting consultation or training is a service order and is billable. Exceptions: (1) If the consultation or training is included as part of a flat-fee service package you've already ordered, there is no hourly billing. (2) If you are a new client who is fairly clear about your requirements for a fairly ordinary website, then there is no billing until after we deliver a complete written proposal, and even then, only if you approve the proposal. (Our written proposals can be considered firm bids.) If you are not clear about your requirements for fairly ordinary web services (as many website owners are not), then consultation to clarify your requirements is billable, even if you are a new client. After an initial introductory meeting, we may ask for a retainer against future hourly billing, and then begin work to help you clarify your requirements with the utmost competency and honesty. If you require a complex high-functionality website, where an advance written technical specification is necessary, then after an initial introductory meeting, we will offer a flat-fee service package for interviews, theoretical research, strategic planning, and writing a complete technical specification that would define your complex project. You could then use the written spec to obtain bids before any web development work begins. Once you pay for the written specification, you are under no further obligation to us, although we would like to be one of your bidders.