How we work together

Clearline builds custom software, the systems a business runs on, and the websites that feed them, and keeps them running afterwards. Everything is built for the business it belongs to.

Every project is quoted on its own. Before work starts you get a written description of what is being built and one number for it. If the job changes while it is in progress, we say so, price the change, and wait for a yes before building it.

Anything described on this website is an example of the kind of work we do. It is not an offer of a fixed package at a fixed price.

We often build something first, at our own cost, so you can see it before deciding. That work stays ours until a project is agreed and paid for. You are never charged for it, and you are never obliged to go ahead.

Once a project is paid for, the website, the software we wrote for you, your data and your domain are yours. If you leave, you leave with them and they keep working. We do not hold a business hostage to keep it.

Anything we built before you, and reuse across many clients, stays ours. You get the right to use it for as long as you like.

Larger builds are usually part at the start and the rest at agreed points. Ongoing work is monthly and can be stopped at any time. There is no minimum term and no fee for leaving.

If a monthly payment stops, the ongoing work stops too. Your site stays yours, and we will help you move it.

We promise the work is built properly, that it does what the scope said, and that we fix it when it breaks. We will keep it up and watch it.

We cannot promise a number of calls, a number of jobs, or a search ranking. Nobody honest can, and anyone who does is guessing with your money.

Parts of any modern system depend on companies that are not us: hosting, payment processing, mail, search engines and phone carriers. We choose carefully and we will tell you what is being relied on, but we are not responsible when one of them has a bad day.

These terms are governed by the law of the State of California. Anything not written here that matters to your project will be written into the scope for that project.