Read this first
Nothing on this page is the contract. Every engagement is governed by a written quote or services agreement specific to it, which sets out the scope, the schedule, the price and the particular commitments. What follows is the framework those documents sit inside, published so you know what to expect before you ask for one.
The operating company is Cœur du Web, 58 rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris, France.
Using this website
The content of this site, including the text of the articles, is ours. You are welcome to quote it with attribution and a link. You may not republish it wholesale, and you may not present it as your own work.
The articles describe how we approach technical problems. They are written from real engagements, but they are not advice about your specific situation, and no reader-to-us relationship is created by reading them. If you want an opinion that accounts for your actual constraints, that is a conversation, not a blog post.
We make no guarantee that this site will be reachable without interruption, though we would be embarrassed if it were not.
How an engagement is contracted
A written quote comes first. Every engagement is preceded by a detailed written quote, valid for thirty days. Nothing begins without written agreement. There is no situation in which work starts on a handshake and the paperwork follows.
Fixed fee, not time and materials. The commitment is on the outcome for the scope defined in the quote: the deliverables, the schedule, the quality. If we fall short of it, the remedies are written into the contract and they are at our cost, not yours. This is the whole reason we do not bill by the day, and the reasoning is set out in plain language on how we work.
Migrations carry a data commitment. Where an engagement involves moving data, the contract carries an explicit commitment on no data loss. If data is lost through something we did, restoring it is at our expense.
Service levels. Our standard service level agreement commits to: work begins within five business days, support responses within forty-eight business hours, and a critical defect addressed within twenty-four business hours. These can be tightened contractually if your situation requires it.
What you own at the end
On delivery and full payment, you own the source code written for your project, the content produced for it, and the credentials to every third-party tool involved. Not a licence to use it. Ownership.
We keep authorship attribution for the work, and unless we agree otherwise we may name you as a reference. You can take over the work or move to another provider at any point, and if the relationship ends we provide a documented handover. This is stated in the contract precisely so that it is not something you have to negotiate at the worst possible moment.
Confidentiality
Everything you tell us is treated as confidential by default. We will sign a formal non-disclosure agreement on request, and we do not consider being asked for one a sign of distrust.
Liability, and its limits
Our liability is capped at the amount invoiced for the engagement concerned. We are not liable for indirect consequences such as lost business, lost operating income or reputational damage, for changes third-party vendors make to their own products, or for events outside anyone's control.
We carry professional indemnity and general liability insurance with AIG. The certificates are available on request as part of contracting, along with the standard French compliance documents a client may need for their own procurement file: tax and social security clearance certificates, and a current company registration extract.
Ending an engagement
Fixed-scope engagements may be terminated for a material failure to perform, after a formal notice that has gone thirty days without being remedied.
Monthly engagements may be ended at the close of any period once the initial commitment has run, with one month's notice by email to chargement de l'email… . There is no cancellation penalty and no automatic multi-year renewal. An arrangement that has to be locked in is one we have stopped earning.
Governing law, stated plainly
Our contracts are governed by French law, and if a dispute cannot be settled amicably the competent courts are those of Paris, where the company is registered. Prices are quoted excluding value added tax, which applies according to the rules of your jurisdiction and your business status.
If you are contracting from the United States, you should read that paragraph carefully rather than skim it, because it is the one clause that genuinely differs from what you may be used to. It is negotiable on engagements where it matters enough to raise. What is not honest is to bury it and let you discover it later, so it is here in its own section.