Terms and Conditions for Software, Web, and App Development Services

Effective Date: 01st August 2024

1️⃣ General Terms

1.1 These Terms and Conditions govern all software development, web development, app development, and IT-related services provided by Fidex Developers (Pvt) Ltd (hereafter referred to as "the Company") to its clients.

1.2 By engaging with the Company’s services, the client agrees to be bound by these Terms and Conditions, whether acknowledged in writing or verbally confirmed via payment or project commencement.

1.3 The Company operates as an online business and does not maintain a physical office location as of 1st August 2024. If the client requires physical meetings for agreement signings, discussions, or handovers, such meetings will be arranged in a designated office meeting space with cost policies detailed under Clause 9.

2️⃣ Project Agreements

2.1 Prior to commencing any project development, a Project Agreement must be signed by the client.

2.2 If the client refuses to sign the agreement, the Company bears no legal responsibility for:

• Project scope
• Project timelines and delivery dates
• Project payments or refund policies

2.3 The Company may, at its discretion, commence project development if the client refuses to sign the Project Agreement but expressly requests or forces the Company to proceed with development. In such cases, the Company shall bear no legal responsibility or liability regarding:

• "The final project scope"
• "Project payments and refund policies"
• "Project delivery timelines"

The client shall have no claim against the Company concerning these matters, and the Company’s standard Terms & Conditions will continue to apply in full.

3️⃣ Web Development Projects

3.1 Testing and Deployment:

• Non-WordPress websites will first be deployed on a testing hosting environment arranged by the Company based on project size.
• Clients will receive 48 hours (2 working days) for testing.
• Clients will receive 48 hours (2 working days) for testing.
• After the 48-hour testing period concludes, the client must settle 100% of the project payment before deployment to the live server.

3.2 Notifications:

Development updates will be shared through:

• Screenshots
• Screen recordings
• Scheduled Google Meetings

3.3 Domain & Hosting:

• The Company provides a FREE .com / .net / .org domain for one year for qualifying web development projects.
• Other TLD domains are billed separately.
• FREE hosting for the first year is available for minor resource sites (1 vCPU, 1.5GB RAM, 5GB SSD, 1TB bandwidth) such as portfolios, tourism, static, booking, or small vendor websites. Eligibility is decided by the Company based on project scale.

4️⃣ App Development Projects

4.1 After development, apps will be deployed to a testing platform for client installation.

4.2 The client will have 48 hours (2 working days) for testing.

• If bugs are reported, the bug-fixing time is excluded from the testing period.

4.3 After 48 hours, if no further errors are reported, the client must complete full payment for development.

4.4 Post-payment, the Company will proceed to publish the app on:

• Google Play Store
• Apple App Store
• Huawei App Gallery

as agreed in the proposal.

5️⃣ Software Development Projects

5.1 Software projects follow the same process as app development regarding:

• Testing
• Bug reporting period
• Payment obligations

before official release to the client.

6️⃣ Scope Management

6.1 Project Scope Finalization:

For any project valued over LKR 50,000, the following steps apply:

• Agreement signing after advance payment
• Basic research and requirement analysis
• Delivery of User Case Document, Project Summary Plan, and Flow Diagram
  (UI/UX designs are included or charged separately for projects above LKR 150,000)

6.2 Development Commencement:

No development begins until the client formally approves the research documents.

6.3 Scope Lock:

Once development starts:

• No scope changes, additions, or removals are permitted.
• Any new requests are treated as Add-ons and quoted separately after main development completion.

6.4 Clients are responsible for reviewing and confirming requirements carefully before development.

7️⃣ Progress Communication

7.1 The Company will provide bi-weekly development updates to the client via email or Google Meet sessions.

7.2 Upon front-end completion, a Google Meeting will be scheduled for demonstration and feedback.

7.3 The client must submit any change or bug requests at this stage. Changes received after this stage will be considered new work and charged additionally.

8️⃣ Add-ons and Additional Features

8.1 Any new features requested after the initial project scope is locked will be handled separately.

8.2 The Company will provide a written quotation for Add-ons after main development concludes.

8.3 When an Add-on is added to an ongoing project and the client requests or insists that it be completed along with the primary project, or if the client makes changes to the previously agreed project scope during ongoing development, the original project timeline shall be adjusted at the Company’s discretion to accommodate these modifications. The client acknowledges and agrees that any such additions or changes may extend the project completion date as determined necessary by the Company.

8.4 The full payment for any Add-on or additional feature must be paid in advance, before the commencement of its development. The Company will not begin development work on any Add-on until full payment for that Add-on is received and acknowledged.

9️⃣ Meeting Policies

9.1 Since the Company operates online, up to three (3) physical meetings per project (for agreement signing, discussions, and handovers) will be arranged at an official office meeting area, at the Company’s expense.

9.2 Additional physical meetings required by the client beyond the allocated limit will be arranged at the client’s expense.

🔟 Payments and Refunds

10.1 Payments:

Before commencing any project activities — including research, documentation, or development — the client is required to make an advance payment of 40% of the total project value as stated in the project quotation.

• For projects valued at over LKR 1,000,000, the Company will first submit a Basic Research Report based on initial requirements before requesting the advance payment.
• For projects valued below this amount, a formal quotation and invoice will be provided to the client, and the advance payment must be completed to initiate project progress.
• If the project requires separate servers, paid third-party resources, API services, gateway services, or domain registrations (not included in the Company’s complimentary offers), those charges must be paid in full at the project’s commencement, alongside the advance payment.
• All payments must be made via official Company bank accounts or through approved card payments via an internet payment gateway (IPG).
• If a dedicated business bank account is not yet assigned to the Company at the time of payment, payments will be securely processed through the Company Chairman’s designated bank account. The client will be formally notified of the authorized account details prior to each transaction.

10.2 Refund Policy:

Refund requests will only be considered before the commencement of project development. In such cases, any expenses already incurred by the Company — including but not limited to costs for domain registrations, server setups, API subscriptions, gateway services, and third-party tools or services — shall be deducted from the client’s advance payment, and the balance (if any) may be refunded.

Once project research is completed and research documents such as User Case Documents, Flow Diagrams, Project Proposals, Project Summary Plans, and UI/UX Designs have been delivered to the client, the client may review these deliverables.

• "If the client is not satisfied with the research outcome and wishes to discontinue the project before development starts, a refund of any advance or interim payments made will be issued after deducting all expenses incurred for research, documentation preparation, and any third-party services arranged on behalf of the client."
• "After development has commenced, no refunds will be issued under any circumstances."

1️⃣1️⃣ Legal and Responsibility Clauses

11.1 The Company is not liable for delays caused by client indecisiveness, failure to approve documents, scope changes, or unresponsiveness.

11.2 The Company reserves the right to terminate or suspend a project if the client fails to comply with these Terms, makes defamatory remarks, threatens staff, or harasses company representatives.

11.3 All disputes are governed by Sri Lankan law and handled through District Commercial Courts of Colombo.

1️⃣2️⃣ Data Ownership

12.1 Ownership of the final project deliverables — including websites, applications, software, and associated code — shall be transferred to the client only after the client has settled all outstanding payments in full, including payments for Add-ons, additional features, third-party services, and related project expenses.

12.2 Until such time as all dues are cleared, Fidex Developers (Pvt) Ltd retains full legal ownership and administrative control over the project, including its source code, servers, databases, domains, and hosting environments.

12.3 The Company retains exclusive ownership and intellectual property rights over all:

• Research documents
• User Case Documents
• Project Summary Plans
• Project Flow Diagrams
• UI/UX Design drafts (unless separately purchased)
• Development logs
• Documentation created for internal use or project planning purposes

These materials are proprietary to the Company and are not transferrable to the client unless expressly stated in writing and purchased separately.

12.4 Upon full project payment and official handover, the client will receive:

• Source code or administrative access credentials (as applicable)
• Live site or application ownership
• Final deliverables as per the approved project scope
• Databases and CDN, Storages, APIs access

12.5 The Company reserves the right to maintain backup copies of project files and data for security, portfolio, or legal evidence purposes for up to 12 months after project completion.

📌 Final Clause

By proceeding with any services provided by Fidex Developers (Pvt) Ltd, the client acknowledges that they have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.