Highrise Digital Ltd

Retainer and Maintenance Terms

Last updated: 10 August 2026

These Retainer and Maintenance Terms apply when Highrise Digital Ltd provides ongoing website development, consultancy, maintenance or website care services to a Customer.

Highrise Digital Ltd is registered in England and Wales under company number 09989726. Our registered-office and other corporate details are available on our Company Information page.

In these terms, Highrise Digital Ltd is referred to as the “Supplier”, “we”, “us” or “our”. The person or organisation purchasing the Services is referred to as the “Customer”, “you” or “your”.

These terms apply only where the Customer is acting for purposes relating to its business, trade, craft or profession. They do not apply to consumer purchases.

How these terms form part of the Agreement

These terms supplement:

• our Terms and Conditions;
• the proposal, order form, quotation or other document describing the Services and charges, referred to in these terms as the “Service Order”;
• our Data Processing Agreement, where we process Personal Data on your behalf; and
• any other document expressly incorporated into the Agreement.

Together, those documents form the agreement between the Customer and the Supplier (the “Agreement”).

If these Retainer and Maintenance Terms conflict with another part of the Agreement, the following order of precedence applies unless expressly agreed otherwise:

1. the Service Order;
2. these Retainer and Maintenance Terms;
3. the Data Processing Agreement, for matters concerning the processing of Customer Personal Data;
4. the Terms and Conditions; and
5. any other document forming part of the Agreement.

Definitions

In these terms:

Business Day

means a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in England.

Care Plan

means the Essential Plan or Advanced Plan described in the Care Plans section and selected in the Service Order.

Additional Retainer Hours

means an optional allocation of working hours purchased in addition to the services included in a Care Plan, as stated in the Service Order.

Retainer Period

means each monthly or annual billing period covered by the Agreement.

Retainer Services

means the ongoing development, consultancy, support or maintenance services described in the Service Order.

Site

means a website, application or related system covered by the Service Order.

Scope of the Services

The Retainer Services are limited to the services and Sites identified in the Service Order.

Depending on the agreed plan, eligible work may include:

• investigating and correcting faults in an existing codebase;
• WordPress plugin, theme and integration development;
• minor improvements and adjustments to existing features;
• technical consultancy by email, telephone or video call;
• website maintenance and security work;
• support and troubleshooting; and
• other work expressly agreed in writing.

The following are not included unless the Service Order or a separate written agreement says otherwise:

• the design or development of a substantially new website, application or feature;
• large-scale redesigns, migrations or redevelopment projects;
• copywriting, content entry, search-engine optimisation or marketing services;
• accessibility audits or formal legal, security or compliance assessments;
• third-party software, hosting, domain, licence or subscription charges;
• remediation of malware, security incidents or defects that existed before the Retainer Services began;
• work required because of changes made by the Customer or another third party;
• out-of-hours or emergency support; and
• work exceeding the Additional Retainer Hours without additional approval.

Out-of-scope work may be covered by a separate quotation or charged as additional time where the Customer approves it.

How work is requested and managed

On the essential plan, clients should email support request directly to our support email. Advanced and Ultimate plans use our project management system for submitting and tracking requests.

We will tell you which project-management or support system to use for requesting and tracking work. Unless we agree otherwise, our preferred system is Trello.

You agree to create your own Trello board, under our guidance and add users as requested as well as submitting requests through the agreed system and provide:

• a clear description of the requested outcome;
• relevant background information and examples;
• the required priority and any genuine deadline;
• the access, credentials and materials needed to perform the work; and
• prompt answers, feedback and approvals.

We may ask you to clarify, divide or reprioritise a request before beginning work.

We will prioritise requests in consultation with you, taking account of urgency, risk, dependencies and available capacity. Submission of a request does not guarantee completion by a particular date unless we expressly agree that date in writing.

Time recording

We will record the time reasonably spent providing chargeable Retainer Services, including:

• investigation and technical work;
• development, testing and deployment;
• project-related meetings and communications;
• consultancy and advice;
• reviewing work performed by Customer-appointed third parties; and
• project administration directly connected with the requested work.

Time may be recorded against Additional Retainer Hours or charged separately, depending on the Service Order and the nature of the work.

We will provide a time report for Additional Retainer Hours or other time-based work at the end of a Retainer Period on request.

Courtesy micro-tasks provided under the Advanced Plan will not be deducted from Additional Retainer Hours or separately charged.

Additional Retainer Hours

This section applies where the Service Order includes Additional Retainer Hours.

Additional Retainer Hours are an optional allocation of development, consultancy, support or other chargeable working time purchased in addition to the services included in a Care Plan.

Recommended minimum allocation

For Customers who expect to request ongoing development, consultancy or support, we recommend purchasing a minimum of one Additional Retainer Hour per month.

This recommendation applies whether the Care Plan is billed monthly or annually. Where the Care Plan is billed annually, the recommended minimum is 12 Additional Retainer Hours for each annual Retainer Period.

This is a recommendation rather than a compulsory purchase. The number of Additional Retainer Hours included in the Agreement will be stated in the Service Order and may be adjusted by written agreement.

The recommended allocation is intended to provide regular access to planned development and support. It does not guarantee that every request can be completed within one hour or within a particular Retainer Period.

The Service Order will state:

• the number of Additional Retainer Hours included in each Retainer Period;
• the work for which those hours may be used;
• the applicable fees and payment frequency; and
• any customer-specific conditions applying to those hours.

Additional Retainer Hours are available only during the relevant Retainer Period. Unused Additional Retainer Hours do not automatically roll over, accumulate, create a credit or entitle the Customer to a refund.

We may agree in writing to carry unused Additional Retainer Hours into a later Retainer Period, but any rollover is at our discretion and may be subject to an expiry date or other conditions.

Where reasonably practicable, we will notify the Customer when its Additional Retainer Hours are close to being used. The Customer may then:

• ask us to stop the relevant work until the next Retainer Period;
• reprioritise the remaining work;
• purchase further Additional Retainer Hours; or
• approve additional work charged at the applicable hourly rate.

Unless the Service Order specifies another rate, approved work exceeding the Additional Retainer Hours will be charged at £80 per hour plus VAT.

We will not knowingly exceed the Additional Retainer Hours by a material amount without the Customer’s approval, except where limited additional work is reasonably necessary to protect the security or availability of a Site. Where this happens, we will notify the Customer as soon as reasonably practicable.

Care Plans

This section applies only where the Service Order includes a Care Plan.

We offer 3 types of Care Plan: the Essential Plan, Advanced Plan and the Ultimate Plan. The Service Order will identify the selected Care Plan, the Sites covered, the billing frequency and the applicable fees.

The features and pricing of our 3 plans are included on the care plans page of the website.

Essential Plan

Pay-as-you-go support is not included in the recurring Essential Plan fee. Support, troubleshooting, development and other work requested by email will be charged at a rate of £100 / hour unless stated differently in the Service Order, separately quoted or otherwise agreed in writing.

Where reasonably practicable, we will notify the Customer of the likely charge or provide an estimate before beginning additional chargeable work.

Advanced Plan Courtesy micro-tasks

As an additional benefit of the Advanced Plan, we may carry out courtesy micro-tasks without charge.

A courtesy micro-task is a discrete, routine request that we reasonably estimate will take no more than 10 minutes in total to investigate, carry out, test and complete.

Whether a request qualifies as a courtesy micro-task will be determined by us acting reasonably. We may take account of the complexity of the request, the condition of the Site, the access and information available, the testing required and any associated risk.

Courtesy micro-tasks:

• are available only while the Advanced Plan remains active;
• are subject to our reasonable availability and capacity;
• do not have a guaranteed response or completion time;
• cannot be accumulated, carried forward or exchanged for a credit or refund;
• cannot be combined to create a larger item of work; and
• must not be created by dividing a larger task into several smaller requests.

If several related requests form part of the same outcome, we may treat them as a single task when deciding whether they qualify as a courtesy micro-task.

If we consider that a request is likely to take more than 10 minutes, it will not qualify as a courtesy micro-task. We will tell the Customer where reasonably practicable before carrying out chargeable work, and the work may be charged at the discounted development rate stated in the Service Order or separately quoted.

If a task initially appears to qualify but, after work begins, is found to require more than 10 minutes, we may pause the work and seek the Customer’s approval before continuing. Unless otherwise agreed, time spent after the first 10 minutes will be chargeable.

Courtesy micro-tasks are provided at our discretion as part of the Advanced Plan and do not create an entitlement to any particular number or value of free tasks.

Monthly calls

Calls must be arranged in advance and are subject to our reasonable availability. Unused calls or call time do not roll over, accumulate, create a credit or entitle the Customer to a refund.

Web-hosting management

Web-hosting management means that we may administer the Customer’s hosting account, make appropriate configuration changes and communicate with its hosting provider where reasonably necessary to support a Site.

Unless the Service Order expressly states otherwise, the Customer remains responsible for:

• its contract and relationship with the hosting provider;
• paying all hosting, domain, email and related third-party charges;
• complying with the hosting provider’s terms; and
• making decisions that require the hosting account holder’s authority.

Hosting services are supplied by the relevant hosting provider rather than by us. We do not guarantee the hosting provider’s performance, availability, security or service levels.

Plugin licences

Customers on the Advanced Plan may have access to the following plugin licences where the relevant plugin is used on a Site covered by the Service Order:

• Gravity Forms;
• Advanced Custom Fields;
• FacetWP;
• WP Job Manager add-on bundle; and
• Imagify.

Inclusion in this list means that a plugin licence may be made available under the Advanced Plan. It does not mean that every listed plugin will be installed on, licensed to or appropriate for every Site.

The Service Order will identify the plugin licences actually included for the Customer and the Site or Sites on which they may be used.

Access to an included licence:

• is available only while the Advanced Plan remains active;
• is limited to the Sites identified in the Service Order;
• does not transfer ownership of the plugin or licence to the Customer;
• is subject to the plugin provider’s licensing terms and technical restrictions; and
• does not include a right to transfer, resell or sublicense the licence.

We may remove or replace a plugin licence if the plugin is discontinued, becomes unsupported, presents a security or compatibility risk, is no longer available under our licence or is subject to materially changed provider terms.

Where reasonably practicable, we will give the Customer advance notice and consider whether a reasonably suitable alternative is available.

When the Advanced Plan or the Agreement ends, we will remove our licence credentials or allow the licence to expire. The Customer may need to purchase its own licence to continue receiving updates, functionality or support from the plugin provider.

Multi-site volume discounts

Where the Service Order covers more than one Site, negotiated discounts for additional Sites may apply and will be detailed in the service order.

To qualify for a multi-site volume discount:

• each Site must be owned or controlled by the same Customer;
• each Site must be identified in the Service Order or subsequently added by written agreement;
• all Sites must use the same Care Plan and billing frequency; and
• the Customer must maintain a paid Care Plan for the Primary Site.

The volume discount applies only to the recurring Care Plan fee. It does not apply to Additional Retainer Hours, additional development, separately chargeable support, third-party costs, hosting charges, domain charges, software licences or other separately chargeable services.

Unless we agree otherwise in writing, a multi-site volume discount cannot be combined with another discount, promotion or special pricing arrangement.

Where the Advanced Plan covers multiple Sites, the included monthly calls are shared across all Sites covered by the Service Order. Adding another Site does not increase the number or duration of the included calls.

The Service Order will identify:

• the Primary Site and each additional Site covered;
• the discount applied to each Site;
• the resulting monthly or annual fee for each Site; and
• the total recurring Care Plan fee payable by the Customer.

Software updates

Where software updates are included, we will normally configure or apply supported WordPress core, plugin, theme and translation updates using the method we consider reasonably appropriate for the Site.

We will use reasonable care when configuring and monitoring updates. However, an update may introduce incompatibilities, defects or changes outside our control. If we identify a resulting problem, we will first restore the site from a backup, then investigate it and propose an appropriate response.

Work required to resolve a substantial third-party incompatibility may use Additional Retainer Hours or be treated as additional work, depending on the selected Care Plan and cause of the problem.

Backups

Where backups are included, we will arrange backups through an external backup provider and normally retain them for 30 days.

You authorise us to transfer and store Site backups with that provider in accordance with the Agreement and our Data Processing Agreement.

We will take reasonable measures to monitor the backup process, but we do not guarantee that every backup will be complete, error-free or capable of restoration in every circumstance.

Unless the Service Order says that we are solely responsible for disaster-recovery backups, you should maintain any additional backups reasonably required for your business-continuity needs.

Restoration

If restoration is reasonably required and a suitable backup is available, we will aim to begin or complete the restoration within 24 hours after agreeing that restoration is appropriate.

This is a target rather than a guaranteed resolution time. Restoration may take longer because of the size or condition of the Site, availability of backups, hosting-provider restrictions, third-party assistance or other circumstances outside our reasonable control.

Hosting migrations

Where a hosting migration is included, we will use reasonable care to migrate the Site to the agreed destination.

A migration may depend on assistance, access, configuration or timing controlled by the existing or destination hosting provider. We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by a hosting provider or another third party outside our reasonable control.

Substantial migration work, remediation of an unsupported environment or changes required by the destination provider may be treated as additional work.

Uptime monitoring

Where uptime monitoring is included, an automated service will periodically check the Site and notify designated contacts when it detects that the Site is unavailable.

Uptime monitoring does not guarantee continuous availability or detect every interruption. If we receive an alert, we will use reasonable efforts to investigate and assist, but we do not guarantee that the Site will be restored within a particular period.

Security scanning

Where security scanning is included, automated scans will normally run daily and report identified issues.

Automated scanning reduces risk but cannot guarantee that a Site is secure, free from malicious code or protected against every vulnerability or attack.

Investigation, recovery or remediation following a security incident may use Additional Retainer Hours or require a separate quotation, depending on the Care Plan and cause of the incident.

Response and completion times

We aim to acknowledge requests within:

• 24 hours when received on a Business Day; and
• 48 hours when received on a weekend or public holiday.

These are acknowledgement targets, not guaranteed resolution or completion times.

Requests received outside normal UK business hours may not be reviewed until the next Business Day unless the Service Order includes an out-of-hours support arrangement.

After assessing a request, we will provide an indication of likely timescale where reasonably practicable. Any estimate depends on the information available at the time and is not a guaranteed deadline unless expressly agreed in writing.

Customer responsibilities

The Customer must:

• provide accurate and complete instructions;
• provide timely access, credentials, materials, decisions and approvals;
• ensure that it has authority to give us access to each Site, account and dataset;
• maintain valid licences and subscriptions for relevant third-party software and services;
• ensure that its content and instructions comply with applicable law and do not infringe third-party rights;
• tell us promptly about known faults, security concerns and material changes;
• avoid making or authorising conflicting changes while we are working on the relevant code or system;
• review and test completed work within a reasonable period; and
• pay all charges when due.

We are not responsible for delay, additional work or failure caused by the Customer’s failure to meet these responsibilities.

Access, development and staging environments

The Customer authorises us, where reasonably necessary to provide the Services, to:

• access the live Site, hosting environment and related services;
• create and store local development copies;
• create and operate password-protected or access-controlled staging environments;
• install appropriate development, backup, monitoring or security tools;
• use deployment tools to transfer approved changes to the live Site; and
• use credentials supplied by the Customer for the agreed purpose.

We may require WordPress, hosting-panel, SFTP, SSH, API or other appropriate access. The Customer must provide access through a secure method requested or approved by us.

We will process Personal Data contained in development copies, staging environments and backups in accordance with the Agreement and our Data Processing Agreement.

Third-party changes

The Customer is not required to use Highrise Digital as its exclusive supplier unless the Service Order expressly says otherwise.

However, changes made by the Customer or another developer may affect our ability to provide the Services. The Customer must tell us about relevant third-party work and, where reasonably necessary, require that work to follow an agreed development, version-control, review and deployment process.

We may review third-party changes before they are deployed to a Site that we maintain. Time spent reviewing, testing, correcting or integrating those changes may use Additional Retainer Hours or be charged as additional work.

We are not responsible for defects, downtime, security issues or additional work caused by changes made by the Customer or another third party.

Our personnel and subcontractors

We may use suitably qualified personnel and subcontractors to provide parts of the Services.

We remain responsible for their work to the extent required by the Agreement and will require appropriate confidentiality and data protection obligations.

Where a subcontractor processes Customer Personal Data, its appointment will be governed by our Data Processing Agreement.

Fees and payment

The fees, billing frequency, payment method and payment due dates are stated in the Service Order.

Unless stated otherwise:

• fees are exclusive of VAT;
• retainer and Care Plan fees are payable in advance;
• additional hours, third-party charges and other approved work may be invoiced separately; and
• payment must be made by the due date shown on the invoice.

The payment, late-payment, suspension and debt-recovery provisions in our Terms and Conditions also apply.

Changes to fees or Services

We may propose changes to the fees, Additional Retainer Hours or scope of the Retainer Services by giving reasonable written notice.

A proposed change will take effect only as permitted by the Agreement. If the Customer does not accept a material change, it may terminate the affected Retainer Services by giving notice before the change takes effect. Fees already paid remain non-refundable, except where the Service Order or applicable law expressly provides otherwise.

Changes requested by the Customer must be agreed in writing and may result in revised fees, Additional Retainer Hours or other terms.

Term and renewal

The Retainer Services begin on the commencement date stated in the Service Order.

Unless the Service Order states a fixed term or either party gives valid notice to terminate, the Retainer Services will continue through successive Retainer Periods matching the agreed billing frequency.

Cancellation by the Customer

The Customer may cancel the Retainer Services by giving written notice of:

• at least 30 days for a monthly plan; or
• at least 60 days for a quarterly, annual or other longer-term plan.

A cancellation notice may be sent through the agreed project-management system, to the contact email used for the Services or in accordance with the notice provisions in our Terms and Conditions. We may ask the sender to confirm that they are authorised to cancel on the Customer’s behalf.

Cancellation does not entitle the Customer to a refund or credit for:

• the remainder of the current month, quarter, year or other prepaid Retainer Period;
• unused Additional Retainer Hours;
• unused Care Plan features;
• licences, subscriptions or third-party services purchased or reserved for the Customer; or
• any period during which the Customer chose not to submit work.

The Retainer Services and charges will continue until the effective cancellation date. If the Customer asks us to stop providing the Services before that date, fees already paid remain non-refundable.

Any invoice issued before the effective cancellation date remains payable in full, together with any additional charges properly incurred under the Agreement.

Cancellation by the Supplier

We may terminate the Retainer Services for convenience by giving written notice equivalent to the notice period applicable to the Customer’s plan.

If we terminate for convenience before the end of a period for which the Customer has paid in advance, we will provide a proportionate refund for the period after the effective termination date during which the Services will not be provided.

No refund will be due where we terminate or suspend the Services because of:

• the Customer’s material breach of the Agreement;
• non-payment;
• unlawful, abusive or unsafe instructions;
• a security risk caused or controlled by the Customer;
• the Customer’s insolvency; or
• another circumstance for which the Agreement permits immediate termination without refund.

The rights of either party to terminate immediately for material breach, insolvency or other serious circumstances are set out in our Terms and Conditions.

Consequences of termination

When the Retainer Services end:

• the Customer must pay all outstanding charges;
• we may stop monitoring, updating, backing up and supporting the Site;
• licences or services supplied as part of the plan may be removed or allowed to expire;
• we will provide reasonable cooperation with an agreed handover;
• handover work may use remaining Additional Retainer Hours or be charged separately;
• Customer Personal Data will be returned or deleted in accordance with the Data Processing Agreement; and
• provisions intended to continue after termination will remain in effect.

The Customer is responsible for arranging replacement hosting, monitoring, backups, maintenance and security services where required.

Warranties and liability

We will provide the Retainer Services with reasonable care and skill.

Unless expressly stated in the Service Order, the Retainer Services do not guarantee:

• that a Site will be continuously available or error-free;
• that every software update will be compatible;
• that every security threat or vulnerability will be detected or prevented;
• that every backup will be complete or capable of restoration; or
• that a request will be resolved within a fixed period.

The exclusions, limitations and allocation of liability in our Terms and Conditions apply to the Retainer Services.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms to reflect changes in our Services, working practices or legal obligations.

An updated version will not automatically change an existing Agreement unless the change is made in accordance with that Agreement. Where a change materially affects an existing Customer, we will provide reasonable notice before it takes effect.

Contact details

Our current registered-office and contact details are available on our Company Information page.

Service requests and day-to-day communications should be submitted through the project-management or support channel agreed with the Customer.