How work is agreed and paid for

Chris Thorn Design is a trading name of Christopher Thorn, a sole trader, at 18 Manor Lane, Ettington, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 7TE. In these terms, “I” means Chris Thorn Design and “you” means the person or business the work is for.

Sections 1 to 4 apply to every job. Sections 5, 6 and 7 cover websites, scale models and jewellery in turn. Where one of those differs from an earlier section, the section for your work applies.

If you’re buying for yourself rather than for a business, you also have rights in law that these terms cannot remove. They are set out in section 8.

You can email me at any point during a job, and I reply from the same address throughout. I keep changes, approvals and decisions in writing, so we both have the same record of what was agreed.

Replies occasionally land in spam folders, so it’s worth a look there if one seems slow.

For anything about these terms, email terms@christhorn.design.

Before starting, I send a written quote setting out what’s included. It’s valid for 30 days, after which I may need to re-quote.

For business work, a 50% deposit books the job and covers the setup and materials I need to begin. It is not refundable once I’ve started. If you’re a private customer commissioning jewellery, deposits are covered in section 7.

I invoice the balance when the work is finished. Once it’s paid, the site goes live or the finished work is sent out. Invoices are due within 30 days, and the invoice itself says how to pay.

Work beyond what the quote covers is either quoted separately or charged at my hourly rate, which I’ll confirm in writing first. Site visits may be chargeable, with travel.

Anything you give me stays yours — text, photographs, drawings, logos, CAD — and by giving it to me you confirm you have the right to use it. I cannot take responsibility if material you give me infringes someone else’s copyright, and I can decline to use anything without proof of permission.

What I make for you becomes yours once the final invoice is paid: the finished website, the finished model, the finished piece. The working files behind it stay mine — source artwork, print preparation, bench patterns — unless we agree otherwise in writing.

I may show finished work on this site and in a portfolio. If you’d rather I did not, say so before the work starts and I will not.

You’ll see the site as it’s built, on a temporary address, before anything goes public.

I build for current versions of the common browsers, but I cannot promise every feature behaves identically on all of them, or that pages will still display correctly in browser versions released after the job ends. If you want work done to support a new browser, I’ll quote for it.

Some jobs are better served by a paid plugin, framework or stock photograph. I’ll tell you the options and the cost before buying anything, and the cost is added to the final invoice or invoiced separately.

Small changes — swapping images, adding listings, minor edits — usually take a few working days once I have everything I need.

Hosting and support are separate and invoiced separately, and either of us can end that arrangement with reasonable notice.

Models are built from CAD you supply, or from CAD I prepare from your drawings. Your design stays yours; the print preparation — your model scaled, simplified and split for printing — stays mine.

I print test sections first to check fits and finishes, and the full print starts once you’ve approved the scale and what is included.

A model is made for display and demonstration. It’s not working equipment, it’s not a toy, and it contains magnets and small parts, so it is not suitable for children. Printed colours come close to the colours we agree rather than matching them exactly.

Lead times are estimates: printing runs for one to two weeks of machine time, and a failed part means printing it again. If a date is going to move, I’ll tell you as soon as I know.

Changes to the design after preparation has started are extra work, and I’ll quote for them first.

Every piece is made by hand, so no two are quite the same. A photograph shows either the piece you’re buying or one made the same way, and small differences in shape, finish and stone are part of hand-made work.

Pieces are sterling silver unless I say otherwise, and natural stones vary in colour and marking. Silver tarnishes in air, so a care note comes with each piece.

For a commission, I quote first, take a deposit to start, and agree the design with you as it develops. Because a commission is made to your specification, it cannot be cancelled once I’ve started, and the deposit covers the work done to that point. If something is wrong with the finished piece, your rights are the same as for anything else.

Ring sizes are confirmed before making. Some pieces can be resized later and some cannot, and I’ll tell you which before you order.

If something you’ve bought is faulty, you can return it.

For the first 30 days you can reject it and get your money back. After 30 days, I’ll repair or replace it.

Everything I sell must be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. That is your right in law, and nothing in these terms changes it.

Buying at a distance — online or by email rather than in person — gives you 14 days from receiving the item to change your mind, and another 14 days to send it back. You pay the return postage unless the item is faulty or not as described.

That does not apply to a piece made to your specification or personalised for you, which is the normal position in law for commissioned work.

To raise any of this, email terms@christhorn.design.

If I fail to use reasonable care and skill, I’m responsible for the loss or damage that follows, as long as it was foreseeable. I’m not responsible for losses nobody could have foreseen.

If you’re a business, I’m not responsible for loss of profit, loss of business, interruption, lost contracts or lost savings, including losses caused by a website being unavailable or by servers, hosting and software that someone else supplies.

Nothing here removes my responsibility for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow me to exclude.

Dates we agree are estimates, since I work on this alongside other commitments. If one is going to move, I’ll tell you as soon as I know.

Some delays are outside my control — illness, a supplier, a breakdown — and the dates then move by however long the delay lasts. If it goes on long enough to matter, either of us can end the job and settle up for the work done.

Either of us can stop a job, in writing. You pay for the work done up to that point, including anything I’ve already bought for it, and the deposit counts towards that.

If an invoice goes unpaid, I may pause work until it’s settled, and anything not yet paid for stays mine in the meantime.

The terms that apply to your job are the ones published here when I give you the quote. If I change them, the change appears on this page, and it does not affect a job already agreed.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales deal with any dispute.