This page is dedicated to the mutual understanding of contracts.
Contracts are set in place prior to any work being done or payments being accepted. This is done to protect you, your project, and Control Tap LLC. A simple agreement made in writing can help to prevent a project from drifting too far off scope, ensure that it is completed and delivered on time, without the unnecessary struggle of trying to come to a working agreement once work has commenced or payment tendered. Contractual agreements are most easily reached prior to work beginning, when both parties are most willing to reach amenable terms regarding schedule, reporting, fail safes, specifications and payments.
Basic terms of a Control Tap LLC. contract requires 50% of project quote to be paid prior to work beginning. The final 50% due upon completion/testing, and prior to final shipment/delivery.
No credit services are offered. Unpaid bills will result in Control Tap LLC. assuming ownership of all components and work completed. Unpaid bills will accrue interest at 20% (twenty percent) monthly until paid in full. If no effort to reconcile is made after 90 days (ninety days), Control Tap LLC. will assume ownership of all hardware and report the debt.
Software and coding completed only as part of a complete project package. Software and coding will not be provided separately in any form. All source code is copyright protected and ownership is retained by Control Tap LLC. Copyright obtained through the official eco.copyright.gov website. Source code will not be emailed, burned to CD or put on digital medial of any kind. The coding necessary to operate your project or device will be included on your device embedded chip. There are no exceptions to this. (As an example, consider the difficulty to obtain a licensed copy of the Playstation source code from direct from Sony to experiment with).
Fees apply to usage of customer supplied materials. If you have a source for a great deal on component, a custom part, or something that you have made; it can be most likely be utilized and those solutions are welcomed. However, those components will need to shipped, inventoried and tested, measured and stored in dedicated space. Most likely, if you are supplying components it is because they are bespoke and the costs associated are not an issue.
Consultations about how you can complete your project, components lists, ideas, coding for an almost completed project or help with coding are services that are not offered as standard.
Returning customers wanting modification of existing hardware or software are already familiar with the process. You will be treated no differently than you were initially. Repairs, additional work can all be discussed.
All services completed on a quote per project basis, unless otherwise advertised, or agreed upon.
Depending on the scope of the relationship we build, we may need several documents.
1. Partnership Agreement
The partnership agreement should contain the following:
- Define who contributes what
- Define who gets paid what
- Define how decisions get made
- Define what happens to ownership interests
A few conversations and a little administrative work to make a contract at the start can save you major headaches and potential legal battles down the road.
2. Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)/Confidentiality Agreement
Whenever you’ll be sharing your company’s proprietary information with somebody, you should ask them to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Your company’s proprietary info can be anything from the code written for a mobile app product, your business plan, marketing plan, forecasts or financial numbers, as well as your client and customer list.
3. Independent Contractor Agreements
While having this agreement isn’t going to protect you 100 percent from an IRS audit, it does provide evidence that you intended to hire an independent contractor.
For these three contracts, as with any legal formality, it’s always best to invest a little time. Make a contract and get it squared away upfront, rather than waiting until you actually need the contract. By then, it’s typically too late. Talk to an attorney if you have any questions at all or just want a professional set of eyes to review a contract. Your business is worth it.