Payment
Payment is preferred by bank transfer but can also be made in person by cash (a cash receipt will be issued) or by cheque.
Payment is split into two payments as standard (50% deposit required upfront ahead of project beginning and 50% on project culmination, in order to secure delivery of the final project assets).
In certain cases where agreed in advance and in writing payments may be made in monthly installments over the duration of a project. A unique client record is kept to manage payments and may be requested at any time by email (records will be sent within 7 days of requesting).
All payment details, pricing, estimates and proposals created by Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy are confidential and remain the property of Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy.
Pricing
Prices as quoted on the website, in person or in estimates or proposals are final and non-negotiable unless otherwise stated in writing by Cara Bendon.
Pricing is based on a rate-card that may be updated throughout the year to reflect inflation, demand and team skills.
Pricing estimates are made on a case by case basis, using the rate-card as a start point while also giving consideration to: the scope of the project; the timings of a project; the industry of the client* and in some cases, the number of projects going through the studio.
Our rate card is confidential, however clients with active projects may request a copy at any time.
Out of hours work is charged at a different rate card, see Out of Hours.
Quotes are valid for a period of 30 days. After this time, new rates may apply, higher than those originally quoted.
*Preferential rates are offered to charities and social enterprises, and in some cases, small businesses and start-ups.
Service
By entering into an agreement or project with Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy you are agreeing to our professional level of service. The below timings are an indication of our standards however you may find that these are exceeded from time to time:
All new requests received via the website contact form are responded to within 7 days.
All new requests via email are responded to within 7 days. If you do not hear from us in this time and want to ensure your message has been received, please feel free to contact us.
For active projects, we are available for you to contact us via email or phone Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm. Since we may be in meetings, a voicemail is in place and all voicemail messages are attended to within 24 hours.
If you have booked a consultation with Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy and would like Cara or her team to consider your situation/website etc. in advance, you may send any documents or details for her attention no later than 2 working days in advance of your session.
In the case that pre-consultation materials and documents are sent with less than 2 working days, we will strive to attend to things, however it cannot be guaranteed.
Cara Bendon works with a select team of high quality branding, design and advertising sub-contractors.
For this reason Cara cannot be guaranteed to work across every aspect of every project, and the team will run some consultations and strategy sessions in her absence.
Cara Bendon monitors, directs and supervises every project that comes through Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy.
We are confident that our branding skill and customer service are both excellent, however if you feel otherwise we welcome you to contact us. (Feedback may be given anonymously if desired).
All feedback is considered as we grow and improve our business.
Copyright & IP
Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy (Cara Bendon) retains full Intellectual Property (IP) for any strategy, content, and creative ideas presented to a company during the work proposal and estimate phases. These ideas therefore cannot be used by the client or the client’s company in any other way should they decide not to go ahead with Cara Bendon’s proposal or work estimate.
As such, Cara Bendon’s proposals are to be treated as confidential and only shared with members of the organisation, and not with other brand consultants, branding or design agencies, website designers or branding speakers by way of brief or request for proposal.
Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy and affiliated team members reserve the right to use any designs, strategy or creative assets related to your projects to promote their products and services, online and offline.
Should you wish for your project to remain unpublished from the website and other promotional channels, you must notify Cara in writing.
Upon final payment the copyright for any identity and logo branding assets is released over to the client. This is confirmed in writing with the ‘Copyright transfer letter’, which is signed and dated, by both Cara Bendon and the designer who worked on the branding.
Project kick off
After initial conversations or receipt of a proposal or estimate, a project is formally kicked off with the payment of the deposit (in most cases 50% of the project total, see Payment).
After this point a project is treated as ‘active’ and will be given the necessary level of service with regular updates.
No action or work will take place on your project if the deposit sum is not paid promptly.
The deposit is non refundable but does count towards the total sum invoiced on the project.
If a project has to be put on hold for any given reason, the project will be treated as ‘dormant’ until further written notice, and no further work will take place.
If a project is made dormant for more than 3 months, the original price estimate may be subject to change, however this will be judged circumstantially.
If a project is made dormant, all work is kept within the system for 6 months. After this period the project is considered ‘cancelled’ unless we are otherwise notified in writing of a date to recommence the project, with fair reason.
Approvals
You will be asked for approval at several stages in the branding process.
All approvals must be made in writing, ideally in email.
In the case that client approvals cannot be made in writing, a member of the Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy team will formalize in person, phone conversation or Text message/Skype approvals in writing in an email to you, the client. It is understood that the client accepts this approval unless otherwise notified in writing within 24 hours of receipt of this email.
The client takes responsibility for considering the project options and giving approval.
Changes in opinion or to the project after the above sign off has been accepted is treated as ‘Additional Work’ and will incur further fees. (See Additional Work).
Project culmination
Completed projects are approved in writing and full deliverables are passed over to the client.
Any further amends or work required in addition to the closed project will be treated as Additional work, and charged at the standard rate card, depending on the scope and timings of the amends or new project.
Completed projects assets are supplied on a Dropbox link for 7 days after project completion. It is the client’s own responsibility to download all relevant assets to their own system.
Hardcopies (DVDs or memory sticks) of final project assets are available and can be supplied at an additional cost. These are sent by Royal Mail (£100) or delivered by courier in urgent cases (£200).
Projects are archived 1 week after completion (1 month after being made dormant) – any requests for specific files once projects are archived are considered ‘Additional Work’.
Additional Work
In the case that the client brief is changed or further changes/options are requested by the client after a written approval has been made, work is considered ‘Additional Work’.
Additional work will be charged as a separate fee.
There is a minimum £75 fee for Additional Work requests as this covers the cost of retrieval from the archive and 30 minutes’ studio time.
As with main project estimates, costs for additional work will be presented in advance of any additional work taking place.
Costs for additional work will be estimated case by case, based on the scope of work to be done, additional resources required, timings for project and overall project size and progress.
Out of hours
Any requests or projects that require urgent (or scheduled) out of hours work will be charged on the Out of Hours rate card (this may be requested by any active clients).
Any requests or projects received which require work outside of the usual office hours of Monday-Friday 9am-6pm count as Out of Hours. This includes weekends and bank holidays.
In certain situations a start time for a project between 7am and 9am may be considered ‘within working hours’, depending on the project and the scope of work. This will always be confirmed in writing.
Likewise, on occasion studio resource may be available for projects between 6pm and 8pm as part of ‘working hours’ – again this is considered case by case and will be confirmed in writing.
Late fines
Payments are expected in full within 14 working days of issuing an invoice or invoice reminder (at the culmination of projects).
This may be extended to 30 days if agreed in writing by Cara Bendon, and at her discretion.
Any payments that are made later than the 30 day period incur a standard 8% interest rate, plus the Bank of England base rate for business to business transactions (currently 0.5%).
Cancellation
Should a project be cancelled before completion by the client, the client must pay in full for any work that is either in progress or completed.
By paying the deposit for a project with Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy you are agreeing to these terms and conditions. These terms & conditions may be updated from time to time without prior notice. Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy is a working name for Cara Bendon, who is set up as a sole trader. Her team consists of trusted sub-contractors who agree to the above terms and conditions.