Terms of Service

Last updated: July 2026. These terms govern your use of Trellishub's website-building and Care Plan services ("Trellis", "we", "us"). By booking a consultation, paying an invoice, or subscribing to a Care Plan, you agree to these terms.

Trellis (Pty) Ltd (registration number 2026/534252/07), trading as "Trellishub", is a private company registered in South Africa with its registered office at 32 Carters Road, Kimberley, Northern Cape, 8301. In these terms, "Trellis", "Trellishub", "we" and "us" refer to Trellis (Pty) Ltd.

Definitions

In these terms, a "revision round" means any set of requested changes submitted after we've delivered a design, page, or the completed site for your review — regardless of how large or small those changes are. "Minor tweaks" means small, low-effort edits only: spelling or wording corrections and swapping out an existing image. Anything beyond that counts as a revision round or additional work, as described under "Scope, revisions & additional work" below.

Our services

We design and build websites ("Build" projects) for a once-off fee, and offer an optional ongoing "Care Plan" (hosting support, updates, and maintenance) billed monthly. Scope, timelines, and deliverables for your specific project are agreed with you individually before work begins.

Who these terms apply to

We work with both businesses and individual consumers. If you're contracting with us as a consumer — a natural person acquiring our services mainly for personal rather than business use — nothing in these terms limits any right or protection you have under the Consumer Protection Act, 68 of 2008, that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Demo websites

Any demo or preview website we create for you during the sales or design process remains the property of Trellis until it has been purchased in full. Demo websites may not be copied, published, or used commercially without our prior written consent. Ownership of the final website transfers to you only once full payment has been received.

Scope, revisions & additional work

Each package (see our Pricing section) includes a defined page count and feature set, one design concept, and two rounds of revisions. Revisions beyond this, or work outside your package's agreed scope — such as extra pages, new functionality, or e-commerce added after the project starts — is treated as additional work and quoted or billed separately at our standard rate, agreed with you in writing before we proceed.

Pricing & currency

Prices shown on our site in currencies other than South African Rand (ZAR) are indicative estimates for your convenience. All actual invoices and payments are processed in ZAR, as that is the currency our payment provider settles in. We are not currently registered as a VAT vendor, so no VAT is charged on our invoices. If this changes, this section and our invoices will be updated to reflect the applicable VAT.

Payments

Payments are processed by PayFast, a licensed South African payment gateway. We do not receive or store your card details. Once you submit payment, PayFast confirms the transaction to us directly — your invoice or Care Plan status updates automatically once that confirmation is received, which may take a few minutes.

For Build projects, a 50% deposit is payable before work begins, with the remaining balance due before your completed site is published live (or on delivery, whichever comes first). For larger or custom projects, we may agree a milestone-based payment schedule with you in writing instead.

Late payment

Invoices are due within 14 days of the invoice date. Payments not received within this period will incur a late fee of 5% per month on the outstanding balance until settled. We reserve the right to suspend services, including Care Plan access, until payment is received in full.

Refund policy

Website design and development fees are non-refundable once work has commenced. Refunds may only be considered at Trellis's discretion, and only for projects that have not yet been delivered. If you believe you're entitled to a refund, email us at info.trellishub@gmail.com and we'll review it in good faith — but please note a refund is not guaranteed once work is underway.

Your obligations

To keep your project on schedule, please provide all necessary content (text, images, logos, brand assets, existing login or hosting details, and any approvals we ask for) within 14 days of the project start date, unless we agree a different timeline with you in writing. If you don't respond to our requests for information or approvals for 30 consecutive days, we may pause the project; if the delay continues for a further 30 days, we may treat the project as cancelled by you, in which case your deposit is forfeited to cover work already done and time reserved for your project.

Launch, testing & acceptance

Your website is considered complete once it has been built to the agreed scope and published to a preview or staging link for your review. You have 7 days from that point to request corrections falling within your included revision rounds; if we don't hear from you within that window, the site is deemed accepted. We require your written sign-off (an email is fine) before pointing your live domain at the finished site.

Hosting & domains

We host Build and Care Plan websites using Vercel, with data stored via Supabase where applicable. Domains are registered in your name through your chosen registrar wherever possible, so you retain control of it regardless of your relationship with us. Domain renewal fees are not included in Care Plan pricing and are billed separately, or payable directly to your registrar, unless we've agreed otherwise with you in writing.

Care Plan billing

Monthly Care Plan fees are billed on your invoice date and renew automatically each month until cancelled. Charges already billed are non-refundable. Cancelling your Care Plan stops future billing only — it does not refund amounts already charged for the current or past billing periods.

What the Care Plan doesn't cover

Each Care Plan tier includes the hosting, backup frequency, updates, and support listed on our Pricing page for that tier. It does not cover: full redesigns, new pages or functionality beyond your tier's monthly allowance, e-commerce changes, content creation or copywriting, SEO campaigns beyond the basic on-page setup done at launch, third-party subscription or licence fees (stock imagery, premium plugins, email marketing tools, and the like), or emergency fixes needed because of changes you made yourself. Any of this can be quoted and billed as additional work.

Cancellation policy

You may cancel your Monthly Care Plan by giving 30 days' written notice — either by emailing info.trellishub@gmail.com or by submitting a cancellation request from your My Account page. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing cycle; you'll retain your Care Plan benefits, and continue to be billed, until then.

What happens when you cancel

If your Care Plan ends or an invoice remains unpaid, we'll keep your site and its backups live for 30 days after the effective cancellation date, so you have time to move it elsewhere. During that window you can request an export of your site and its data; we'll provide this at no charge for a standard handover, though extensive migration assistance may be billed at our standard rate. After 30 days, we may take the site offline and delete its backups. Cancelling doesn't affect your obligation to pay any outstanding invoices, and we may withhold source files or exports until your account is settled in full.

Failed or disputed payments

If a recurring Care Plan payment fails, we'll notify you by email and attempt to resolve it before treating the plan as lapsed. If you believe a payment was made in error or was unauthorised, contact us immediately so we can investigate together with PayFast.

Support & response times

We aim to respond to support requests within 1–2 business days, and prioritise site-down or urgent issues on a best-effort basis. These are targets we work hard to meet, not guaranteed service levels, and response times may vary during busy periods or public holidays.

Third-party services

We rely on third-party providers to deliver our services, including Vercel (hosting), Supabase (database), PayFast (payments), Google (sign-in and email delivery), domain registrars, and — depending on your project — themes, plugins, stock-image libraries, analytics tools, and email platforms. These providers' own terms, pricing, outages, and any discontinuation of their services are outside our control, and we're not liable for issues caused by a third-party provider's own failure or change in service. Where reasonably possible, we'll help you find an alternative if a provider we've relied on for your project changes or shuts down.

Intellectual property

Once you've paid for your project in full, you own the bespoke visual design and your own content, branding, and material created specifically for your website. We retain ownership of the underlying code, reusable components, templates, frameworks, and tools we use to build it — these remain ours to reuse across other projects. Unless you tell us in writing that you'd prefer otherwise, we may display your completed website in our portfolio and marketing materials.

Your content

You confirm that you own, or are licensed to use, all text, images, logos, and other material you give us for your project, and you indemnify us against any claim arising from a third party alleging otherwise.

Data protection

Where your project involves us processing personal information on your behalf — for example, through a contact form, booking system, or checkout we've built for you — see the "Data we process on your behalf" section of our Privacy Policy for how that information is handled under POPIA.

Liability

We aim to deliver our services with reasonable skill and care, but to the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability to you arising out of or in connection with our services — whether in contract, delict, or otherwise — is limited to the total fees you've paid us in the 6 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, and we're not liable for indirect or consequential losses. Nothing in these terms limits any right you have under South African law, including the Consumer Protection Act, that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Dispute resolution

If a dispute arises between us that we can't resolve directly, we agree to first attempt to resolve it through good-faith mediation. If mediation doesn't resolve the dispute within 30 days, either party may refer it to arbitration under the rules of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA), before resorting to the courts. This doesn't limit either party's right to approach a court for urgent interim relief.

Special agreements

Any variation to these terms is only valid if confirmed in writing and signed by both parties. Verbal agreements, chat messages, or other informal assurances — even if made by someone at Trellishub — are not binding and do not amend these terms.

No precedent

Any exception, discount, extended deadline, or other concession we grant at our discretion on your project is a one-off gesture. It does not set a precedent, and does not create an obligation for us to offer the same on future projects, renewals, or for other clients.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time; the "Last updated" date above reflects the latest revision. Continued use of our services after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of South Africa.

Contact us

Questions about these terms? Email info.trellishub@gmail.com or call +27 72 673 8838. See also our Privacy Policy.