Terms of Service

Last updated: 24 July 2026

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) govern the relationship between Sentinay, a sole trader business operated by Tom Hardiman in the United Kingdom (“Sentinay”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), and the business or individual we build a website for (“Customer”, “you”).

By requesting a free preview, or by asking us to build, host or maintain a website for you, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use our services.

1. The Service

1.1 What we do

Sentinay designs, builds, hosts and maintains websites for trades, home service businesses and construction firms. A typical build includes a gallery of your finished work, your contact details, an enquiry form, and the pages needed to describe what you do.

1.2 The free preview

We will build you a working preview of a website before you pay anything and before you commit to anything. The preview is genuinely free: there is no card required, no contract, and no obligation to proceed.

A preview is a demonstration, not a finished product. It is hosted on a temporary Sentinay address, may use placeholder or stock imagery, and remains our property under clause 5 until the site is paid for. We may take a preview offline at any time, and we may decline to build one for any business at our discretion.

1.3 Where your content comes from

To build the preview, all we ask you for is your business name and the contact details we need to send it to you. We then source publicly available information about your business ourselves - typically your Google Business Profile, your social media pages, your reviews, and the services and areas you list publicly.

We will correct or remove anything we have got wrong as soon as you tell us. Please do check the preview: we would rather you spotted an error than a customer did.

1.4 Changes and ongoing maintenance

Once your site is live we will make reasonable changes to it - swapping photos, updating your details, adding a service - as part of the ongoing fee agreed with you. Substantial new work, such as additional pages, a redesign, or bespoke functionality, may be quoted separately.

1.5 Third-party providers

We use third-party providers to deliver parts of the service, including hosting, domain registration and email delivery. Sentinay is not responsible for the performance or availability of third-party platforms beyond our reasonable control.

2. Your Responsibilities

You agree to:

  • Give us accurate information about your business, and tell us promptly if anything on the site is wrong or out of date
  • Hold the necessary rights to any photographs, logos, reviews or other material you send us, and to permit us to publish it on your website
  • Hold any accreditation, registration, insurance or licence the site states you hold - for example Gas Safe, NICEIC, or a trade association membership
  • Comply with applicable UK law in how you use the website and how you handle enquiries received through it, including the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR)

You are responsible for the accuracy of the claims made on your website. Where we have drafted copy from public sources, publishing the site confirms you are happy that it is accurate.

3. Fees and Payment

3.1 Fees

The preview is free. If you decide to go ahead, the fees for building, hosting and maintaining your site will be set out and agreed with you in writing before any payment is taken. There are no fees you have not agreed to in advance.

3.2 Payment terms

Unless otherwise agreed, ongoing hosting and maintenance fees are payable monthly in advance. Invoices are due within 14 days of issue.

3.3 Late payment

If payment is more than 30 days overdue we may suspend hosting of your site after giving you at least 7 days' written notice. We will not suspend a live site without warning you first. Late payments may incur interest at the statutory rate under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

3.4 Taxes

All fees are exclusive of VAT or other applicable taxes, which will be charged at the prevailing rate where applicable.

4. Data Protection

4.1 Your own details

When we hold your contact details in order to build your site, invoice you and keep in touch, Sentinay is the data controller. How we handle that information is set out in our Privacy Policy.

4.2 Enquiries through your website - our processor commitments

When a member of the public submits an enquiry through a website we host for you, that person's personal data belongs to you. For that data you are the data controller and Sentinay is your data processor under Article 28 of the UK GDPR. This clause forms the written contract that Article 28 requires between us.

Sentinay agrees that we will:

  • Process that personal data only on your documented instructions, which these Terms constitute, and only to operate, host and support your website
  • Ensure anyone authorised to access it is bound by a duty of confidence
  • Apply appropriate technical and organisational security measures, as described in our Privacy Policy
  • Not engage another processor without telling you, and impose equivalent obligations on any we do engage. Our current sub-processors are listed in our Privacy Policy
  • Assist you, so far as reasonably possible, in responding to requests from individuals exercising their data protection rights
  • Assist you with security, breach notification and data protection impact assessments, and notify you without undue delay if we become aware of a personal data breach affecting your data
  • Delete or return the personal data at the end of our engagement, except where we are required by law to keep it
  • Make available the information you reasonably need to demonstrate our compliance with this clause, and allow for and contribute to audits

The subject matter is the operation of your website; the duration is the term of our engagement; the nature and purpose is hosting and delivering enquiries to you; the personal data is that submitted by your enquirers - typically name, contact details and the content of their message; and the data subjects are members of the public who contact you through your site.

4.3 Confidentiality

Each party agrees to keep confidential any non-public information disclosed by the other, and to use it solely for the purpose of this Agreement. This does not apply to information that is publicly known, independently developed, or required to be disclosed by law.

5. Intellectual Property

5.1 Your material

Anything you send us - photographs, your logo, your copy - remains yours. You grant us the licence needed to publish it on your website and, unless you tell us otherwise, to show your finished site as an example of our work.

5.2 The site we build

While the site is an unpaid preview, it remains our property. Once you have paid the agreed fees and while your account is in good standing, you have a licence to use the website we have built for your business.

The underlying frameworks, components and templates we reuse across builds remain Sentinay's property. If you leave us, you may take your domain name, your own content and your enquiry data with you.

5.3 Your domain name

Where we register a domain on your behalf, we do so for you and will transfer it to you or to another provider on request, subject to any outstanding fees and to the registrar's own transfer rules.

6. What We Do and Do Not Promise

We will carry out our work with reasonable skill and care. You acknowledge and agree that:

  • We do not promise search engine rankings. We build websites; we do not sell SEO, and no one can honestly guarantee a position on Google. Nothing we say should be taken as a promise of ranking, traffic, enquiries or sales.
  • We do not guarantee that your website will generate business, and results vary from trade to trade.
  • The service depends on third-party providers outside our control, and we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation.

Except as expressly stated in these Terms, and without affecting your statutory rights, we provide the service on an “as is” basis and disclaim all implied warranties, including fitness for a particular purpose.

7. Liability

7.1 What we do not exclude

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

7.2 Exclusion of indirect loss

Subject to clause 7.1, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, Sentinay is not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential loss, including loss of profits, business, goodwill or anticipated savings.

7.3 Maximum liability

Subject to clause 7.1, Sentinay's total liability for any claim under these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) the total fees you have paid us in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) £250. Where we have built you a site free of charge and you have paid us nothing, our liability is limited to £250.

8. Ending the Agreement

8.1 Notice

You may stop using our services at any time by giving us 30 days' written notice. We may end the agreement on 30 days' written notice, or immediately if you materially breach these Terms and do not put it right within 14 days of us asking.

8.2 What happens to your site

Upon termination:

  • We will stop hosting your website at the end of your final paid period
  • On request, and provided your account is settled, we will hand over your domain name, your own content and your enquiry data, and give you a reasonable window to arrange hosting elsewhere
  • Any outstanding invoices become payable

Clauses on intellectual property, confidentiality, data protection and liability survive termination.

9. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms and any dispute arising under them are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

10. General

  • Independent contractor: Sentinay is an independent contractor. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture or employment relationship.
  • Amendments: We may update these Terms from time to time. The current version is always posted here, and we will tell you about any significant change affecting a live customer.
  • Force majeure: Neither party is liable for delays caused by events beyond their reasonable control.
  • Severability: If any provision is found invalid, the rest remain in force.
  • Notices: Formal notices should be sent to tom@sentinay.com.