Fulfillment
Policy

What we provide

ACT for Trades is a design studio. We sell professional services, not physical stock. An engagement typically covers one or more of the following:

• brand identity — marks, colour, type, guidelines and applied artwork;
• website design and build, together with hosting and aftercare where agreed;
• magazines, capability brochures, tender documents and other print, including management of the printing itself;
• online presence — business listings, review systems, social templates and photography direction.

Deliverables are digital files, and where print is part of the job, the printed items themselves.

Quotes and agreement

Every engagement starts with a free introductory call of about forty-five minutes. There is no charge and no obligation.

After that we carry out a short survey of what you already have, and issue a written summary and a fixed quote. The quote sets out the scope, the deliverables, the timescale and the price. Work begins once you accept it in writing.

A fixed quote does not move unless the brief changes. If you ask for something outside the agreed scope we will tell you what it adds before doing it, never afterwards. If we underestimated the job, that is our problem and not yours.

Prices and payment

• All prices are quoted in pounds sterling and exclude VAT, which is added where applicable.
• Fees are payable in three stages: on acceptance of the quote, at an agreed midpoint, and on completion. The exact split is set out in your quote.
• Invoices are due within 14 days unless your quote says otherwise.
• We accept bank transfer. Card payments can be arranged on request and are processed by a third-party payment provider — we never see or store your full card details.
• Any ongoing service, such as hosting or aftercare, is billed separately and may be cancelled with 30 days' notice. We do not operate retainers you cannot leave.

Third-party costs

Printing, vehicle wrapping, signage manufacture, photography, stock licences and domain registration are quoted separately and charged at cost. They are not included in design fees. Where these are substantial we ask for them in advance, because we have to commit to the supplier before production starts.

Timescales and delivery

Indicative timescales from the point a quote is accepted:

1. Survey — week one. Audit, competitor review and written summary.
2. Drawings — weeks two to three. Two worked-up routes, shown in context.
3. Build — weeks four to eight. Design finished, artwork prepared, site built and tested, print specified and proofed.
4. Handover — files, guidelines and a session with your team.

An identity on its own usually runs four to six weeks; identity and website together, eight to ten; a magazine, around six weeks from the first editorial meeting to delivered pallet.

The main variable is you. Timescales assume photographs, content and approvals arrive when we ask for them. Where a delay is on our side we will tell you promptly and give you a revised date.

Digital deliverables are supplied electronically. Printed items are delivered to an address you nominate, on lead times confirmed at the point the print is specified.

Revisions

Each stage includes two rounds of revisions against the agreed brief. Further rounds, or changes that alter the brief, are quoted before they are carried out.

Once artwork is approved and released to a printer, a signwriter or a hosting environment, it cannot be recalled. Please check proofs carefully — we will always give you the chance to.

What you receive at handover

You own your work outright. At handover we provide every source file, in every format you need, with no licence fee and no ongoing charge for using your own brand. You do not need our permission, or our involvement, to use it afterwards.

Where third-party assets are used — a licensed typeface or a stock photograph, for example — the licence terms of that asset apply, and we will tell you what they are.

Cancellation

You may cancel an engagement at any time in writing. If you do:

• work completed up to that point is chargeable, and any stage payment already invoiced remains due;
• third-party costs already committed on your behalf are chargeable in full;
• anything paid for but not yet started is refunded.

We may also decline or end an engagement — for example where a brief changes beyond what we can deliver well, or where invoices go unpaid. If we end it for our own reasons, you pay only for work completed.

Refunds

Because these are bespoke professional services rather than stock items, fees for work already carried out are not generally refundable. Where a refund is due — for a cancelled stage not yet begun, or an overpayment — we process it back to the original payment method within 14 days of agreeing it.

If you are not happy with the work, tell us. In most cases the answer is another round of revisions rather than a refund, and we would far rather fix it than argue about it.

If something goes wrong

Raise it with us directly and quickly. We will respond within one working day and set out how we intend to put it right. Nothing in this policy affects your statutory rights.

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