Terms of Service

Last updated: 5 January 2026

1. About these terms

These terms apply when you buy services from finalcoat.dev. finalcoat.dev is operated by James Turner (sole trader), ABN 29 769 463 862 ("finalcoat.dev", "we", "us"). "You" means the person or business buying our services. By paying for a package, signing a proposal, or ticking the box at checkout, you agree to these terms.

If we agree a written proposal or statement of work with you, it forms part of these terms. If the two conflict, the proposal wins.

2. Our services

We provide product and software engineering consulting. That means reviewing, fixing, extending, deploying and supporting software that you have started building. Our packages (Inspection, Final Coat, Production Grade, Retainer and add-ons) are described on our website. The exact scope of each engagement is confirmed with you in writing before substantive work begins.

We provide professional services. We do not provide legal, financial, tax or regulatory advice. Where we help set up items such as terms of service or privacy policies for your product, these are templates, and you should have them reviewed by a qualified adviser.

3. Scope and changes

• Fixed-price packages cover the scope agreed in writing. Work outside that scope is a change request.
• We'll tell you before doing any out-of-scope work and give you a price or time estimate. We only proceed once you approve it in writing (email is fine).
• Timelines depend on you giving us timely access, information and feedback. If those are delayed, delivery dates move accordingly.

4. Fees and payment

• All prices are in Australian dollars.
• Inspection is paid in full upfront. Final Coat requires a 30% deposit, with the balance invoiced on delivery. Production Grade is invoiced as set out in its proposal. Retainers are billed monthly in advance.
• Invoices are due within 14 days unless the proposal says otherwise. We may pause work on overdue accounts after giving you written notice.
• Online payments are processed by Stripe. We never receive or store your full card details.

5. Cancellations and refunds

• Inspection: if you cancel before we start work, we refund you in full. Once work has started, the fee is non-refundable except as required by law. If you buy Final Coat within 30 days of your Inspection report, the Inspection fee is credited against it.
• Final Coat deposit: if we can't agree a written scope with you, we refund the deposit less the value of any work already delivered, charged at our standard hourly rate of $250 per hour. Once scope is agreed and work starts, the deposit is non-refundable except as required by law.
• Retainer: either party can cancel with 30 days' written notice. Unused hours roll over for one month and then expire. Retainer fees already paid are not refundable except as required by law.
• If you end an engagement early, you pay for work completed up to that point, and you receive that work.

6. Your responsibilities

• You give us the access, information and decisions we need, when we need them.
• You confirm that you have the right to give us the code, content, data and accounts you share with us, and that using them won't infringe anyone else's rights.
• You keep production accounts (hosting, domains, payment providers, app stores) in your own name. You pay those providers' fees directly unless we agree otherwise.
• You're responsible for your product, how it is used, and its compliance with the laws that apply to your business, including privacy and consumer law.
• You keep your own backups of anything important before we begin work.

7. Tools, AI and third parties

We use AI-assisted development tools, among others, and a person reviews all work before we deliver it. Your product may rely on third-party services (for example hosting, databases or payment providers). Those providers' own terms govern them, and we aren't responsible for their availability, pricing or changes.

We deliver our services with a small network of trusted independent specialists (subcontractors), who are not our employees. They are bound by confidentiality obligations no less protective than those in these terms, and we remain responsible for their work.

8. Intellectual property

• You own your existing code, content and data.
• Once you have paid in full for a piece of work, all intellectual property in the deliverables we create specifically for you is assigned to you.
• We keep ownership of our pre-existing tools, templates and know-how. Where any of these are included in your deliverables, we grant you a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use and modify them as part of your product.
• Open-source components remain subject to their own licences.
• We will only name you or show your work in our marketing with your written permission.

9. Confidentiality

Each of us will keep the other's confidential information confidential and use it only for the engagement. This doesn't apply to information that is public, already known to the recipient, or required to be disclosed by law. These obligations continue after the engagement ends. We're also happy to sign your NDA.

10. Security and personal information

We access your systems using the least privilege we need, keep credentials in a secure password manager, and ask you to remove our access when an engagement ends. If your systems contain personal information about your customers, we access and handle it only as needed to provide our services and in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). If we become aware of a security incident affecting your systems, we will tell you promptly. Our handling of your own personal information is described in our Privacy Policy.

11. Our guarantees

Our services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law, including that they will be provided with due care and skill. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Beyond those guarantees, we will fix defects in our deliverables free of charge if you report them within 30 days of delivery. Software is never completely free of bugs, and we can't guarantee commercial outcomes such as revenue, users or app-store approval.

12. Limitation of liability

To the extent permitted by law:

• where our services are not of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use, our liability for failing to comply with a consumer guarantee is limited, at our choice, to supplying the services again or paying the cost of having them supplied again;
• our total liability to you arising from an engagement is limited to the fees you paid us for that engagement in the three months before the claim arose; and
• neither of us is liable for indirect or consequential loss, including lost profits, revenue, data or opportunity.

These limits don't apply to liability for fraud, wilful misconduct, or breach of confidentiality.

13. Ending an engagement

Either of us may end an engagement by written notice if the other materially breaches these terms and doesn't fix the breach within 14 days of being asked to. Sections 4, 5, 8, 9, 11 and 12 continue to apply after an engagement ends.

14. General

• These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia, and each of us submits to the courts of that state.
• If there's a dispute, we'll both try in good faith to resolve it by talking before starting legal proceedings.
• We may update these terms from time to time. The version that applies to your engagement is the one in force when you bought it.
• If any part of these terms is unenforceable, the rest still applies.

15. Contact

Questions about these terms? Email hello@finalcoat.dev.