Client getting outside help

[Maljonic]

I designed a site for someone a month or two ago, they're a bit tight and I had to do it really cheap, and they sent me an email today saying they have this 'friend' who wants to update their site for them, I'm guessing they're going to do it for free or very very cheaply if she wants them to do it, and she wants to know if they can have all the files needed and access to the ftp account etc.

Of course I can't say no exactly but where would you draw the line regarding your work? I know it's a difficult and often touchy subject, who owns the work itself - the client who paid for the work or the designer who designed it all? Do you say 'yeah, sure it's yours, take it' and let someone else take control of the whole thing and possibly pass it off as their own. I mean there'd be nothing you could do about it really, would there?

 

[Shovel]

In every situation I've ever understoof, the client owns the site and everything associated with it. If they're paying you for hosting then obviously that continues but ultimately they've paid for and you should have delivered it to them - that includes all resources and access rights. They're well within their rights to fuck it up. That's how freelancing works. It's nothing to do with someone else taking credit for it, it's just that it's their site and that's not the place that you take your credit.

You should take your credit on your own website in your portfolio, documenting each site that you make.

Anyway, back to the situation you're in. When you provide a site you should include a certain amount of documentation, in the form of basic comments in your source code for CSS and scripts. Anything beyond that - such as an overview document for site maintenance - should be specified and charged for as standard in any site you do but since I'm guessing this wasn't part of your original contract, you're not obliged to provide it now either. Of course, if you hand it over with zero documentation then you're doing yourself harm from the POV of getting future business from them.

What you don't have to provide without a further fee is correspondence-based support for their new developer, since again that will be outside the scope of your original contract.

So yes. They should have the files and they should have FTP access. That should be their right as your client and I'd say it would be very wrong to hold that ransom or deny them what is theirs.

The lesson to learn from your taking credit worry is not to base your portfolio on live sites. Always keep a separate record. Everyone is going to redesign (for better or worse) one day.

 

[Maljonic]

Thanks, you're absolutely right of course. I already replied to her saying that it's her site so she can do anything she wants with it, but advised that some of the code is complicated and might get messed up if her friend isn't absolutely sure what he's doing.

 

[TdC]

if you have access make a backup before the external fiddling gets underway. not for them, but for you, in case the external party isn't bright and messes stuff up.

 

[Maljonic]

Yes of course. I'll keep a safe copy on disc and another one in a folder on my webspace, which I'll also use for my portfolio when they've messed up the original.

 

[wyrd_fish]

do you have a contract with them?

if so maybe you should ammend your future sales/jobs to include what happens at times like this

 

[Maljonic]

No, it was more of a verbal thing where we agreed on a cost and I just did the work.