Web designer helping out a friend

w00519773

A friend of mine who I have known for over 40 years has asked me to design him a website for his business - I have not agreed to do it yet.  The website will simply showcase his work (he is a trades person) and his business partners work (I do not know his business partner) and will consist of a few pages.  I have already done the work (it took less than one day). The next step is to register the domain name and then upload the files to a hosting company, which will take an hour or so.  I have found a hosting company.

Before I agree to do this; I have some concerns.  I will only charge him a nominal fee (if anything - I may not charge him anything).  There won't be any tax to pay because it will be below the threshold (HMRC have confirmed).  However, I don't know anything about terms and conditions and liability insurance etc and everything else about running a business.  I am not starting a business; I am just thinking about helping a friend out.

Has anyone done this before - particularly web designers, but interested other fields as well.  Am I over thinking this?

Is there anything I can do to say that I will take no liability for anything (maybe like "sold as seen" when buying a car).  I don't think for one minute there will be any problems, however I am a cautious person.  

CKhalvashi

The tax situation has been clarified; you don't need to declare income up to a certain amount. You don't make it clear, but may need to declare this income to the DWP or Council if claiming benefits, as this is not covered by the same exemptions.

If you're doing something for a friend, it's likely you won't need formal terms and conditions. I've just phoned a friend and entered into a contract to pick me up from a certain airport on a certain date at a certain time, before taking me to a certain place for a certain price (discounted from market rate). We don't need to put that in writing between us.

As a business to business transaction, the website will simply need to do what is agreed to avoid disputes. Something like this should be re-buildable within Wordpress within a few hours if there are issues with the work you've done. I recommend 'Let's Encrypt' for free SSLs, which will need to be updated (for free) every 90-ish days.

If you're not employing anyone, there is no legal requirement to hold any insurance. For a one off service that isn't going to be legally complicated, self-insurance is likely the right way to go (meaning you put any problems right), bearing in mind what I've said above and also bearing in mind it's a 'few pages'.

I'd recommend TSOhost, as you can pick up hosting packages from about £15 a year with them, meaning everything gets online for less than £30 a year including domain.

In short, you're probably over-thinking things.

w00519773

Thanks.  Just to clarify - I meant I have known him for over 30 years rather than 40 years (about 34 years).  I am not employing anyone.  I am not on any benefits.  There are four pages on the website as it stands i.e. home; About Us; Our Work (simple photo library) and Contact Us.  I like the analogy of your friend picking you up in a car - I have agreed to give him a lift somewhere in the past (and he has done the same for me) many times - I would not make a formal complaint if he was late - and neither would he.
He has already seen the work I have done on my local development PC and is happy with it (I am a software developer).  
I think I agree that I am overthinking this.

CKhalvashi

The friend is a professional taxi driver specialising in airport transfers, in the same way as you are an IT professional, so it's simply using skills in downtime. Obviously if I have to wait around a few hours, that won't be a problem as a discount is being exchanged for this flexibility (which is implied instead of being for granted). Equally I prefer the privacy of having a driver I know, ensuring any confidential business discussions had on the road are not divulged to third parties.

If everything is ok, you'll just need to make sure the website is compliant with legislation (Cookies page if collecting such information, Limited Company named if necessary, privacy policy for GDPR, templates available online to be adapted). Just be prepared for any minor tweaks that may need to be done, and this sounds like there won't be any problems either way in a situation like this. This is why I prefer Wordpress, as this can be integrated easily.

Just make sure your friends business buys the domain and hosting and supplies you the login details to avoid you paying out year on year should anything happen to your friend.

Manxman_in_exile

It's not quite like arranging to pick up a friend from somewhere is it?

How is your friend going to maintain the website?  Are you simply designing it for them - then handing it over for them to maintain and look after and washing your hands of future involvement?  What if it goes wrong?  Will you sort it out or will your friend have to get a third party to fix it?  What if the third party says any problems were caused by your negligence in designing it?  What if your negligence costs them money?  What if their business partner doesn't like your website?

I fully appreciate your motives in wanting to do a favour for a friend - whether you charge them a nominal fee or not - but if your friend wants to use your website in connection with his livelihood (and that of his business partner) I'd suggest it's best done at arms' length and on a business basis.  Otherwise you run the risk of losing a long-term friend.

To use the picking up a friend example: if that's a purely social or leisure situation, fine.  But let's say you need picking up in connection with a business purpose.  Let's say your friend doesn't pick you up for reasons outside their control and you lose business (and income) as a result of that.  You probably(?) have no legal recourse against your friend, but I suspect your friendship may not last much longer.  Of course, if you needed picking up from somewhere in relation to business, you might not rely on a favour from a friend - you'd make "proper" arrangements.

If the website will be used in your friend's business, it should be designed around a proper business relationship and not because they are a friend.

CKhalvashi

I disagree to an extent Manxman, a basic static website running into few pages will require very little in the way of maintenance. I prefer to use Wordpress in my web endeavours, purely due to how flexible it is. It takes no more than 5 minutes a month to make sure that updates are done, and can be done by anyone from anywhere, for a fee if OP is planning to do it.

For many sites of this nature, the priority is going to be ensuring that everything works initially and that any SSL certificates are kept up to date, again, not overly time consuming and not overly technical. I believe that I have made this clear further up.

Manxman_in_exile

If you'd be happy with that - fair enough.  But the OP or their friend (or the friend's business partner) may not.  The OP will have to ensure that the other two people are entirely clear about where the OP's responsibilities end.

I'd prefer to keep friendship and anything to do with business separate.

Takes all sorts I suppose.

victor2

I built a web based system for a charity an old friend of mine is a director of over 10 years ago. It was in daily use up until the pandemic kicked in and will hopefully start being used again soon. I did it at no cost to the charity, just told them they would have to pay for the hosting platform and recommended one for them, which they used.

I told them the system was a donation by me to the charity, so they owned it, and that fact is noted in the minutes from one of their committee meetings. It's PHP based, so they have the source code on their web hosting. I have agreed to maintain it as needed, but said I would step back from that if anybody else wanted to modify it.

A few modifications over the years, but nothing major. Everybody is happy, and our friendship continues!

Mistral001

You have to think of the risks to yourself.  Here are just a few:
Infringement of copyright of any photos, logos, or any artwork that you use on the site.  Even text can sometimes be protected by copyright.
Text composed by you.  Has it been approved by your friend?  Is it accurate?
What happens if you fall out and your friend becomes a millionaire as a result of your website.  Will you be OK with not getting any share in his profits as a result of your good work?