Creative Business—Formerly Intuit Creative

Service Level Agreement

This service level agreement” (“SLA”) governs the terms and conditions in terms of which The Caretakers Limited will render its web services to you as the client. 

It is important that the terms and conditions as outlined in this SLA are fully understood and agreed to prior to requesting any services from The Caretakers Limited, and any quote accepted and/or services requested will be subject to these terms and conditions.

1.0 Definitions

  1. The following words and expressions shall have meanings hereby assigned to them except where the context otherwise requires:

    1. “Company”, “us”, “we” and “our” means reference to The Caretakers Limited.

    2. “development services” means any development services requested by the client from time to time in respect of the web services, or any remedial services required in respect of the client’s systems or any other development services as may be requested by the client from time to time.

    3.  “client”, and reference to “you” and “your” means the party or parties who utilise the services provided by the Company and accept the quotation as provided by the Company.

    4. “maintenance services” means the ongoing maintenance services and related support services which may be provided by the Company to oversee and manage the web services of the client, which services may be included as a monthly plan in the quotation of the client.

    5. “SLA” or “Service Level Agreement” refers to this document.

    6. “technical support services” means any additional technical support services which may be provided by the Company to the client at the client’s request from time to time or as may otherwise be required to successfully implement the web services (in addition to the maintenance services, if applicable).

    7. “web services” means the web services contained in the quotation provided to you and may include any of the web services we provide in the ordinary course of our business which may consist of web development (website, software and intranet development) and web hosting services.

2.0 Support

  1. We will provide you with maintenance services in relation to the web services that we may be requested to manage or maintain for you as a monthly maintenance plan as charged for on a monthly basis. It is at our discretion and determination whether any support services we provide are (i) maintenance services (which are provided at no additional cost), as quoted for as part of the maintenance plan; or (ii) technical support services as otherwise provided to or requested by the client from time to time (depending on the nature of such services and the time and expertise of such support), technical support services will be charged at the agreed hourly rates. 

  2. Development services will be provided on request by the client and will be charged at the agreed hourly rates.

  3. Hours of business

    1. Our standard hours of business are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm, excluding public holidays. We are available by phone and email only.

  4. Response times

    1. Our response times are variable, depending on the nature of the services required (whether maintenance services, technical support services or development services) the time required to resolve an issue and the urgency defined by you. Issues that affect application uptime will be escalated and resolved as a priority. Development services will be completed according to our normal work schedules and capacity. 

3.0 Maintenance

  1. Scheduled maintenance

    1. Maintenance services include routine maintenance on servers we maintain on a fortnightly schedule. We reserve one hour of server unavailability per month for maintenance purposes, this resultant scheduled unavailability is excluded from the server uptime guarantee calculations in clause 4.2.

    2. The times and days that updates are performed may vary at our discretion according to current workflow and the resources of the Company.

    3. Maintenance that doesn’t affect server availability or uptime will typically be performed during our normal business hours. Maintenance that will or could cause disruption to availability will typically be performed during off-peak hours, unless otherwise agreed or in cases of urgent attendance.

  2. Ad-hoc maintenance

    1. Whenever practical a minimum of 24 hours notice will be provided should we need to perform maintenance outside of our usual scheduled maintenance, in the event that such maintenance is considered critical and could impact availability of your web services.

  3. Level of maintenance

    1. The extent of the maintenance services required varies somewhat between environments, and will be specific to the services we provide to you.

  4. Pricing and payment of Fees

    1. The costs of maintenance will be invoiced to you at the quoted and agreed amount, in accordance with our agreed fee schedule (either billed monthly or annually), as specified in the quote emailed to and accepted by you. All fees charged and costs will increase annually on 1 January at a rate of CPI plus 2% (provided that such amount shall never decrease and shall at a minimum increase by 2%).

    2. The Company will provide invoices on a monthly basis for the relevant fees at the end of the month and all invoices are payable by the 20th of the month following the date on invoice.

4.0 Availability

  1. We endeavour to provide a high level of service to our clients in every area of our business.

  2. Web hosting

    1. We guarantee an uptime of 99.5% for applications that we host on VPS’ (Virtual Private Servers). We will attempt to rectify the cause of any disruption to hosting services as quickly as possible to minimise the duration of any such instances.

  3. Penalties for non-compliance

    1. Upon your written or email notice to us, if your application availability for the web services provided to you by us for the full month is below the guaranteed uptime level, we will refund you 100% of the monthly fee for web hosting services for the relevant month of such failed guaranteed uptime, provided that such web services have been paid in full for such month, otherwise if such amount is unpaid we will waive our fee for such month. If the guaranteed uptime was not obtained as a result of any act or omission of the client, any of its employees, its software or equipment outside of the direct control of the Company, or as a result of any other event or third party act outside of the direct control of the Company no such refund will be made. If your payments are made on an annual basis, the refund amount will be calculated by the annual cost, divided by 12. If the guaranteed uptime was not obtained as a result of any act or omission of the client, any of its employees, the client’s software, hardware or equipment, or any other event or circumstance outside of the direct control of the no such refund will be made.

  4. Monitoring

    1. To verify uptime, we use monitoring services which send HTTP requests to applications that are hosted on our servers. These requests are made every minute, and track uptime over time, along with notifying us if there are issues accessing the application. Such monitoring will be the sole manner of calculating uptime for the abovementioned guarantee. 

  5. Third party services

    1. We may make use of third-party services as required for services we provide to you. Our upstream third-party providers will notify us of any change affecting availability, which we will relay to you. Issues relating to services provided by third-parties are included in our uptime guarantee.

    2. While the Company has taken reasonable steps to utilise reputable service providers it accepts no risk or liability arising from the use of such service providers including any security breach and will notify the client of any issues, or security breaches as soon as possible after it becomes aware of the same.

  6. DDoS mitigation

    1. Where possible, we will recommend and/or implement the usage of a service to help mitigate DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. This will typically include the migration of Domain Name Servers to one of our preferred providers who offer this service. In cases of DDoS attacks occurring on an application using our shared hosting plans, we reserve the right to temporarily disable the targeted web service(s), to avoid impacting other applications on the server. We will notify you in writing as soon as we are aware of such an event, and our decision prior to performing any actions that may affect availability, whenever practical save for instances of extreme urgency.

5.0 Email

  1. We do not provide first-party services maintaining mail servers. Any agreement you have with us regarding email support is subject to the terms and conditions of our third-party provider(s).

  2. We can provide support for email services within our scope and capability if required, at our agreed hourly rates.

  3. Email services are not included in our service uptime guarantee.

6.0 Bugs and code maintenance

  1. While we endeavour to avoid introducing bugs, unexpected behaviours or errors in the web services, technical support services, maintenance services or development services including any application or software we develop or access, the nature of web services, software development and integration is such that issues, errors and bugs are often unavoidable. Ongoing maintenance of a web application or software, including the resolution of issues, errors or bugs and any unexpected behaviours will be invoiced to the client at our standard rates according to the time spent in resolving such issues and according to the type of support services provided (being maintenance service, technical support services or development services).

  2. All maintenance services and technical support services provided will be separately charged for at the relevant hourly rates unless the maintenance services provided fall within the agreed quotation and a specified maintenance plan. If the quotation includes a maintenance plan, such maintenance plan is an estimate of the maintenance services required in the ordinary course in respect of web services, and once such estimated maintenance services have been reached any additional maintenance services required will be charged at the agreed hourly rate and will be payable on presentation of an invoice to the client.

7.0 Warranty period

  1. Warranty coverage and duration

    1. We provide a warranty period for websites and new software development, including but not limited to new websites or applications, new features, and additions to existing software (referred to as "Services" or "Deliverables") that we create for our clients. This warranty period is designed to ensure that the Services are free from errors and perform as intended, subject to the terms and conditions outlined below.

    2. The warranty period for the Services shall be 30 days from the date of delivery or completion of the Services, whichever is later.

    3. During the Warranty Period, We warrant that the Services will:
      Conform to the specifications and requirements as outlined in the quotation or statement of work;
      Be free from significant coding errors, bugs, or malfunctions;
      Perform in accordance with industry standards and best practices.

  2. Exclusions

    1. This warranty does not cover:
      Issues caused by modifications, alterations, or additions to the Services made by any party other than us;
      Third-party products, services, or software not developed or provided by us;
      Any errors or malfunctions arising from misuse, negligence, or improper use of the Services by you or any third party.

  3. Warranty claims

    1. In the event that you discover any errors or non-conformance during the Warranty Period, You must promptly notify us in writing. We will assess the issue and, if deemed a valid warranty claim, We will undertake reasonable efforts to rectify or repair the issue within a reasonable time frame.

  4. Sole remedies

    1. Your exclusive remedies under this warranty shall be limited to:
      Rectification of the Services to conform to the specifications and requirements as outlined in the project agreement or statement of work;
      Repair or replacement of any components or features with significant coding errors, bugs, or malfunctions.

  5. Limitation of liability

    1. To the fullest extent permitted by law, our liability under this warranty is limited to the remedies provided herein. In no event shall we be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising out of or in connection with the use or inability to use the Services.

8.0 Capacity and limits

  1. We use high performance, dedicated web servers for our web services and all applications we host for our clients. All web hosting services we provide are subject to what we call “fair use”. As a guideline, we expect most of our clients to fall within the range of what we consider fair use.

  2. Unreasonable usage is defined by bandwidth, data storage, file storage, CPU, memory or labour required exceeding a specific amount agreed upon, and/or according to one or more of the below thresholds:

    1. 40GB total bandwidth

    2. 2GB file storage

    3. 1GB database storage

    4. 1 hour labour

    5. Usage resulting in CPU or memory exceeding 80% capacity for longer than 30 minutes

  3. Where required, we will notify you ahead of any action we take to address usage outside of our fair use estimates and work with you to correct it. This may mean an increase in costs to maintain your particular application(s), by way of increasing resources to match usage.

  4. We may also provide application-specific recommendations to better optimise performance and usage.

  5. Any additional costs incurred outside of the agreed billing amounts will be notified at a minimum of 7 days in advance.

9.0 Data backups and retention

  1. We perform routine backups of web applications on the following schedules:

    1. Database: daily

    2. File storage: weekly

    3. Entire server: weekly

  2. These backups are retained for a minimum period of 7 days, depending on the agreed hosting plan and pricing.

  3. We ensure any application we host is stored in a Git source control provider, meaning there is always a reliable method to restore the current version of the application’s code.

  4. In the unlikely event of hardware failure that results in a server losing all of its data, we will be able to restore data as per the most recent backup outlined in the schedule above.

  5. Notwithstanding the above storage and back-up processes the Company accepts no risk or liability arising from any failure to restore any information or data. 

10.0 Indemnity and damages

  1. By agreeing to this SLA, you agree to waive any and all claims against the Company, its directors, shareholders, employees and agents for any costs, damages or losses to the client or any third party howsoever arising including but limited to any costs, damages, or losses resulting directly or indirectly from the client’s use of our web services, or any other goods or services provided to it by the Company or its service providers. 

  2. The client hereby indemnifies and holds the Company harmless for any and all costs, losses or damages incurred by the Company in providing web services, or any other goods or services to the client. 

  3. Without limiting the generality of the aforegoing the client indemnifies and holds the Company harmless against any costs, liabilities, losses, and expenses including reasonable legal costs arising from any claim relating to the infringement of any third-party intellectual property rights arising directly or indirectly from the use of the web services or any other services by the client. 

  4. Unless expressly agreed in writing, we do not have any liability to the client for the performance of any web services provided to the client.

11.0 Termination

  1. Moving to another provider

    1. In the event that you wish to move your web services to another service provider, we will co-operate and supply exports of data, files and code, along with any information relating to the current hosting environment required to move it to another server. The client will be required to pay for the time spent in preparing such information and any other time spent by the Company in undertaking the hand-over which amounts will be payable on demand and the Company reserves the right to retain any such information and/or data until all the amounts owing to the Company have been paid in full.

    2. A client may cancel the SLA on written notice to the Company and the cancellation will be effective from the first day of the following calendar month. If any fees have been paid in advance they will be refunded save that there will be no refund for the first calendar month or any part thereof during which the cancellation is received. 

  2. Late payments

    1. In the event that the client does not pay an invoice by the due date specified, we reserve the right to suspend all further works and ongoing services – including web hosting – until payment is received in full.

    2. All overdue invoices shall accrue interest at the ruling ASB Bank overdraft rate plus 2% on the amount outstanding, calculated from the due date of payment until payment is received in full.

  3. Frustrations

    1. In the event that a client “frustrates” the progress of a project contract with us, then we will be entitled to give 14 days written notice to the client of the contract being terminated. If the client does not satisfactorily remedy the cause(s) of the frustration, within the 14 day notice period, then we will have the right to terminate the contract. We will invoice the client for the full value of works carried out to date.

12.0 General

  1. This SLA, together with the quotation will constitute the entire contract between the Company and the client. The Company will not be bound by any other preceding agreement, negotiations, terms or conditions, promises or statements, warranties or representations, express or implied made by the Company or any of its agents or any of its employees, or any other person purporting to act for or on behalf of the Company. No variation, amendment or consensual cancellation of this SLA or this clause shall be of any force or effect unless reduced to writing and signed by the parties hereto.

  2. Any latitude or extension of time which may be allowed by the Company to the client in respect of any payment provided for herein, or any matter or thing which the client is bound to perform or observe in terms hereof shall not in any circumstances be deemed to be a waiver of the Company's rights at any time, to require strict and punctual compliance with each and every provision or term hereof.

  3. All amounts contained in the SLA, or in any quotation or invoice are exclusive of GST unless otherwise specified. 

  4. The Company accepts no loss or liability for late or non-delivery of any web services, maintenance services, technical support services or development services.

  5. The client shall meet all of the Company’s expenses, legal costs and disbursements incurred by the Supplier in enforcing any terms hereof or collecting outstanding payments.

  6. The client selects the email address provided to the Company and as contained in the quotation or the nominated email address otherwise provided, which may include an email address to which any correspondence was sent as the address for service of legal notices in terms of the SLA. 

  7. If the client is a legal person, the natural person that engages with the company, warrants that he/she is duly authorised hereto, and that only duly authorised persons will engage with the Company in respect of any services and the SLA, and further warrants that that the relevant legal person is bound to the SLA. 

  8. If any provision or part-provision of the SLA is or becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable, it shall be deemed modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid, legal and enforceable. If such modification is not possible, the relevant provision or part-provision shall be deemed deleted. Any modification to or deletion of a provision or part-provision under this clause shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the rest of the SLA.

  9. Any quotation accepted or services requested after receipt of this SLA by the client shall in the absence of express acceptance of this SLA be deemed acceptance hereof and all services rendered shall be subject to this SLA.  

  10. The client warrants that it is entering into this Contract for trade/business use and it is in trade as is the Company. Accordingly, the parties agree to contract out of the provisions of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and the Fair Trading Act 1986 (including sections 9, 12A, 13 and 14(1)); and the Client acknowledges and agrees that it is fair and reasonable to do so.

13.0 Privacy and Confidentiality

  1. The Company will treat as confidential all information that it may become aware of and that may be made available to it electronically or on site in relation to the client’s business.

  2. The Company has a privacy policy that is available on request and on its website. The services provided in terms of the SLA will be undertaken in accordance with the Company’s privacy policy. 

  3. The Company requires some of the client’s personal details and information to process a quotation and to provide the services and will retain this information in its database for record purposes and processing including for the use of marketing of its services. Personal information gathered from the Company’s website, emails, or social media messaging is retained for the aforementioned purposes. The Company utilises reasonable IT security measures to maintain your privacy of information. If at any time the client wishes to know what information the Supplier has on file, or to withdraw from the Company’s database, or to amend information on our database a written request may be made to the Company and the Company will assist with the relevant disclosures, deletions or amendments. 

  4. The Company may make audio and/or visual recordings in the ordinary course of its business and will undertake the same in compliance with laws while promoting a client’s confidentiality.

14.0 Updates

  1. We reserve the right to update this document over time. If updates are made, we will provide you with an amended version and such amended version will be deemed to be accepted should you continue to obtain any web services, maintenance services, development support and/or technical support services from the Company after such date. The most up to date version will be made available at https://caretakers.io/sla

  2. This SLA was last updated: 24/06/2025.