Web Operations Retainer

A1. Your quote and hosting setup

A monthly fee for your organization

LFW operates and maintains the Client website(s) identified on the Order Form (each a “Site”).

The fixed monthly fee reflects the Sites, publishing activity, systems, and response needs involved. The Order Form records the agreed scope, tier, and price.

Start with your website address and what you need. A quote request is free, with no obligation or required meeting.

LFW can review the public Site and provide a preliminary range or focused follow-up questions without private account access. The final scope and fee are agreed in writing before work starts.

A managed host that supports the work

The Site must use a managed Hosting Provider approved by LFW, such as Kinsta or a comparable provider. Approval applies to the specific plan and configuration, not just the provider’s brand.

The Hosting Provider, not LFW, is responsible for uptime, availability, 24/7 infrastructure monitoring, automated self-healing, and infrastructure-level backups, as described in Section 3 of the Services Agreement.

For a WordPress Site, LFW will ordinarily require:

• Access and deployments. WP-CLI and SSH access, a suitable staging environment, individual delegated accounts, appropriate permissions, and multifactor authentication.
• Recovery and support. Automated backups with a practical restoration process, documented incident recovery, and 24/7 infrastructure monitoring and technical support from the Hosting Provider.
• Performance and reliability. A current PHP runtime, full-page caching, CDN capability, resources appropriate for expected traffic, and an established, generally favorable reputation for WordPress reliability and support.

A plan is sufficiently performant when staging or production measurements show no material Hosting Provider bottleneck under expected use. LFW may approve a comparable setup or an exception documented on the Order Form after reviewing the Site’s needs.

A2. Included services

The following services apply to each Site covered by the Order Form.

Small tasks: unlimited, one at a time

Client may request unlimited tasks, each taking up to thirty (30) minutes of hands-on work. LFW works one task at a time per Site, in queue order.

Client may reorder its queue at any time. The fair-use provision in A7 applies.

Examples include content updates, plugin configuration changes, form changes, a new page using an existing template, CSS fixes, image swaps, redirect rules, and user account changes. Work that meets the Project definition in A3 is quoted separately.

Updates, deployments, and alert review

• WordPress core, theme, and plugin updates on a monthly cadence, using the deployment process in A4. An update that fixes a defect affecting the Site may be applied sooner, and LFW may apply a security patch sooner at its discretion.
• Version-controlled deployments, with staging review where the Hosting Provider supports it, and automated QA checks after every LFW deployment.
• Review of monitoring and Hosting Provider alerts during Business Hours, with action or escalation as appropriate.

Backup verification and restoration

LFW periodically verifies that Hosting Provider backups are running and restores from an available backup when needed. On request, LFW can configure and manage a dedicated WordPress backup service, such as VaultPress, billed as a pass-through of that service’s own subscription cost.

A monthly record of the work

Client receives a monthly summary of work performed, updates applied, and analytics highlights. Page history, the public-page reference archive described in A9, is also included with the retainer.

A Continuous Improvement Plan

The retainer supports improvement planning as well as incoming requests. LFW can proactively review key pages and user journeys, content, available analytics, and recurring requests to suggest practical priorities, with likely effort and dependencies explained.

Client chooses which recommendations to pursue. Agreed routine changes enter the Site’s queue; Projects require the fixed quote and written approval in A3.

Small fixes without waiting. When LFW finds a small problem on the Site that falls within the small tasks in A2, such as a broken link, missing alternative text, or an automated accessibility error, LFW may fix it without waiting for a request, unless Client has asked LFW not to. Each such fix is recorded in the Client Portal and the monthly summary. Changes to content meaning, design, or functionality follow the recommendation process above.

Results can be reviewed where useful information is available. A recommendation does not authorize work, promise a business outcome, or include a comprehensive audit or a new monitoring service.

A3. Larger tasks and fixed-price projects

A request is a “Project” if it:

• would take more than thirty (30) minutes of hands-on work;
• spans multiple templates or systems; or
• requires design or custom development.

LFW flags the larger scope, provides a written fixed quote, and proceeds only with Client’s written approval. Projects are always a fixed fee agreed before work begins. LFW does not bill hourly.

If the Order Form includes a monthly project allowance, approved quotes draw from that allowance first. Improvement recommendations do not change these pricing or approval rules.

A4. Deployments and quality checks

Review, release, and check

Changes are deployed from version control, using staging where available. After every LFW deployment, LFW runs automated QA checks.

Examples include page-load checks on key URLs, visual regression checks on key templates, form-submission tests, and error-log review.

If an LFW deployment introduces a defect

Remediation is LFW’s highest-priority task during Business Hours, at no additional charge, under Section 3.3 of the Services Agreement. That section’s remedy and limitations remain unchanged.

When a change presents an unacceptable risk

LFW may decline to deploy a change it reasonably believes presents an unacceptable risk. LFW will explain why and propose an alternative.

A5. Response targets

Business Hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time, excluding U.S. federal holidays, as defined in the Services Agreement.

Targets are measured in Business Hours from receipt through the designated request channel. Acknowledgment and beginning remediation are response milestones, not completion promises.

Request	Standard tier	Priority tier
Acknowledge new task	1 business day	4 business hours
Begin defect remediation: LFW-caused	Same business day	Same business day
Begin defect remediation: other causes	Next business day	Same business day

These are good-faith service targets, not guarantees. No service credits apply unless stated on the Order Form.

A6. Exclusions and provider responsibilities

After-hours and infrastructure coverage

LFW generally does not offer after-hours or on-call coverage unless it is negotiated separately and stated on the Order Form. Without that, the retainer does not include 24/7 or after-hours support, on-call coverage, or emergency response. LFW is not responsible for website uptime or availability.

Hosting, DNS, domain registration, email delivery and deliverability, CDN, and other infrastructure services remain the responsibility of the relevant third-party provider.

Required firewalls; vulnerability monitoring

The retainer does not include vulnerability monitoring, virtual patching, or firewall management. Security updates follow the monthly cadence in A2.

Client must maintain, for the Site, a WordPress firewall service (Wordfence or Patchstack) and Cloudflare in front of the Site with its web application firewall and DDoS mitigation turned on. LFW takes on a Site only with both in place. Their fees are third-party fees paid by Client.

Work outside routine care

• Security incidents. Incident response beyond restoring the Site from an available Hosting Provider backup, including deeper forensics or remediation, is a Project.
• Writing and design. Content writing, graphic design, redesigns, and new-site builds are available as Projects.
• Other-cause defects. LFW is not responsible for defects caused by others’ changes, third-party plugin, theme, or platform changes, or the Hosting Provider. Remediation is handled as a task or Project, as appropriate.

Third-party fees

Third-party license, plugin, hosting, and API fees are paid by Client unless the Order Form states that LFW resells them. Premium plugin licenses may be billed by the vendor or through LFW; either way, at the vendor’s published rate. A10 explains how tool setup and other provider costs are identified before approval.

A7. Fair use

Unlimited tasks assume ordinary operational use. If sustained request volume indicates that the tier no longer fits, such as a persistent queue functioning as full-time staffing, LFW will notify Client and propose a tier change. LFW will not silently degrade service.

A8. Client responsibilities

Client will:

• maintain its Hosting Provider account and pay hosting fees, unless resold by LFW;
• designate an authorized request channel and requesters;
• provide timely approvals and content; and
• inform LFW before making direct production changes. Work needed to reconcile unannounced changes is billable as a task or Project.

A9. Page history

A public-page reference archive, included

LFW captures the Site’s key pages as rendered images and HTML on a regular cadence, archiving both for reference and search. Page history also checks whether a link’s destination changed while its visible label stayed the same.

A diagnostic record, not a backup

Page history sees only what is publicly rendered, as a visitor would. It does not capture draft content, database rows never rendered publicly, configuration, or plugin settings.

Restoring lost or corrupted content requires a Hosting Provider backup or the dedicated backup service described in A2, not Page history.

Archive management and retention

LFW maintains resilience practices appropriate to this reference archive, not a primary Site backup. LFW may prune or age out older snapshots during ordinary archive management. There is no guaranteed minimum retention period unless stated on the Order Form.

A10. Tools, setup, and additional costs

Agree the setup before enabling a tool

The Order Form identifies the tools to be enabled, setup responsibilities, service limits, and any separately priced optional service. LFW explains installation, permissions, recurring costs, and the practical exit path before enabling the service.

This does not reduce the included services in A2 or Page history in A9.

• LFW Monitor and Page history check public pages remotely from LFW infrastructure. They do not require a WordPress plugin.
• Activity Logs uses a WordPress connector and a hosted service. It is not currently available as a Drupal connector.
• LFW Signet uses the same WordPress connector, a module for Drupal (LFW Connect for Drupal) and a hosted service. The approval record is also stored in the site's own database.

Keep provider charges and optional services visible

Proposed features may involve payment-processing fees, community-platform hosting, software licenses, email services, or paid APIs. The written scope identifies costs, what Client pays directly, and anything LFW resells.

Larger implementation work follows A3; a tool preview or improvement recommendation is not approval to incur a new charge.

Separately enabled Modules, such as Site Search or Experiments, are governed by the Add-on Modules Schedule and their Order Form. The protection in C1 remains: declining, cancelling, or suspending a Module does not modify, degrade, or remove anything from the Site itself.

A11. Ownership, cancellation, and handoff

Your content and paid deliverables

Client retains its content and data. Client-specific Deliverables belong to Client once paid in full, subject to the existing-materials and software-license provisions in Section 6 of the Services Agreement.

LFW retains its general tools and frameworks; the license for incorporated LFW Materials remains as stated in Section 6.2. Using a hosted service does not transfer ownership of that service.

Month to month, with written notice

Unless the Order Form specifies a fixed term, the retainer runs month to month. Either party may end it on thirty (30) days’ written notice.

Payment through termination, non-cancellable commitments, any prepaid-fee refund, and termination for breach remain governed by Section 5 of the Services Agreement.

Access is returned; migration work is scoped

For thirty (30) days after termination, LFW reasonably cooperates with an orderly handoff. Returning credentials, account access, and repository access is at no charge.

Data exports, migration assistance, and successor walkthroughs are separately scoped Projects with a fixed quote and Client’s written approval, unless already included in the Order Form.

Transition work is subject to payment of all undisputed amounts, as provided in Section 5.5 of the Services Agreement. There is no hourly billing.

Hosted tools need an ongoing service

Continued use of an LFW-hosted tool requires an ongoing service agreement. Any option to continue separately is agreed for that tool; this schedule does not promise perpetual hosted service.

Replacing a hosted integration, such as rebuilding a form in another forms plugin, may require an approved Project and a plugin license. The Site protections for Modules under C1 remain unchanged.