General disclaimer

Everything on stacklumen.com is informational. Nothing on this website — including service descriptions, pricing, examples, screenshots, blog posts, and product previews — constitutes a binding offer, contract, or guarantee.

What this means in practice

• Service descriptions explain our typical practice, not a contractual commitment
• Examples and case studies represent past work, not predicted outcomes for new work
• Timelines and capabilities can vary materially based on your specific project
• Stacklumen reserves the right to revise scope, pricing, or decline projects during discovery
• Reading or interacting with this site does not create a client relationship

Pricing and estimator disclaimer

All pricing on stacklumen.com is reference information — including service tier prices, "starting from" anchors, the live estimator on the pricing page, example breakdowns, and any figures in blog posts or promotional content.

The estimator specifically

The interactive project estimator on the pricing page is a deliberately simplified ballpark tool. It does not account for, among other things:

• Project-specific technical complexity, integrations, or compliance requirements
• Content readiness, asset preparation, and copywriting needs
• Brand maturity or design-system status at engagement start
• Third-party API limitations, vendor pricing, or licensing costs
• Timeline pressure beyond the published "expedited" multiplier
• Stakeholder count, approval cycles, or organizational complexity

Estimator results may differ materially from a real quote — in either direction. Use them to set expectations, not to plan budgets.

Promotional pricing

Limited-time offers, promotional pricing, and discounted engagements (including any sprint or seasonal promotions advertised on the blog or pricing page) are subject to additional terms specified in the offer itself. Stacklumen reserves the right to:

• Cap availability at a stated number of spots, first-come first-served
• Close offers early once availability is exhausted
• Decline projects that don't fit the constraints of a promotional engagement
• Modify or withdraw promotional pricing at any time before sign-off
• Apply standard pricing to any work outside the promotional scope

Currency and taxes

All prices are in U.S. dollars unless explicitly stated otherwise. Prices exclude applicable sales taxes, which will be added to invoices where required by law. International clients are responsible for any currency conversion fees, wire fees, and VAT or equivalent taxes in their jurisdiction.

Guarantees & outcomes

Stacklumen does not guarantee specific business, marketing, performance, or financial outcomes from any engagement. We commit to craft, communication, and the deliverables defined in your proposal — not to results outside our direct control.

What we do commit to

Performance metrics

Where we cite performance figures — Lighthouse scores, Core Web Vitals targets, response times — these are baselines we work to achieve at handover. They reflect the state of the deliverable at delivery, not a guarantee of ongoing performance after handover. Performance can degrade based on your hosting, CDN, third-party scripts you add, content changes, and platform updates outside our control.

SEO and rankings

We follow current SEO best practices in our builds. We do not guarantee specific rankings, organic traffic, or search visibility outcomes. Search engine algorithms change, competitors invest, and your existing domain authority and content strategy are not factors we control.

Third-party platforms

Engagements involving third-party platforms (Webflow, Shopify, Vercel, Cloudflare, Supabase, Stripe, etc.) are subject to those platforms' terms, pricing, uptime, and availability. We do not guarantee third-party platform behavior, and we are not liable for their outages, pricing changes, feature deprecations, or policy changes.

Products in development

Hublumen, Baselumen, and Stacklumen AI are products in active development. References to them on this website — including features, screenshots, descriptions, and waitlist forms — describe planned functionality, not current capabilities.

Waitlists

Joining a product waitlist does not entitle you to:

• Early access at any specific time
• Access at any specific price
• Access at all — we may invite a subset of waitlist signups
• The product as currently described — final features will likely differ
• A refund if you have paid anything in advance (we are not currently accepting payments for these products)

By submitting your email to a waitlist, you consent to receive launch and product update emails from Stacklumen. You can unsubscribe at any time. See 08 — Privacy.

Beta and early-access programs

If we invite you to a beta or early-access program, that program will have its own terms which supersede this section for the scope of the beta. Beta software is provided as-is, may be unstable, and may be modified or discontinued without notice.

Engagement terms

These are the standard terms that apply to every Stacklumen engagement. The signed proposal for your specific project takes precedence over anything below where they conflict.

What constitutes an engagement

An engagement begins when you sign a written proposal from Stacklumen and remit any deposit specified in that proposal. Conversations, emails, calls, and verbal commitments do not create an engagement. Reading this page does not create an engagement.

Standard inclusions

Unless your proposal specifies otherwise, every engagement includes:

• Weekly status updates and demos on a staging URL
• Two rounds of revisions per phase (additional revisions are billed hourly)
• Full source code ownership at handover, transferred via your designated git remote
• Written documentation appropriate to the project scope
• A handover meeting with you or your designated developer
• 60 days of post-launch bug fix and technical question support

What's not included

• Hosting, domain registration, or third-party service costs
• Stock photography, fonts, or media licenses
• Copywriting or content creation unless specified
• Ongoing maintenance after the 60-day support window
• Marketing, SEO consulting, or strategic advisory beyond the build itself

Scope and revisions

Revisions

Each phase of work (typically Discovery, Design, Build) includes two rounds of consolidated revisions. A "round" means one batch of feedback delivered together, not feedback delivered piecemeal over multiple days. We address all reasonable feedback within scope at no additional charge.

Scope changes

Work outside the scope defined in your proposal — new pages, new features, new integrations, redesigns of approved work, additional revision rounds — is handled via a written change order before work begins. Change orders quote additional cost, timeline impact, and any dependencies.

Hourly rate

Out-of-scope work and additional revisions are billed at $185/hour unless your proposal specifies otherwise. Time is logged in 15-minute increments and shared with you weekly.

Content delays

Most timeline slippage on engagements comes from content readiness. If content (copy, images, brand assets) is not delivered by the date specified in your proposal, we may:

• Use professional placeholders to keep the build moving
• Pause the engagement and resume when content is ready
• Adjust the timeline accordingly
• Bill for any rework caused by late content

Payment and refunds

Payment structure

Standard payment structure unless your proposal specifies otherwise:

• Projects under $10,000: 100% on signing
• Projects $10,000–$50,000: 50% deposit at signing, 50% at delivery
• Projects over $50,000: Milestone-based payments specified in the proposal
• Retainers: Billed monthly in advance on the first business day of each month

Payment methods

We accept ACH bank transfer, credit card via Stripe (3% processing fee added), and wire transfer for international clients. Checks are not accepted.

Late payments

Invoices are net 14. Invoices unpaid 30 days past due may incur a 1.5% monthly late fee and may result in suspension of work until paid. Engagements with payments more than 60 days late may be terminated, with all work to date billable in full.

Deposits and refunds

If we cancel an engagement we have not yet completed, we refund the unused portion of any deposit. If you cancel an engagement we have not yet completed, you owe us for all work performed to date plus any non-recoverable third-party costs we have committed to on your behalf.

Disputes

If you dispute an invoice, notify us in writing within 14 days of receipt with specific reasons. We'll work in good faith to resolve any legitimate concerns. Disputes raised more than 14 days after receipt are deemed waived.

Intellectual property

Your work, your ownership

Upon receipt of full payment, you own all custom code, custom designs, and custom content created specifically for your project. We transfer source code via your designated git repository at handover. We do not retain rights that prevent you from modifying, extending, or transferring the work to another developer.

What we retain

We retain ownership of:

• Our pre-existing tools, libraries, frameworks, and patterns — including but not limited to Hublumen, Baselumen, our component library, design tokens, and internal templates
• Generic engineering know-how and processes used across engagements
• Code snippets, patterns, and approaches that are not specific to your project

Where these pre-existing assets are used in your project, you receive a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use them as part of your project. You may not extract, repackage, or resell them as standalone products.

Your responsibility for your content

You represent and warrant that any content you provide for use in your project — copy, images, video, brand assets, fonts, third-party API credentials — you have the right to use. You indemnify Stacklumen against any third-party claims arising from content you supply.

Portfolio and case study rights

Unless your proposal includes an NDA preventing it, Stacklumen may:

• Display your project in our portfolio at stacklumen.com/portfolio
• Reference the engagement in case studies, blog posts, and marketing materials
• Use screenshots, video, and live links of the public-facing work
• Discuss the engagement publicly in talks, podcasts, and writing

We will not disclose confidential business information, internal data, or anything explicitly marked confidential. If you'd like to opt out of portfolio inclusion, request this in writing before signing the proposal.

Open source

Where we use open-source libraries in your project, those libraries remain governed by their original licenses (typically MIT, Apache 2.0, or similar permissive licenses). License files are included in the source code we deliver.

Confidentiality and NDAs

Default confidentiality

We treat your business information as confidential by default. We do not disclose customer lists, business strategy, financial information, internal data, unreleased product details, or anything you mark as confidential to anyone outside our engagement team.

Mutual confidentiality on every engagement

Both parties agree to:

• Use confidential information only for purposes of the engagement
• Not disclose confidential information to third parties without permission
• Protect confidential information with reasonable security measures
• Return or destroy confidential information at the engagement's conclusion on request

Formal NDAs

For agency partnerships and white-label engagements, an NDA is signed as part of the proposal. For other engagements, you can request an NDA before discussing project details — we'll typically sign a standard mutual NDA without negotiation. Non-standard NDAs (with one-sided terms, lengthy survival periods, or non-compete clauses) require legal review and may be declined.

What's not confidential

• Information already public when shared
• Information you authorize us to share
• Information independently developed without reference to confidential information
• Information we are legally required to disclose (in which case we'll notify you first if permitted)
• The fact that we worked together (unless your proposal specifies otherwise)

Limitation of liability

Liability cap

Stacklumen's total aggregate liability for any claim arising from or related to an engagement, this website, or our products is limited to the total amount you have paid Stacklumen for the engagement giving rise to the claim, in the 12 months preceding the claim. Where no engagement exists (e.g., site visitor claims), liability is limited to one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Excluded damages

In no event is Stacklumen liable for:

• Indirect, consequential, incidental, or special damages
• Lost profits, lost revenue, or lost business opportunities
• Lost data or cost of data recovery
• Cost of substitute services or replacement work
• Reputational damage or loss of goodwill
• Damages caused by your content, your decisions, or third-party services

This applies regardless of the legal theory (contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or otherwise) and regardless of whether we were advised of the possibility of such damages.

Exceptions

The liability cap and damage exclusions above do not apply to liability that cannot be limited by law in your jurisdiction (such as gross negligence or willful misconduct in some jurisdictions, or consumer protection rights in some regions).

Time limit on claims

Any claim against Stacklumen must be brought within one year of the event giving rise to the claim, or it is permanently barred.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold Stacklumen harmless from any third-party claims arising from: content you provide, your use of the deliverables, your business operations, or your violation of any law or third-party right.

Termination

Termination by either party

Either party may terminate an engagement:

• With 14 days written notice for any reason during a project engagement
• With 30 days written notice for retainers and partnerships
• Immediately for material breach not cured within 14 days of written notice
• Immediately if the other party becomes insolvent or files for bankruptcy

Effect of termination

On termination:

• You owe Stacklumen for all work performed through the termination date
• Stacklumen delivers all completed work in its current state
• Confidentiality obligations survive for three years
• Liability limitations and IP provisions survive indefinitely
• Any unused retainer hours expire and are not refunded

Stacklumen's right to decline or withdraw

Stacklumen reserves the right to decline new projects, withdraw from active engagements (with refund of unearned fees), or refuse to continue working with any client whose conduct, requests, or content violates law, our values, or our acceptable use policies. See 09.01 — Acceptable use.

Governing law and disputes

Governing law

These terms and any engagement with Stacklumen are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. The U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

Venue

Any legal action arising from or related to an engagement or this website must be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Fayette County, Kentucky. You consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

Informal resolution first

Before filing any legal action, the parties will attempt good-faith informal resolution by contacting legal@stacklumen.com with a written description of the dispute. The parties will work in good faith to resolve the issue for at least 30 days before pursuing formal action.

Class action waiver

To the maximum extent allowed by law, you and Stacklumen each waive any right to bring claims as a class action, collective action, or representative action. Disputes are resolved on an individual basis.

Severability

If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full effect, and the unenforceable provision is modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable.

Privacy policy

This section describes how Stacklumen collects, uses, and protects information from visitors to stacklumen.com and clients. Effective May 5, 2026.

We don't sell your data. We don't run targeted advertising. We collect the minimum information needed to operate the site, respond to inquiries, and run engagements — nothing more.

What we collect

From website visitors

From form submissions

From clients

We collect what's necessary to deliver an engagement: contact details, billing information (handled by Stripe, see 09.02), project content and assets you provide, and engagement communications.

How we use it

• Respond to your inquiries and run engagements
• Send transactional emails (proposals, invoices, project updates)
• Send waitlist emails for products you specifically signed up for
• Operate, debug, and secure our website
• Comply with legal obligations (taxes, fraud prevention, court orders)
• Defend Stacklumen against claims

What we don't do

• Sell, rent, or trade your information to third parties
• Use your data for targeted advertising
• Share your data across unrelated services
• Train AI models on your confidential project data
• Send marketing emails you didn't sign up for

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate personal data
• Request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten")
• Object to or restrict certain processing
• Receive your data in a portable format
• Withdraw consent for processing where consent is the legal basis
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority

To exercise any of these rights, email legal@stacklumen.com. We respond within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before processing requests.

Retention

We retain personal data only as long as necessary for the purpose collected, plus any period required by law (typically 7 years for tax and engagement records). Server logs are retained 30 days. Inquiry emails that don't lead to engagement are deleted within 12 months.

Cookies and tracking

stacklumen.com uses minimal cookies, all first-party, all strictly necessary or functional:

What we don't use

• Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, or other third-party advertising trackers
• Cross-site tracking cookies
• Fingerprinting or device identification
• Third-party social media tracking pixels

Because we don't use targeted advertising or cross-site tracking, we don't display a cookie consent banner. The cookies we do use are necessary for the site to function and are exempt from consent requirements under most regulations including GDPR.

Acceptable use

Stacklumen will not work on projects that, in our sole judgment, conflict with our values or expose us to legal or reputational risk.

Projects we won't take

• Anything illegal in our jurisdiction or yours
• Content that promotes hate, violence, harassment, or discrimination
• Adult content, gambling, or anything targeting minors inappropriately
• Misleading financial or medical claims
• Election misinformation, deepfakes, or impersonation
• Surveillance or stalking tools
• Cryptocurrency rug pulls, MLM schemes, or pyramid structures
• Anything we judge to be deceptive or predatory toward end users

This is not exhaustive. Stacklumen reserves the right to decline any project for any reason consistent with our values, including reasons not listed here. We refund any deposit paid for declined projects.

What we expect from clients

• Lawful, professional conduct in all communications
• Honest representation of your business, content, and intentions
• Timely payment of invoices and timely delivery of content
• Respect for our team's time and boundaries

Third-party services

Operating Stacklumen and delivering engagements involves third-party services. Each is governed by its own terms and privacy policy. We choose providers we trust but we don't control them and aren't liable for their actions.

Changes to terms

We may update these terms, disclaimers, and policies at any time. The version posted on this page is always the current version. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent change.

Material changes

For changes that materially affect existing engagements (such as changes to liability caps, dispute resolution, or IP terms), we'll notify active clients by email at least 30 days before the change takes effect. The terms in effect at the time you signed your proposal continue to govern that specific engagement unless you agree to the updated terms in writing.

Continued use

Continued use of stacklumen.com after we update these terms constitutes acceptance of the updated terms for any future engagement. For existing engagements, your signed proposal and the terms in effect at signing continue to apply.

Archive

Previous versions of these terms are available on request to legal@stacklumen.com.