Minimum term & cancellation

The retainer model means the build cost is amortized into the monthly fee — you don't write a five-figure check up front. The 12-month minimum is what makes that math work for both sides. This page walks through when billing starts, what cancellation looks like, and what early termination costs if you need to leave before the minimum is up.

When billing starts

Monthly billing begins on the earlier of:

1. The website go-live date (the day it's pointed to your real domain), or
2. Five business days after Solagon notifies you that the website is production-ready and awaiting your approval.

The second clause exists so a project doesn't park indefinitely waiting on a launch decision. If we tell you it's ready and you need a couple of weeks to coordinate the cutover internally, that's fine — but billing kicks in five business days after the notice goes out, regardless of whether the site is technically live yet.

There's no separate build invoice. Discovery, design, development, and pre-launch QA are all handled before the first monthly retainer invoice ever goes out.

The 12-month minimum

Once billing starts, the retainer carries a 12-month minimum commitment. After those twelve invoices are paid in full, you can cancel any time with 30 days' written notice.

The minimum exists because the build cost — months of design and development work — is folded into the monthly fee. If we charged the build separately we wouldn't need a minimum; because we don't, we need the runway to make the math work.

Early termination

If you cancel before reaching the 12-month minimum, an early-termination fee applies. The exact number is in your SOW, but the formula is consistent:

• The fee equals the remaining balance of the minimum term, OR a fixed buyout amount specified in your SOW — whichever is less.

In practice, this means: if you cancel in month 3, you pay the buyout. If you cancel in month 11, you pay one more month and you're out. We're never trying to extract more than what we lose by not getting to deliver the work we agreed on.

If you're considering cancelling early, talk to us first. Most situations are workable — we can pause, reduce scope, or restructure the SOW. We'd rather find a way through than write each other off.

After the minimum term

Once the 12-month minimum has been completed and all invoices are paid in full:

• You can cancel with 30 days' written notice.
• Final ownership of the deliverables passes to you (see code ownership & handoff).
• Hosting transition options can be discussed if you want to migrate the site off Solagon-managed infrastructure. Migration or transfer work may require additional fees, scoped at the time.

If you choose not to migrate, the retainer can simply continue month-to-month at the same fee. Most clients stay; the relationship gets easier and cheaper over time, not harder.

What happens if payments lapse mid-term

The retainer assumes active monthly payments. If invoices go materially overdue:

• We can suspend website hosting
• We can suspend access to deployed services
• We can temporarily disable the site until the balance is resolved

The contract gives us those rights because we're carrying real infrastructure costs against your account. In practice we contact you well before any of that — usually a friendly note, then a firmer one. We'd rather work it out than disable a live site.

Where to go next

What's in the retainer → Scope changes → Code ownership & handoff →