Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Ryan Fritchen, doing business as From Scratch Apps ("From Scratch Apps," "we," "us"), a custom app, website and AI integration studio based in Omaha, Nebraska. They cover your use of fromscratchapps.com (the "site") and the services we provide. By using the site or hiring us, you agree to these Terms. Ryan Fritchen currently operates From Scratch Apps as a sole proprietor. We'll update these Terms when the business organizes as a limited liability company (LLC). If you're agreeing for a business, you confirm you're allowed to bind that business, and "you" means the business.

1.Using this website

You may use the site to learn about us and to contact or book with us. Please don't misuse it: no hacking, scraping at scale, overloading it, sending spam or malicious code through our forms, pretending to be someone else, or using it for anything illegal. The site's content, design, logos and the From Scratch Apps name belong to us; you may not copy them for commercial use without our permission.

We work to keep the site accurate and available, but it's provided "as is," and information on it (including prices) can change. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your information.

2.Our services and your statement of work

We build custom apps, websites and AI integrations and offer ongoing care plans. Before any paid work starts, we'll agree in writing on a statement of work (SOW) that describes the scope, deliverables, written spec, timeline and price.

A proposal is not a contract. A proposal or quote is a non-binding summary of what we'd build and what it would cost, and accepting it doesn't commit either of us. Neither of us is bound until we both sign a Master Services Agreement and an SOW and you pay the deposit.

3.How pricing works

We don't publish prices or hourly rates. After a free Appetizer call, we send you a written quote with one total for the scope we discussed. Our menu sizes (Small Plate for one fix, Main Course for a whole operation, Dessert for ongoing care, and Chef's Special for anything custom) describe the kind of work, not a set price, and there's no minimum project size. Care plans, if you choose one, are quoted with their monthly fee and 6-month minimum term in your SOW.

Founding clients. Our founding offer is limited to the first 10 clients who sign an SOW under it, and ends when 10 have signed. It's a discount of 10% off the labor portion of your quote, shown in your SOW, in exchange for an anonymous case study and a referral, both due within 3 months after launch. If those aren't delivered by then, we'll send written notice, and if they still aren't delivered within 30 days of that notice, the discount amount is invoiced, due in 15 days. This doesn't apply if we don't deliver your app or never ask for the case study.

Related parties: if you are a family member of our owner, or a business that employs one, we quote and price your project exactly as we would for anyone else, under a written agreement, and we disclose the relationship in writing. Any goodwill is given as extra support hours, never as a price reduction.

Existing clients. If you signed an SOW before these Terms were updated, your signed SOW's prices and terms continue to apply to that project.

4.Quotes and estimates

• A written quote is good for 30 days unless it says otherwise.
• Timelines and hour counts are good-faith estimates, not promises or guarantees. They depend on you giving us timely feedback, content and access.
• Main Course timelines. A Main Course is typically ready in about 4-6 weeks. Larger or multi-location builds can take 6-10 weeks. Your SOW gives your estimate. The clock starts once the SOW scope is signed, the deposit is paid, and we have the information and access we need from you. If information, feedback or access from you is late or missing, the timeline is extended accordingly.
• A fixed price covers the scope in the SOW. Anything outside it is a change (see "Changes and extra work").
• Your apps and tools. App store fees, domains, hosting, software licenses, AI usage fees and paid APIs aren't part of our price. You buy and own them directly, and each vendor bills you at its own price (see "Payment terms").

5.Payment terms

• Deposit. Every build starts with a deposit. The exact amount is in your SOW and depends on the size of the project.
• Payment schedule. Projects up to $20,000: 50% deposit when you sign, and the remaining 50% when you accept the app at the final review on staging. Projects over $20,000: three payments of 33%, 33% and 34%, each tied to a milestone in your SOW. Your SOW shows the exact amounts.
• The deposit is non-refundable. Once paid, the deposit is not refunded, including if you decline at final review or claim our "Send it back" guarantee (after full launch only; it never refunds the 50% deposit). It pays for reserving your project and the build work up to the final review. No code is written until the deposit clears. If we cancel the project before delivering it for final review, we refund the deposit in full.
• Final review and decline. When the build is ready, you review it on a staging (test) site and accept or decline it explicitly, in writing (email counts) or by clicking Accept. Silence or the passage of time never counts as acceptance; if we haven't heard from you, we'll remind you and follow up personally. If you accept, you pay the remaining balance and receive the app, the rights for your ownership option (see "Ownership and intellectual property"), the code where your option includes it, and launch. If you decline, the contract ends: no further payment is due, we keep the deposit and all code and work product (including designs, Figma prototypes and mockups), and you receive no access to or copies of any of it. Nothing is refunded on a decline, and "Send it back" doesn't apply because the app never launched.
• How we notify you and record your answer. We send the final-review notice by email to the contact named in your SOW and post it in your client portal; it links to the staging site and names the build version. Your answer counts only when you accept or decline explicitly: a written reply from that contact (email counts) or an Accept or Decline click in the portal while signed in. Silence, the passage of time, or using the staging site never counts as acceptance. We keep a record of each step (when the notice was sent, the reminder, and your reply or click with the date and time, your name and email, the version reviewed, and your device's IP address) and will give you a copy on request.
• Your apps and tools. You buy and own the apps and tools your project uses, billed to you directly by each vendor. We're added as a user or admin where needed, and everything stays yours if we stop working together. Your quote may include a tool management fee, based on your app costs. If it does, the amount and whether it's one-time or monthly are shown in your quote before you sign.
• Care plans are billed monthly in advance, with the 6-month minimum term shown in your SOW. Unused hours do not roll over to the next month.
• Invoices are due within 15 days. You pay any bank, card or transfer fees on your side.

6.Late payments

If an invoice isn't paid on time:

• We may charge a late fee of 1.5% per month or the maximum rate allowed by law, whichever is less on the overdue amount, starting 10 days after the due date.
• After written notice, we may pause work, hold deliverables, or suspend hosting and care services until the account is current.
• You'll pay reasonable costs of collecting overdue amounts, as the law allows.

7.Changes and extra work

Ideas change, and that's fine. If you want something outside the SOW, we'll describe the change, its cost and its effect on the timeline in a written change order. Work on a change starts after you approve it in writing (email counts). Changes are quoted in writing and approved by you before we start, and billed as stated in the approved change order.

8.Free Appetizer call and free demo

The Appetizer call is free with no obligation.

A free working demo. Every qualified lead gets a free working demo of their app idea (a light demo for Small Plate projects). A qualified lead is a business with a real operational need we can address, where the person we're talking to is the decision-maker or has the decision-maker's sign-off, and who has completed or booked an Appetizer call. More detail is on our demo page. We deliver it within 48 business hours after your Appetizer call, once we have the information we need. There is no cost and no obligation to buy.

• One per business. We may decline for fit, capacity or conflicts of interest.
• The demo is a preview for evaluation only. It's not a finished or production app, and it isn't covered by the "Send it back" guarantee (which applies after full launch only and excludes the 50% deposit) or bug fixes. From Scratch Apps keeps ownership of the demo and everything in it, and no license passes to you unless and until you sign an SOW and pay for the work.
• Demo access ends after 30 days without activity.

9.Our "Send it back" guarantee (after full launch only; the non-refundable 50% deposit (or the first 33% installment on projects over $20,000) excluded)

The guarantee applies after full launch only, never refunds the non-refundable 50% deposit (or the first 33% installment on projects over $20,000), and depends on what you order.

Small Plate: send it back for a refund (after full launch only; except the 50% deposit)

1. Tell us in writing within 14 days of launch. Email hello@fromscratchapps.com and list which parts of the written spec the app doesn't meet.
2. We get 10 business days to fix it, counted from the date we receive your notice.
3. If we don't fix it in that time, you may return the app and ask for your refund (everything except the non-refundable 50% deposit) in writing within 10 business days after the fix period ends. If you reported the defect within the 14 days, you keep this right even if the fix period runs past day 14.
4. We'll refund you within 14 days after you confirm the return.

Main Course: free rework at each milestone

14-day rework window (Small Plate and Main Course)

How it fits with "Send it back" (after full launch only; 50% deposit excluded): on a Small Plate, the rework window and the guarantee run over the same 14 days. If we can't fix a reported scope defect within 10 business days of your notice, you can instead send the app back for a refund of everything you paid except the non-refundable 50% deposit (or the first 33% installment on projects over $20,000). On a Main Course there's no refund: the rework window comes on top of free rework at each milestone during the build. After the 14 days, fixes are covered by an active care plan or quoted separately.

The fine print

• The Small Plate refund covers everything you paid us for that build except the deposit. It doesn't cover app or tool costs you paid vendors directly, or change orders.
• When we refund you, your license and access to the returned build end. You stop using it, and we may remove or disable it.
• One guarantee claim per client (after full launch only; the 50% deposit is never refunded).
• The guarantee (which excludes the 50% deposit) measures the app against the written spec and acceptance criteria, not against new wishes. It doesn't apply to problems caused by changes you or others made, third-party services, or missing content, access or feedback we needed from you.

10.Bug fixes

What counts as a bug. A bug is a defect in code we wrote where the app doesn't work the way the agreed written spec (or an approved change order) says it should, such as an error, crash, broken feature or wrong result.

What isn't a bug:

• New features, changes, redesigns or improvements
• Problems caused by third-party services, APIs, operating systems, browsers, devices or app stores changing or failing
• Problems caused by changes made by you or anyone other than us, or by hosting we don't manage
• Misuse, bad or missing data, or use outside the spec

We can fix those too, as part of your care plan's included hours or as work quoted in writing and approved by you. Bug fixes aren't promised forever: if you aren't on a monthly care plan, or yours ends or lapses, fixes are quoted and billed separately. Restarting a lapsed plan may require a paid catch-up review, quoted in advance.

11.Dessert care plans

• Each plan includes the monthly hours listed in your SOW. Work beyond those hours is quoted in writing and approved by you before we start.
• Custom-quoted, with a minimum term. Care plans are quoted with your project. Your SOW shows your monthly fee and minimum term, which is 6 months on every care plan.
• After the minimum, plans run month to month. Either of us can cancel with 30 days' written notice; email counts.
• Cancelling during the minimum. If you cancel before your minimum term ends, the monthly fees for the remaining months of the minimum term are still due. We credit back any prepaid costs we don't actually incur because of the cancellation. This charge doesn't apply if we seriously break our agreement and don't fix it, or if a Small Plate is refunded under our guarantee (all but the 50% deposit).
• Cancelling a care plan never affects your rights in the app we delivered under your ownership option (see "Ownership and intellectual property").
• Response times are goals, not guarantees, unless your SOW says otherwise.

12.Ownership and intellectual property

Your ownership option. Every proposal offers three options, and your signed SOW states which applies:

• Subscription (SaaS): billed monthly. From Scratch Apps owns all intellectual property in the app and may license and resell the platform to others. You may use it while your subscription is active.
• Hybrid custom (recommended): you own your branding and the custom business logic built specifically for you. We keep ownership of our core framework, and on full payment you receive a permanent, non-exclusive license to use it as part of your app.
• Enterprise Buyout: a premium price. On full payment you own 100% of the code and other deliverables created for you under your SOW, and we transfer them to you.

What you always own ("Client Materials"). You own your data, your customers' data, your logos, trademarks, content, photos and confidential information. You give us a limited license to use them only to deliver our services to you. You can export your data at any time.

Before acceptance and full payment. Until you accept the build at final review and pay the balance, From Scratch Apps owns all code and work product and you have no license or access. If you decline, we keep all code and work product. If we refund you under our "Send it back" guarantee (after full launch only; the non-refundable 50% deposit (or the first 33% installment on projects over $20,000) excluded), your rights in that build end.

Third-party pieces and accounts. Third-party and open-source components stay under their own licenses. Apps, tools and vendor accounts you pay vendors for directly are owned by you.

13.Portfolio use

We'll only show your project in our portfolio, case studies or marketing with your written permission. Even then, we'll keep it anonymous: we won't name your business, and we'll blur or remove identifying details unless you tell us in writing that we may use them.

Every app we build carries a small "Made From Scratch Apps" seal on its About or Settings screen. If you'd rather leave it off, tell us before launch.

14.Your responsibilities and your data

• Give us timely feedback, decisions, content and access, and a main contact who can approve work.
• Make sure you have the rights to the content, data, logos and accounts you give us, and that collecting and using your customers' data follows the law (including any notices and consents your customers need).
• Keep your passwords and admin accounts secure, and tell us quickly about any unauthorized access.
• Use the app lawfully, and review it before launch.
• Keep your own backups of important data unless your plan includes backups.

When we handle data inside your app, we act as your service provider (processor): we use it only to provide our services and only on your instructions, as set out in your SOW and any data terms we sign. See our Privacy Policy.

15.AI features

Some features we build or use rely on third-party AI providers. Please know:

• AI output can be wrong, incomplete, or out of date, even when it sounds confident.
• A person should review AI output before you rely on it, and especially before using it for legal, financial, medical, safety, hiring or other important decisions, or sending it to customers.
• We don't guarantee specific results from AI features, like more sales, saved hours or accuracy levels.
• AI providers' own terms and usage policies also apply, and providers can change or retire their models, prices or features. Adapting to those changes is billable work or part of your Dessert plan.
• You're responsible for how you use AI output, and for getting any consent needed before using AI for texts or calls to your customers.

16.Calculators and estimates on the site

Tools like our lost-revenue calculator give rough estimates for illustration only. They're based on the numbers you enter and simple assumptions. They aren't a quote, a promise of results, or financial, tax or legal advice.

17.Third-party services

Your project may use other companies' services, like hosting, app stores, payment processors, maps, calendars, AI providers or accounting tools. Their terms apply, and we're not responsible for their outages, changes, prices or policies. We'll help you work around them as part of your plan or as work quoted in writing and approved by you before we start.

18.Confidentiality

We'll each keep the other's non-public business information confidential, use it only for the project, and share it only with people who need it and are bound to keep it confidential. This doesn't cover information that's already public, already known to the receiver, independently developed, or that must be disclosed by law (with notice to the other side when allowed). These duties last for 2 years after our work ends, and for trade secrets, as long as they remain trade secrets.

19.Warranty disclaimer

We do careful, professional work. Apart from the "Send it back" guarantee (after full launch only; excludes the non-refundable 50% deposit (or the first 33% installment on projects over $20,000)) and the bug-fix terms above (and anything your SOW promises in writing), the site and our services and deliverables are provided "as is" and "as available." To the extent the law allows, we disclaim all other warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We don't promise that anything will be error-free, uninterrupted or secure from every threat, or that it will produce particular business results.

20.Limitation of liability

• Cap: our total liability for all claims about the site, our services or these Terms is limited to the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the event that caused the claim.
• No indirect damages: neither of us is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data or business opportunity, even if we were told they were possible.
• These limits don't reduce what you owe us for services, and don't apply where the law doesn't allow them.

21.Indemnity

You'll defend and protect us from third-party claims, and related losses and reasonable legal fees, that come from content, data or materials you gave us, your use of the deliverables (including AI output and messages you send customers), or your breaking these Terms or the law. We'll tell you promptly about any such claim and cooperate reasonably.

22.Ending our work together

• Either of us may end a project or plan with written notice if the other seriously breaks these Terms or the SOW and doesn't fix it within 15 days of notice.
• You may end a project early for any reason with written notice. You'll pay for work done and costs incurred up to that point, and the deposit is not refunded. If you decline at final review, the contract ends as described in "Payment terms": we keep the deposit and the code, and you receive no access.
• We may suspend or end access to the site, or services, for nonpayment (see "Late payments") or misuse.
• When work ends, we'll hand over paid-for deliverables and help you export your data. Sections that by their nature should survive (like payment, ownership, confidentiality, disclaimers, liability limits, indemnity and governing law) survive.

23.Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Nebraska, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any court case about them will be filed in the state or federal courts located in Douglas County, Nebraska, and we both agree to those courts' jurisdiction.

24.Resolving disputes

If a dispute comes up, we'll resolve it in this order:

1. Talk first. If a problem comes up, tell the other side in writing. We'll both try in good faith to work it out within 30 days.
2. Then mediation. If that doesn't work, we'll try mediation with a mutually agreed mediator in Omaha, Nebraska, sharing the mediator's fees equally, before going to court.
3. Then court, as described under "Governing law and venue."

Either of us may still go to court at any time to collect unpaid invoices or to stop misuse of confidential information or intellectual property.

25.Text messages (SMS terms)

Program name: Ryan Fritchen (From Scratch Apps) project and appointment texts.

If you opt in, we text you about your booking and your project: appointment reminders, project updates (such as project review links and status updates), client-portal sign-in links, and replies to your messages. We don't send marketing or promotional texts.

Consent wording shown next to the optional, unchecked box (identical on the Reserve a Table form and the order form): "Yes, text me from Ryan Fritchen (From Scratch Apps) about my appointment and my project (reminders, project updates, portal sign-in links and replies to my messages). No marketing. Msg frequency varies, up to 10/month. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase."

• Frequency: message frequency varies, up to 10 messages per month while you have a booking or active project.
• Message and data rates may apply.
• STOP: reply STOP (or END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE or QUIT) to cancel at any time. We'll send one message confirming you're opted out. Reply START to opt back in.
• HELP: reply HELP (or INFO) for help, or contact us at (402) 810-8446 or hello@fromscratchapps.com.
• Consent to texts is not a condition of purchase.
• Carriers aren't liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
• No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging opt-in data and consent are not shared with any third parties.
• How we handle your information is explained in our Privacy Policy.

26.Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We'll post the new version here with a new "Last updated" date, and tell active clients about significant changes. Changes don't affect a signed SOW already in progress unless we both agree in writing.

27.The rest of the fine print

• Entire agreement: these Terms and your SOW are our whole agreement about the work.
• Independent business: we're an independent contractor, not your employee, partner or agent.
• Delays beyond control: neither of us is responsible for delays caused by events outside reasonable control (like outages, disasters or illness).
• Assignment: neither of us may transfer this agreement without the other's consent, except to a successor business.
• Severability and waiver: if part of these Terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies. Not enforcing something once doesn't waive it.
• Notices: written notice by email to the addresses we each use for the project counts, unless your SOW says otherwise.

28.Contact us

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