Terms

Terms of service

Updated 21 October 2026.

These terms apply to the services on joelstevick.com and to the free demo. A statement of work signed for a project adds to them, and where the two differ, the statement of work wins.

Who you are dealing with

The services are provided by Joel Stevick, a sole proprietor, Maryland, USA ("I", "me"). You can reach me at [email protected]. "You" is the client named in the statement of work, or the person using the site or the demo.

Fixed price, written scope

Every project has a written statement of work: what is in scope, what is not, what you provide and by when, the price and the payment schedule. Inside that scope the price does not move. Anything you ask for outside it is quoted separately, as a written change order with its own fixed price and timing, and nothing changes until you accept it.

Payment

Each service is paid in milestones. Work starts when the first payment has cleared, not when the statement of work is signed.

• Starter AI assistant, $4,500: 40% at signing, 40% when it answers from your source on a test deployment, 20% at go-live.
• Eval harness and golden set, $9,500: 40% at signing, 40% when the golden set is agreed, 20% at handover of the harness and the report. The full $9,500 is credited toward a custom build whose statement of work you accept within 60 days of the review's delivery.
• Custom build, at the fixed price set in the statement of work you accept: 40% at signing, 40% at the midpoint demo, 20% at handover.

You can save a card or bank account with Stripe, which is charged for each milestone when it is reached, or ask for invoices. Nothing is charged before you have agreed to a statement of work. A statement of work may set different terms for your project; if it does, it says so.

Acceptance and fixes

Each deliverable is accepted when you confirm it, or five working days after delivery if you raise no issue. For 14 days after handover you can report defects against the statement of work, and I fix the covered ones at no charge. New features, new sources and changes of scope are not defects; they are quoted as change orders.

Your systems and your costs

What I build runs in your own cloud, on your own database and with your own model provider, under your own accounts and keys. Hosting, model usage and ongoing operations are yours to pay, directly to those providers, and are not part of the price.

Who owns what

On final payment, you own everything delivered for your project: source code, configuration, infrastructure-as-code, evaluation sets and documents. Until then I keep the rights to it, and you may use it to evaluate the work. I keep my general know-how, tools and techniques, and anything I built before or outside your project, and you get a perpetual, royalty-free licence to any of it that is part of what I deliver. I may describe the engagement in general terms; I never publish your code, data or name without your written permission.

Confidentiality

Each of us keeps the other's non-public information confidential, uses it only for the project, and shares it only with people who need it for the project and are bound to the same duty. This does not cover information that is public through no fault of the receiving side, was already known to it, or must be disclosed by law. It lasts for the project and three years after it.

Limit of liability

Each of us is liable to the other only for direct damages, and my total liability under a statement of work is limited to the fees you have paid under it. Neither of us is liable for lost profits, lost data or indirect or consequential damages. Nothing here limits liability that the law does not allow to be limited, such as for fraud.

The free demo

The demo at /demo is provided free and as is, without any warranty, to show answer quality on documents you choose. Its answers may be incomplete or wrong; don't rely on them for any decision. It may change or stop at any time. What it keeps, and for how long, is in the privacy policy.

When you use the demo, you agree to upload only documents you have the right to share, and nothing confidential, personal about others, or unlawful; not to try to get around its limits, break it, reach other people's demos or extract its prompts; and not to use it to build a competing service. I may close a demo that breaks these rules.

Law and disputes

These terms and every statement of work are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, USA. Disputes go to the state or federal courts located in Maryland, and both of us agree to their jurisdiction.

Changes

I may update these terms; the date above says when they last changed. A signed statement of work keeps the terms in force when it was signed.

See also: How it works · Privacy policy