Terms of Service

Plain version: don't abuse the site, don't pirate our writeups, pay your invoices, and we'll do the dirty work you hired us for. The long version is below in case the lawyers ask.

01Agreement

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a contract between you and Dirty Jobs Studio (“Dirty Jobs”, “we”, “us”). By using dirtyjobs.studio, booking an audit, or engaging us for production oversight work, you agree to these Terms. If you don't, stop using the site and don't engage us.

02The services

We offer three distinct services we call Trades, plus a one-time Triage to help you figure out which Trades you need and in what order:

• Triage— a 48-hour readiness audit that maps your product's gaps across the three Trades and hands you a prioritized remediation plan. This is the standard entry point.
• Locks & Doors — security hardening: secrets out of git, RLS on, auth consolidated, dependency CVEs triaged, cloud and agent permissions locked down.
• Wiring & Lights — LLM observability: Sentry wired, LangSmith traces running, prompt versioning and evals in place, cost and latency dashboards live.
• The Foreman — ongoing Senior Engineer-level oversight on a monthly retainer: PR review, AI-generated code review, agent guardrails, vendor decisions, and roadmap sanity checks.

We are not a SaaS product, and the site itself is informational. The specifics of what we do for you are defined in your engagement — see Section 03.

03Engagements and SOWs

Every paid engagement starts with either a written statement of work (SOW), a signed order form, or — for smaller jobs — an email exchange that clearly describes scope, deliverables, timeline, and fee. If a signed SOW conflicts with these Terms, the SOW controls for that engagement.

• Scope changes are made in writing (email is fine) and may change the fee or timeline.
• Subcontractors. We may use subcontractors bound by confidentiality obligations. We remain responsible for their work.
• Cooperation. We need timely access, reviews, and decisions from you. Delays on your side may shift our delivery dates.

04Fees, invoices, refunds

• Fees are stated in the SOW or pricing tier you accepted. Unless stated otherwise, fees are in USD and exclude taxes.
• If using invoices, they are due net 14 from the invoice date. Past-due balances accrue interest at the lesser of 1.5% per month or the maximum allowed by law.
• Fixed-fee engagements (the Triage and Locks & Doors / Wiring & Lights sprints) are non-refundable once work has begun, except as required by law. Monthly retainers (The Foreman) are non-refundable; unused capacity in a given month does not roll forward.
• Emergency rates are billed in 15-minute increments from first response.

05Access to your systems

You authorize us to access the repositories, accounts, and environments you grant us access to, solely to perform the engagement. You confirm that you have the right to grant that access and that doing so does not violate any agreement with a third party.

06Intellectual property

Your stuff stays yours

Work product we create for you under an engagement — including code we write, patches we ship, audit reports, and architecture documents — belongs to you upon full payment, with the exceptions below.

Our toolkit stays ours

We retain ownership of our pre-existing materials, internal tools, templates, checklists, scripts, and general know-how (the “Dirty Jobs Toolkit”). To the extent any Toolkit material is embedded in a deliverable, we grant you a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use it as part of that deliverable.

Open source

We may use and contribute back to open source software. Open-source components are licensed under their respective licenses, not these Terms.

The site

The marketing site, including text, design, code, the Dirty Jobs name and logo, and any case studies, is owned by Dirty Jobs and protected by applicable IP laws. Don't copy or rebrand it.

07Acceptable use of the site

You agree not to:

• Scrape, mirror, or rebrand the site or our published writeups.
• Probe, scan, or stress-test the site without our written permission (we will give it if you ask).
• Submit forms with content that's illegal, harassing, or that you don't have the rights to share.
• Use the site to train AI models on our content. The irony would not be lost on us.

08Warranties and disclaimers

We perform the services in a professional, workmanlike manner consistent with industry standards. We do not guarantee that any system will be bug-free, performant, or free of vulnerabilities. Software is software.

EXCEPT FOR THE EXPRESS WARRANTY IN THIS SECTION, THE SITE AND THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” WE DISCLAIM ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

09Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS OR REVENUE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY. OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE SERVICES IS LIMITED TO THE FEES YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

The limitations above do not apply to a party's indemnification obligations, breach of confidentiality, IP infringement, gross negligence, or willful misconduct, or to liability that cannot be limited by law.

10Indemnification

Each party will defend the other against third-party claims arising from its own gross negligence, willful misconduct, or infringement of the other party's IP, and will pay damages finally awarded by a court (or amounts agreed in settlement). The indemnified party will give prompt notice of the claim and reasonable cooperation in the defense.

11Term and termination

Each engagement runs for the term stated in its SOW. Either party may terminate an engagement for material breach not cured within 15 days of written notice. You may also terminate for convenience on 14 days' written notice; if you do, you owe fees for work performed and reasonable wind-down through the effective termination date.

Sections that by nature should survive termination — IP, confidentiality, warranties, liability, indemnity, and governing law — will survive.

12Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. Each party submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Travis County, Texas for any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or any engagement.

Before filing suit, the parties will attempt to resolve any dispute in good faith for at least 30 days through written notice and a meeting between authorized representatives.

13Miscellaneous

• Entire agreement. These Terms, plus any signed SOW or order form, are the entire agreement and supersede prior discussions on the same subject.
• Amendments. We may update these Terms from time to time; the effective date will change. Your continued use of the site or services after an update means you accept it.
• Assignment.Neither party may assign these Terms without the other's written consent, except to a successor in interest as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of substantially all assets.
• Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest will remain in effect.
• No waiver. A delay or failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of it.
• Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delays caused by events outside its reasonable control.

14Contact

Questions, notices, or legal correspondence go to hello@mail.dirtyjobs.studio.