---
type: plan
title: "Scope — what was sold"
status: active
updated: 2026-09-02
---

# Scope — what was sold

## How to read this

This is the accepted proposal's commitments, restated without pricing. The proposal was sent
2026-07-30 by Rian Bowden and accepted 2026-08-13 by Alicia Wimmer for Equinox Business Law
Group. Pricing is deliberately kept outside the project folder: no amount, rate, plan price, or
commercial term appears here or anywhere under the workspace, and add-ons and plans are named,
never priced.

- Every `- [ ]` item is a deliverable we are accountable for, in the proposal's wording. Tick a
  box only when the item is verified on staging (or on the live site after launch), never when
  it is merely started. As of 2026-09-02 nothing is built or mocked up, so every box is open.
- Where the client has since decided something that amends an item, the item stays as sold and
  an indented `Amended 2026-08-27:` line records the change. The email thread is the authority
  for client decisions; the 2026-09-02 inspection is the authority for live-site facts.
- Acceptance status of the add-ons is as of 2026-09-02.
- Present-tense words inside the proposal's wording ("currently", "today", "now") describe the
  live site as audited 2026-07-27 and re-verified unchanged on 2026-09-02; the live site is not
  edited by us before launch, so they hold until cutover.
- When scope creep arrives — a request that is not a checkbox here, or that changes one — this
  file is the reference. Do not absorb it silently; see "Terms that shape the build".

Naming: the lead-capture tool is "the Business Legal Health Assessment (name to be confirmed)"
on first mention, then "the assessment" (three names are in circulation; see Advanced AI
Schema). States: Washington first, Oregon secondary, Colorado retained; DC and VA removed
(client decision 2026-08-27). Team: 9 bios (8 live plus Nicole Farahdel). Posts: 513 published
as of 2026-09-02 (the proposal's 510 was a July count).

Related plans: `.logs/planning/build-plan.md` (phases, gates, week mapping; calendar dates to
be set by Rian),
`.logs/planning/site-architecture.md` (page inventory, URLs, redirects),
`.logs/planning/content-migration.md`, `.logs/planning/schema-entity-plan.md`,
`.logs/planning/design-direction.md`, `.logs/planning/tracking-conversion.md`. The
price-scrubbed correspondence digest is `notes/client-correspondence.md`; the audit evidence is
`notes/site-audit-2026-07.md`.

## Objective

Rebuild the Equinox website on a modern, block-based WordPress framework so it becomes a
platform AI Smart Ventures (AISV) can execute their 12-month marketing strategy on, rather than
an obstacle to it. The brand and content library are strong. What is missing is underneath: a
design system, an entity and schema layer, and templates a content team can publish into
without a developer.

## Audit findings this scope answers

The proposal's "Why This Is a Rebuild" findings are acceptance criteria: each must be gone on
the new site. Platform: `html5blank` + Beaver Builder, every page in builder data. Structured
data: generic `Organization`, two firm names, no address/phone/service area, no Person
entities, wrong author attribution on some posts, two `h1` per page, homepage title tag "Home -
Equinox Law Group". Nowhere for key pages: practice areas share one URL, no fractional GC
landing page, no FAQ content, contact page with no address or map while the header advertised
five states. Evidence and measurements: `notes/site-audit-2026-07.md`.

## Division of responsibility

We are building the machine. AISV is running it. The client should not have to sit in the
middle relaying technical requirements between two vendors, so we coordinate with AISV directly
throughout the build.

| We handle | AISV handles |
| :--- | :--- |
| Platform, templates, design system | Content strategy and final copy direction |
| Structured data and entity layer | Keyword and topic selection |
| Site architecture and URL structure | Publishing cadence and SEO execution |
| Forms, CTAs, conversion mechanics | Paid campaigns, email, CRM |
| Making sure everything they need to publish into exists and works | Marketing measurement and reporting |

In practice: we build the FAQ block and FAQ schema so their FAQ content has somewhere to go. We
build the tier and comparison structure (the Fractional General Counsel Landing Page with Tiered
Pricing add-on, only if it is accepted) so they supply the tiers and the numbers. We build the
topic hub template and URL architecture (the Practice Area and Topic Hub Architecture add-on,
only if it is accepted) so they can add hubs without coming back to us. We make sure the
WordPress REST API and post templates support their publishing tooling.

## Base scope

### Website Design

- [ ] A faithful rebuild with a real design uplift: work from the existing brand and rebuild it
      properly in the new framework, applying our own judgement on layout, hierarchy,
      typography, spacing, and calls to action. A clear step up, without asking the client to
      relearn their own website.
    - Note: the Design Mockup and Review Round add-on was accepted 2026-08-13; no page build
      starts before the mockup direction is approved. See Add-ons.
    - Amended 2026-08-27: the client finds the current site "visually busy and somewhat dated"
      and wants "a more elevated, simplified look and feel". Replace the logo (the live one is a
      20th-anniversary mark; use the Brand Kit logo). Remove all mentions of Twitter and
      Facebook. Remove the EO Portland and Women in Finance links from the footer "Community
      Involvement" list. Team photos: none on the homepage; at most one or two across the whole
      site; stock imagery is fine but no stock photos of people. Brand inputs are a SharePoint
      Brand Kit folder and a 2026 Brand Photo Shoot folder (links in the 2026-08-27 email).
      Detail in `.logs/planning/design-direction.md`.

### Template Creation

#### Basic Template Creation

Creation of all the basic template elements:

- [ ] Header, footer, and other template areas
- [ ] Menus, including a navigation structure that surfaces the services and the general
      counsel offer
- [ ] Consistent colour palette, typography settings, spacing scale, and button styles
- [ ] Reusable UI blocks and layouts used around the site, including the section types the new
      AISV copy calls for: the three-step Assess / Prioritize / Protect and Grow process, the
      before-and-after comparison, the objection-handling accordion, and the grouped value
      proposition. Built as patterns, these can be reused on any page later without developer
      involvement.

The template will:

- [ ] Have a clean SEO friendly structure
    - Includes replacing the live homepage title tag "Home - Equinox Law Group" (a proposal
      finding) with a written title and meta description, and Yoast title templates for every
      template type; validation list in `.logs/planning/schema-entity-plan.md`.
- [ ] Use the most current WordPress with the Gutenberg block editor and the Kadence premium
      theme framework, with an unlimited lifetime premium licence included
- [ ] Fully responsive design (will display nicely on all common device screen sizes)
- [ ] Be compatible with most plugins and additional frameworks that the client may want to add
      in the future
- [ ] Have a backend that focuses on user-friendly content management, easily accessible to an
      average user with no technical skill or knowledge of coding languages
- [ ] Not contain any hard coded content
- [ ] Have templates ready for various content types

#### Baseline Structural SEO / AEO

- [ ] Proper heading structure across all pages and post types, resolving the current duplicate
      and mis-levelled headings
    - The defect, precisely (2026-09-02): two `<h1>` on every live page — one is the logo link
      wrapping commented-out markup, the other is the real heading; the homepage hero line sits
      in an `H2`.
- [ ] Breadcrumbs
- [ ] Clean XML sitemap, with the abandoned empty taxonomy retired
    - The taxonomy is the empty `article-type` custom taxonomy, which still emits a sitemap on
      the live site.
- [ ] General technical accessibility best practices
- [ ] Block "thin" pages from search engines
- [ ] Redirect map for retired or restructured URLs, so existing rankings and links carry over

#### Performance

The proposal's position: the current site's script and stylesheet load is how this particular
site was assembled rather than anything inherent to the platform, and a clean rebuild sheds a
good portion of it. Some weight stays, because the heaviest single asset comes from Gravity
Forms, which the scope deliberately keeps. (The proposal counted 33 external scripts and 18
stylesheets; the full home page measured 2026-09-02 loads 64 `<script>` tags and 19
stylesheets. Use the measured numbers as the "before" baseline.)

- [ ] Image optimization across migrated media
- [ ] Lazy-loading configuration, including conditional loading of retained plugin assets so
      form and filter CSS only loads where it is used
- [ ] Core Web Vitals measured on the homepage, a practice area page, and a blog post before
      launch, and reported to the client

We report measured before and after numbers rather than promise a score. Performance is a
build-quality outcome, not a property of the theme. Capture the "before" numbers on the live
site before anything changes.

#### Standard Page Creation

- [ ] Home page with custom layout and dynamic elements, built to the full landing page
      structure in the AISV brand story: hero, problem, stakes, guide, value proposition,
      three-step plan, transformation, before-and-after, who it's for, objection handling,
      assessment, and final call to action
    - Amended 2026-08-27: no team photos on the homepage.
- [ ] 8 to 10 core pages: About Us, Our Approach, General Counsel, Practice Areas, Contact, Blog
      index, Legal Health Check, A La Carte Solutions, Testimonials, Events
    - "Legal Health Check" is the assessment page; its final name is to be confirmed (see
      Advanced AI Schema).
- [ ] 9 team bio pages on a single repeatable template
    - Amended 2026-08-27: remove Mandy Bowen; add Nicole Farahdel, Corporate Paralegal — no
      headshot or bio yet, a placeholder is acceptable. Roster is therefore the 8 live bios
      (Michelle Bomberger, Laura Doehle, Danica Paddock, Dominique Zett, Devon Maxwell, Leaf
      E'kaika, Alicia Wimmer, Pamela Franklin) plus Nicole Farahdel. Full roster with titles in
      `.logs/planning/site-architecture.md`.
- [ ] 4 policy and legal pages migrated directly
    - The live sitemap has five candidates (`/terms-of-service/`, `/cookie-policy/`,
      `/privacy-policy/`, `/disclaimer/`, `/eula/`); which four, or whether all five migrate, is
      to be confirmed by Rian with the client.
- [ ] Audit of roughly 6 legacy or orphaned pages, with a recommendation on each to migrate or
      retire with a redirect
    - Candidates from the 2026-09-02 sitemap are listed in `.logs/planning/site-architecture.md`.

#### Post Structure and Blog Migration

- [ ] Migration of all existing posts, with categories, tags, dates, and featured images intact
    - Measured 2026-09-02: the proposal said 510; there are 513 published posts and AISV is
      still publishing. Re-count from the exported database at migration and again at launch.
- [ ] Blog index and single post templates, including author display, categories, and
      end-of-post calls to action
- [ ] Search and category filtering on the blog index. Currently 57 pages of pagination with no
      way to filter. The client's existing Search & Filter Pro licence will be used.
- [ ] A post template that AI-drafted content lands into cleanly and on-brand, with no manual
      formatting

#### Author Structure

The blog is the engine AISV will be running, and as of 2026-09-02 it has no working author
layer.

- [ ] Audit and consolidation of author accounts. There are 14 authors with published posts
      against 9 current team bios, and 20 user accounts in total, so most belong to former
      staff. We bring the client the list and they decide, per person, whether to keep the
      byline, reassign the posts, or retire the account.
    - Those counts are the proposal's July audit. On 2026-09-02 the live REST API exposes 9 users
      with public posts and the sitemap 7 author archives; the exact roster is confirmed from
      the exported database at migration. Detail in `.logs/planning/content-migration.md`.
- [ ] Author profiles with photo, title, and bio, connected to the corresponding team page
- [ ] Author archive templates
- [ ] A working guest and contributor byline mechanism, so outside contributors are credited
      correctly in both the article and the structured data
- [ ] Correction of author attribution where the article text and underlying data currently
      disagree

A full editorial review of all posts is not included, since the AISV plan covers content
pruning in a later phase.

### Advanced AI Schema

Delivery mechanism: configure `bw-ai-schema-pro`; no hand-written JSON-LD (house rule,
`/srv/projects/standards/wordpress.md`). Plan in `.logs/planning/schema-entity-plan.md`.

- [ ] Correct firm entity. Proper `LegalService` markup with a single canonical firm name, real
      address, phone, service area, and verified social profiles, replacing the current generic
      and conflicting markup.
    - Working canonical name: Equinox Business Law Group PLLC (the live site splits between
      "Equinox Law Group" and "Equinox Business Law Group"); confirm with the client.
    - Amended 2026-08-27: verified social profiles are LinkedIn and YouTube only; Twitter and
      Facebook are removed.
- [ ] Consistent naming for the assessment. It is currently called "Legal Health Check" on the
      site, "Business Health Assessment" in the AISV strategy, and "Business Legal Health
      Assessment" in the brand story. Since it is the transitional call to action on every
      page, it needs one name everywhere: navigation, CTAs, page title, and structured data.
    - The name is to be confirmed by AISV with the client. Until then the docs say "the
      Business Legal Health Assessment (name to be confirmed)".
- [ ] Local business and service area markup focused on Washington, with Oregon secondary
    - Amended 2026-08-27: Colorado is retained as a served state; DC and VA are removed.
- [ ] Person entities for every team member, each with job title, firm association, and verified
      profile links, bound to their real bio page rather than a placeholder avatar.
- [ ] Author to bio binding, so the blog author and the team member resolve as the same person
      rather than two competing records
- [ ] FAQ blocks with `FAQPage` markup as a reusable pattern, so AISV can add
      question-and-answer content to any page without a developer. The objection-handling
      content in the AISV brand story is already in exactly this shape, so this goes to work on
      day one. One honest note, since it appears in the AISV plan too: Google stopped showing
      FAQ rich results in Search on 2026-05-07. The value of FAQ content now is that it answers
      the questions buyers actually ask, which is what AI answer engines surface, not a rich
      snippet.
- [ ] Service schema on practice area content
- [ ] Article and author schema across the blog
- [ ] Validation of all structured data before launch

### Contact Page and Washington-First Local Setup

- [ ] Rebuilt contact page with real location content, address, and map, none of which exists
      today
    - The firm's address is not on the live site (ground truth 2026-09-02: no address, map, or
      location content). To be confirmed by Alicia Wimmer (with Michelle Bomberger for the
      canonical legal name); tracked in `.logs/handoff.md`, not in the table below.
- [ ] Service area presentation focused on Washington, with Oregon secondary
- [ ] Removal of the Colorado, Virginia, and DC references from the header and site-wide
      location signals, which currently dilute every Washington search signal. We'll confirm the
      approach with the client first.
    - Amended 2026-08-27: the client's answer is to remove DC and VA only; Colorado stays. The
      firm's own email signature already reads "WA, OR and CO". Location lines, service-area
      copy, and `areaServed` name WA, OR, and CO.
    - Flag before writing any licensing language: the live Legal Health Check disclaimer says
      the firm is "licensed to practice law in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon" — Idaho is not in
      the served-states list and Colorado is not in the licensed list. Michelle Bomberger
      resolves this; do not guess.
- [ ] Rebuilt contact form in Gravity Forms with light qualification, so leads arrive with useful
      context and a source attached and can be routed cleanly into Pipedrive
- [ ] The client's existing attorney-client privilege disclaimer carried over

### Calls to Action

As of 2026-09-02 every call to action on the site is the same one, "Schedule a Meeting",
pointing at a raw Outlook booking link. That is the highest-commitment step the firm offers, with nothing in
between. The AISV brand story defines the pairing: Book a Consultation as the direct call to
action, Take the Business Legal Health Assessment as the transitional one, for visitors not
ready to book but ready to engage. We build to that.

- [ ] A paired CTA structure carried consistently site-wide, replacing the current single
      high-commitment ask
- [ ] Reusable CTA blocks so AISV can place them anywhere without developer involvement
- [ ] Persistent header CTA and end-of-post CTAs across the blog
- [ ] The assessment given proper prominence and a clean path in, rather than sitting behind an
      anchor link partway down a page. This is the "front door" role the AISV strategy assigns
      it, and it is currently the weakest link in the funnel.
    - Confirmed by inspection 2026-09-02: the assessment is a Typeform embed (widget
      `QIIINVqG`, iframe title "BHA Survey") inside `id="bha-form"` on
      `/our-approach/legal-health-check/`; the page's CTAs link to `#bha-form`. The same embed
      carries over onto its own clean page.
- [ ] CTA click and form submission events wired into Google Tag Manager, tracked separately for
      the direct and transitional paths, so the pipeline numbers AISV reviews weekly are
      measurable

Detail in `.logs/planning/tracking-conversion.md`.

### Tracking Preservation

The Google Tag Manager, GA4, Hotjar, RB2B, and Meta pixel installations are already live. A
migration is exactly where tracking silently breaks, and the AISV plan depends on RB2B and
Hotjar data from Phase 02 onward.

- [ ] Audit of all existing tags before migration
    - Live IDs measured 2026-09-02: GTM container GTM-TGTVD37; Google tag GT-55KZDRZS; GA4 stream
      G-PTGQ1K61M6 ("Equinox Website"); Hotjar site id 3664447; RB2B script; Meta pixel;
      Usercentrics consent via Termageddon.
- [ ] Re-implementation and verification of each on the new site
- [ ] Confirmation that data is flowing correctly post-launch before we close the project

The AISV strategy mentions Hotjar needs reconnecting, which suggests at least one tag is already
misconfigured. We flag what we find.

Access as of 2026-08-27: Google Analytics and Google Search Console granted; Google Tag Manager
not yet — the client hit the error "This tag's users are controlled by Google Analytics" (user
access for the Google tag is managed from the GA4 admin, not the Tag page; Rian's note: access
to the GTM container GTM-TGTVD37 is granted separately in Tag Manager and still has to be
requested). Requested for rian@plusroi.com, adi@plusroi.com, and plusroi@gmail.com.

### Content

- [ ] Migrate all existing content into the new templates
- [ ] Draft placeholder content for the pages and sections that need it, including the new
      homepage, working from the AISV brand story, the marketing strategy, and the client's
      existing copy. The brand story contains the complete homepage landing-page copy.

That drafted content is a starting point, not a finished product. It gets finalized by the
Equinox team with AISV's guidance, so voice and messaging decisions stay with the people who
own them. The practical benefit is that the build never waits on copy and the client is never
reviewing Lorem Ipsum.

### Training

- [ ] One 1-hour session covering content management, publishing, and using the reusable
      blocks. Recorded so it can be shared with anyone who joins later.

### Launch

- [ ] We handle the launch, including a full checklist confirming everything works, redirects
      are in place, structured data validates, tracking fires, and the site is search-ready from
      day one.
    - Amended 2026-08-13 and 2026-08-27: the client took the Hosting add-on and confirmed "move
      to PlusROI", so launch is to PlusROI-managed hosting on this server, not the client's
      current host. DNS moves to Cloudflare (client agreed 2026-08-18; as of 2026-08-27 waiting
      on their current website/email management vendor). Rian is to be invited as super
      administrator on the client's Cloudflare account at rian@rian.ca, and offered to do the
      domain move himself if given registrar access.

### 30 Day Post-Launch Support

- [ ] Support for problems related to features in the original scope, plus a reasonable
      amount of support for backend content questions, for 30 days after material completion.

## Add-ons

| Add-on (by name) | Status as of 2026-09-02 | Source |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Design Mockup and Review Round | ACCEPTED | Alicia Wimmer, 2026-08-13 |
| Hosting | ACCEPTED — client moves to PlusROI hosting | Alicia Wimmer, 2026-08-13; reconfirmed 2026-08-27 |
| Fractional General Counsel Landing Page with Tiered Pricing | PENDING | Alicia Wimmer, 2026-08-13 |
| Practice Area and Topic Hub Architecture | NOT ACCEPTED | Not mentioned in the 2026-08-13 acceptance |

### Design Mockup and Review Round

**Status: ACCEPTED 2026-08-13.**

A designed concept for the key pages with one comprehensive round of feedback, delivered before
we start building.

- [ ] Designed concept for the key pages
- [ ] One comprehensive feedback round, then the approved direction gates the build

Rian's commitment (2026-08-24 email): an initial mockup within a week of receiving the design
inputs, then a call to review the mockup and other build issues. On 2026-08-27 the client sent
SharePoint links to a Brand Kit folder and a 2026 Brand Photo Shoot folder (assets still to be
pulled down by someone with SharePoint access) and written design notes; the "sites you like"
links also requested on 2026-08-24 were not supplied. Whether the one-week clock started
2026-08-27 is Rian's call to state to the client. No mockup exists as of 2026-09-02. It is one
round; further rounds are a scope change. Process and gate in
`.logs/planning/design-direction.md`.

### Hosting

**Status: ACCEPTED 2026-08-13; "move to PlusROI" confirmed 2026-08-27. The launch target is
this hosting.**

What it includes, per the proposal: CDN for media hosting; SSL; nightly backups; regular plugin
updates — if anything does not update correctly, we roll it back and tell the client.

The proposal also offers a Support plan and a Hosting and Support plan for after launch. Rian's
2026-08-24 email: no need to decide until after launch. To be confirmed by the client at launch.

### Fractional General Counsel Landing Page with Tiered Pricing

**Status: PENDING — the client is "interested, though we'd like to discuss further before
making a decision" (2026-08-13). Do not build until accepted.**

Context from the proposal: the highest-priority item in AISV's Phase 01 plan and the basis of
their "Equinox the Playing Field" concept — nobody in law publishes this information, and it is
exactly what buyers now ask AI. The three tiers already exist on the General Counsel page
(Signature General Counsel, Legal Maintenance, Advisor), unpriced and sitting two levels deep
under "Our Approach".

Tier names are not settled: the AISV deck's example tiers are named "maintenance", "growth" and
"platinum", which do not match the live tier names. Which names the General Counsel page (base
scope) and the landing page (if taken) use is to be confirmed by the client with AISV; until
then the live names are used, labelled DRAFT. Record the answer in `.logs/handoff.md` and
mirror it in `.logs/planning/design-direction.md` Open inputs.

If accepted, it includes:

- [ ] A dedicated landing page with a tier comparison structure
- [ ] A comparison table contrasting the firm's fixed-fee model with traditional hourly billing,
      as a reusable block (this is the client's own service content; no rates or figures are
      written in this project)
- [ ] Schema for the offer so it is eligible to be cited by AI search
- [ ] Structure and placeholder copy for the landing page

The tier figures come from the client with AISV's guidance; we never author them and never
write numbers for the tiers in this project.

Until decided: the base scope still rebuilds the existing General Counsel page with its three
tiers, and the URL plan in `.logs/planning/site-architecture.md` must leave room for a
dedicated landing page so accepting later is an addition, not a restructure. Raise the decision
at the mockup review call.

### Practice Area and Topic Hub Architecture

**Status: NOT ACCEPTED. Build nothing for it.**

What it would include, per the proposal: the hub and child-page template plus the URL
architecture, so hubs and practice area pages can be added indefinitely without developer
involvement — the home for AISV's Phase 02 Owner, CFO, and HR pillar hubs, which as of
2026-09-02 have nowhere to live because nine practice areas share one URL.

Recorded so nobody builds it by accident. The base scope delivers a single rebuilt Practice
Areas page and Service schema on practice area content. Keep the practice-area URL structure
compatible with a parent/child architecture so the add-on can be taken later without redirects.

## Not included

From the proposal's "Not included" list:

- Final copywriting and content strategy. We draft, Equinox finalizes with AISV's guidance.
- Content audit and pruning of the existing posts, covered in a later AISV phase.
- Rebuilding the assessment as an interactive AI-driven tool. This is AISV's Creative Concept 03 and is a project in its own right. This
  scope places and instruments the existing assessment properly as the site's front door.
- Pipedrive integration beyond clean form routing and source attribution.
- Ongoing SEO, advertising, social, and email execution, all with AISV.
- Hosting, unless the client takes the Hosting add-on — which they did on 2026-08-13, so hosting
  is now part of the engagement.
- Third-party licences. The site relies on Gravity Forms, Search & Filter Pro, and Termageddon
  for cookie consent. We assumed those licences are active and transferable, and we reuse them.
  If any has lapsed we flag it in week one. The Kadence premium framework licence is included
  in our build; the client does not need one.

Also out of scope by decision: Google Ads (Rian, 2026-08-24: "not in scope at this time"). If
the client shares an Ads account, Rian's offer was limited to ensuring it is properly connected
to their Google Account (needs their 10-digit Google Ads account ID, then a client-center access
request). No Ads conversion work is part of this build.

## Scope assumptions and caps

- Page count: roughly 33 pages, a third of them team bios off a single template. The count is
  confirmed at kickoff against the live page sitemap (32 URLs on 2026-09-02). Home and Practice
  Areas are long and section-heavy; that is the main page-build risk.
- Author corrections. As sold: the account audit and per-person keep/reassign/retire list, the
  guest-byline mechanism, and correction of author attribution wherever the article text and
  the underlying author data disagree. The only exclusion in the proposal is a full editorial
  review of every post (that is AISV's content-pruning phase). Internal position (strategy
  notes 2026-07-27, not client-facing): bound the attribution work to the posts surfaced during
  migration QA and hand AISV the remainder as a list; if that bound is ever invoked with the
  client, it is a scope conversation, not a sold cap.
- Case studies (AISV Phase 03) are ordinary posts in the existing `case-studies` category (7
  posts on 2026-09-02) on the standard post template with Article schema. A dedicated
  case-study post type, template, or schema is not in scope; if AISV asks for one, it is a
  change request to Rian.
- Content freeze: see Terms; on this project a freeze date or delta re-import must be agreed
  with AISV (Things to confirm).
- Placeholder content: see Terms (Content ownership); final copy is not a launch blocker.
- Client licences (Gravity Forms, Search & Filter Pro, Termageddon): never buy or renew one on
  the client's behalf without written instruction from Alicia Wimmer.
- Photography is supplied by the client except where written into scope. The 2026 Brand Photo
  Shoot folder is the source for any team imagery; stock is limited to non-people subjects.
- Third-party platforms (Google, Hotjar, RB2B, Meta, Gravity Forms, Termageddon, Typeform,
  Pipedrive, and — to be confirmed by Alicia Wimmer — Constant Contact, which the live HTML
  loads for the newsletter signup widget) are integrated per their published capabilities. We
  do not control them.
- One design feedback round: see the Design Mockup and Review Round add-on.
- The live site is never edited. We build on private staging (https://equinoxbusinesslaw.demoing.info)
  and migrate at launch; the live site stays untouched until the client approves.

## Things to confirm

The proposal's week-one items. None of them change what was sold. Status as of 2026-09-02:

| Item | Proposal position | Status 2026-09-02 | Who confirms |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Hosting and access | Need the current hosting environment, domain DNS, and WordPress admin. Build on private staging; migrate at launch. | Hosting: ANSWERED — PlusROI (2026-08-13, 2026-08-27). DNS: moving to Cloudflare, waiting on the client's current website/email vendor. Live WordPress admin and current-host access: not yet confirmed. GA and Search Console granted; GTM pending. | Alicia Wimmer (and the client's vendor) |
| The multi-state question | Header advertises WA, OR, CO, VA, DC. Whether CO, VA, DC come off entirely or stay as light secondary pages is the client's call; we recommend, they decide. | ANSWERED 2026-08-27: remove DC and VA; keep WA, OR, CO. Open follow-up: the live disclaimer lists Washington, Idaho, and Oregon as licensed states — licensing wording needs Michelle's answer. | Michelle Bomberger (licensing wording) |
| The assessment platform | Could not tell from outside what powers the form; confirm in week one and carry it over cleanly. | ANSWERED by inspection 2026-09-02: a Typeform embed (widget `QIIINVqG`). Still open: who owns the Typeform account, what it routes to, and the single name for the assessment. | AISV with the client (name, routing); Alicia Wimmer (account) |
| Who the site should speak to | The AISV strategy deck targets larger businesses than the brand story's "who it's for" copy does. The answer shapes the homepage qualification copy and the tier framing. | OPEN — raised 2026-07-30, unanswered. No figures are recorded in this project by rule. | AISV with Michelle Bomberger |
| How services should be organized | The brand story groups the offering into four areas, the current site uses nine practice areas (plus industries), and the strategy calls for Owner, CFO, and HR topic hubs. Three cuts of the same thing; the structure needs settling before any practice-area architecture is built. | OPEN — raised 2026-07-30, unanswered. | AISV with Michelle Bomberger |
| Content freeze | AISV is actively working on the site during Phase 01; coordinate on publishing during the build so nothing is lost between the old site and the new one. | OPEN — not yet arranged; the post count already moved from 510 (July) to 513 (2026-09-02). | Rian with AISV directly |

Further open items that surfaced after the proposal (canonical firm name and address, licence
transfers, author roster decisions, Nicole Farahdel's headshot and bio, brand-kit contents,
"sites you like" examples, migration route, newsletter platform, Pipedrive routing, booking
link, industries list, legacy-page dispositions, post-launch plan) are tracked in
`.logs/handoff.md` and the relevant plan files, not here.

## Timeline as sold

- Start date held: 2026-08-17 (confirmed by Rian 2026-08-13).
- Completion: within 6 weeks from the start date, assuming prompt feedback from the client's
  team. That puts launch in late September 2026, inside the AISV Phase 01 window and ahead of
  the fall GCS cycle their plan is built around.
- Because we draft placeholder content, nothing in the build depends on waiting for final copy.
  Equinox and AISV can finalize wording in parallel, before launch or after.

| Week | Work as sold |
| :--- | :--- |
| Week 1 | Discovery, access, staging environment, sitemap and redirect map confirmed, AISV technical requirements aligned. Design mockups (that add-on was taken). |
| Week 2 | Design system and core templates built |
| Weeks 3 to 4 | Page build, drafted content, and full migration including all posts |
| Week 5 | Structured data, forms, CTAs, tracking, filtering, performance |
| Week 6 | Review, revisions, launch checklist, training, launch |

The kickoff call was 2026-08-27, ten days after the held start, and nothing is built or mocked
up as of 2026-09-02. `.logs/planning/build-plan.md` carries the phase-to-week mapping and the
rule that the calendar is re-baselined by Rian from mockup approval (no dates are set as of
2026-09-02); this table is the sold sequence, not the current calendar.

## Terms that shape the build

Paraphrased from the proposal's standard terms; the proposal is the binding text. Commercial
terms are deliberately omitted here.

- Scope confirmation. The proposed approach is preliminary and subject to adjustment if the
  scope changes.
- Scope changes. Small changes are expected. Changes that significantly increase the work may
  be handled by limiting scope elsewhere or revising the engagement; we discuss the options
  when it comes up. Do not absorb significant additions silently — raise them with Rian and
  record them in `.logs/handoff.md`.
- Material completion. If the majority of the site is complete but awaiting content or other
  final detail, the site is considered complete and launches as soon as the final details
  arrive. Final copy from Equinox/AISV is therefore not a launch blocker.
- Delays and restart. A lengthy client-side hold may carry restart terms under the proposal.
  Log any client-side hold date in `.logs/handoff.md` so it is on record.
- Content freeze and post-launch sync. The client must tell us if they are updating content on
  the live site while we build, so we can plan a sync at launch. By default no pre-launch sync
  is assumed unless it comes up during staging; syncing after the new site launches is
  additional work. For this project AISV is publishing during the build, so a sync plan is
  required.
- Content ownership. We draft placeholder content from the existing site, the AISV brand
  story, and the marketing strategy. Final copy, voice, and messaging decisions rest with
  Equinox, guided by AISV. The client remains responsible for suitable images except where
  specifically written into the scope.
- Third-party platforms. The project depends on services operated by Google, Hotjar, RB2B,
  Meta, Gravity Forms, Termageddon and others. We integrate with them according to their
  published capabilities; we do not control their platforms, uptime, or policy changes, and
  the client's own arrangements with those platforms sit outside this engagement.
- Collaboration with AI Smart Ventures. The scope is built around a defined division of
  responsibility. Where AISV input is a prerequisite for ours — final tier figures, FAQ
  content, topic hub direction, the assessment name, the audience threshold, the service
  taxonomy — delays on their side may affect the timeline. Flag any such dependency as early as
  possible rather than letting it quietly move the launch date; record each ask and its date in
  `.logs/handoff.md`.
- Training. Basic guidance on in-scope features so the client can manage day-to-day
  functionality. Full training in advanced WordPress features or template design is not
  included.
- Launch. We handle the launch of everything we built. The proposal's cPanel/FTP note applied
  to launching on a client-controlled host; launch is instead to PlusROI hosting via a
  Cloudflare DNS cutover. Access to the current host and the live WordPress admin is still
  needed for the migration export (requested 2026-08-13; in progress per Alicia Wimmer
  2026-08-18; unconfirmed as of 2026-09-02).
- 30-day support. Support for bugs or content-management training related to in-scope features
  for 30 days after material completion. Changes or new features outside the original scope
  are a future engagement or maintenance package.
- Maintainable by the owner. We build the site so the client can maintain it completely
  themselves; ongoing basic maintenance or small maintenance packages are available if they
  want them.