Hosting & Support SLA (Service Level Agreement)

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

434 Marketing & Consulting – Website Hosting, Maintenance, and Retained Support

Last Updated: February 25, 2026
Client Access Portal: https://app.434marketing.com

1. Purpose and Scope

This Service Level Agreement (SLA) outlines the services, expectations, and commitments between 434 Marketing & Consulting and our clients for website hosting, maintenance, and optional support services. This SLA is designed to provide transparency and guide clients in how to request support and understand what’s included in their plan.

2. Office Hours & Response Expectations

Standard office hours are Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM ET, excluding holidays.

Response times refer to acknowledgment of receipt, not resolution.

• Site Care: Response within 2 business days, unless urgent
• Plus Support & Support Add-Ons: Response within 1 business day, priority resolution
• Development Support Retainers: Priority response resolution

3. Support Ticket Process

All support requests must be submitted through our client portal at app.434marketing.com, where clients can view, respond, and track ticket progress.

Support Lifecycle:

• We aim to respond to all new support tickets within 1 business day.
• If we respond and do not receive a reply, a follow-up will be sent 2 business days after our last response.
• If no further response is received, the ticket will be closed 5 business days after the follow-up.
• Clients can reopen a ticket at any time by replying within the portal.

For urgent issues, please email urgentsupport@434marketing.com. Emergency support is subject to additional fees if the issue falls outside the scope of your plan. See Appendix A for more information on what qualifies an urgent issue.

4. Scope of Support

Pricing:

All active websites must be enrolled in a Required Site Care plan. Support and development work are layered on top of Site Care through Plus Support and Development Retainers.

Feature / Service	Site Care $159/mo	Plus Support $400/mo
Plugin & system updates	✔️	✔️
Nightly automated update checks	✔️	✔️
Automatic rollback on failed updates	✔️	✔️
Routine site health monitoring	✔️	✔️
Security monitoring	✔️ Standard	✔️ Advanced
Hack cleanup & recovery	✔️ Included	✔️ Included
Performance optimization	❌	✔️
Dedicated support hours	❌	✔️ (up to 2 hrs/mo)
Monthly reporting & insights	❌	✔️
Priority response	❌	✔️
SEO, Speed, or Development Requests	❌	Add-On Available

Ways to save: Enjoy 5% with annual autopayment! 

Plan Details

Site Care includes:

• Managed hosting
• Plugin, theme, and system updates
• Nightly automated monitoring
• Automatic rollback on failed updates
• Routine site health checks
• Security monitoring
• Hack cleanup and recovery (included)
• Backup management and restoration support

Required Site Care does not include:

• Content updates
• Design changes
• Development work
• Ongoing support requests

Plus Support includes up to 2 hours per month of non-development web support, such as:

• Content updates and page edits
• Image, link, and text changes
• Basic layout adjustments using existing components
• Menu, form, or widget configuration
• WordPress guidance and retraining support

Plus Support does not include:

• Custom development
• New functionality
• Structural layout changes
• Plugin customization or integrations
• Performance engineering

What Requires Additional Quoting 

For all plans:

• Full redesigns or page layout overhauls
• Building new templates or features
• Plugin troubleshooting or conflict resolution (unless on Hosting Plus plan)
• SEO strategy or audits (unless part of add-on)
• Site speed optimization (unless part of add-on)

If a request exceeds the plan’s included time or scope, we will notify the client and provide an estimate before proceeding.

5. Emergency & Out-of-Hours Support

If you experience a critical website issue outside of office hours, email urgentsupport@434marketing.com.

• Our team will be notified immediately.
• Emergency support is billed at $195/hour.
• If an issue requires more than 3 hours to resolve or a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is requested, emergency rates apply regardless of plan.

Emergency support billing does not apply in instances where our hosting provider (WPEngine) and/or enterprise hosting datacenter causes website downtime.

6. Training & Resources

• All clients receive access to our WordPress CMS training video series.
• All new website clients are eligible for a 30–60 minute live training session following launch.
• We offer a 14-day grace period post-launch to request minor adjustments or fixes at no additional cost.

7. Optional Add-On Services

The following services are available outside of our hosting plans:

Local Search Bundle

$450/mo

• Monthly SEO reports
• Proactive metadata cleanup
• Fix broken links
• Local listings monitoring and adjustments
• Agile AI Optimization
• Quarterly check-in meeting to answer all your questions

Advanced Design & Development

• Retainer Model (Monthly Add-On Subscription):
  • Access to our strategic team for ongoing enhancements
  • Retain our team for a regular number of hours per month
  • Includes priority support and discounted rates beyond the included hours

• Project-Based Option:
  • Single fixed-price or hourly quote based on defined scope
  • Ideal for larger or one-off engagements

 

Service	Pricing Guide
Strategic Support	$255/hour
Creative Support	$155/hour
UX Design / Web Development Support	$195/hour
Web Retainer Tier 1	$550/month (up to 4 hours/month)
Web Retainer Tier 2	$1,500/month (up to 12 hours/month)
Emergency Support	$195/hour

 

8. Summary

Our goal is to keep your website secure, performant, and up-to-date. This SLA outlines the expectations, boundaries, and support you can rely on from the 434 Marketing & Consulting team.

For questions or to request a service upgrade, please reach out via the client portal or your account representative.

Thank you for trusting 434 Marketing & Consulting.

Appendix A

Urgent Support Specifications

All hosting clients can access our technical support for urgent website issues. An urgent website is defined as: 

• Your website is not accessible.
• A portion of your website isn’t working properly.
• Your website is clearly hacked (you see code snippets, inappropriate content, etc.).
• You suspect your website is hacked.
• You suspect there are bad actors logged into your website.
• There is content on your site you did not add.
• You need to promptly remove a user’s login access. 
• You have an urgent need to add a site-wide notice. 

 

If a bad actor accessed the website via an outdated plugin, and in the case that the client has our hosting plus package, 434 Marketing & Consulting will cover the cost to clean and restore the website.*

*Up to three (3) hours. 

Appendix B

Third-Party Developer Fees (ie plugin licenses) 

There are two types of third-party developer licenses; those covered by 434 Marketing & Consulting and those requested for additional functionality. Unless otherwise specified in a client’s SOW, developer licenses are included in the build and ongoing support covered under the managed hosting plan. Some clients’ websites require additional developer tools to support form and function. 

Developer Licenses, included: Most plugins and developer tools used when building a website with 434 Marketing & Consulting have developer licenses at the agency level, thereby 434 Marketing & Consulting owns, operates, and manages these licenses.

Developer Tools, individual license: Some websites are built utilizing additional developer tools with individual licenses required for ongoing functionality and/or access to version updates. These fees will be agreed upon before use. There are two options for billing and account management, as follows: 

• Client Managed: The client will hold the account and share API keys or credentials as needed. The client will manage the monthly/annual fee.

• 434 Managed: 434 Marketing & Consulting will manage the account, integration keys, and billing. For these services, 434 will charge a 5% processing fee on top of the raw cost to cover credit card and processing fees.