Handover

Quote, contract, proofs, payment andfinal files, in one client portal for studios.In daily use with Apexify’s own clients.

Client portal for studios
Your brand, not ours
In use at Apexify

Talk to me about Handover

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The problem

Five tools, and none of them talk.

A studio project runs across email threads, a shared drive, a PDF quote, a separate e-signature tool and a payment link. Nothing ties them together, so approvals get lost and final files go out before the last invoice is paid.

And clients rarely remember one more login, so the portals that do exist go unused.

What it replaces

Approval chains by email
File-transfer links and shared folders
Separate e-signature tools
Spreadsheet hours logs
Invoice chasers written by hand

Quote, contract, signature, payment and file release form one chain, so the final files can’t be downloaded until the payment clears.

How it works

Set up with you. Run under your brand.

01
Workspace
I set up your workspace and invite you as the owner. There is no self-serve signup.
02
Your studio
You add your brand (name, logo, colours, sign-in look and document style) and your services with their contract wording. The brand setup is guided, and you can run it again from Settings.
03
Your client
You invite a client. They accept a quote, sign the contract by typing their name, and pay the deposit.
04
Day to day
You post work for review. The client approves or asks for changes, in the portal or from an email button, and the final files release when the last payment lands.

You provide your logo, colours, legal entity details, a support email and contract wording you’re happy with. Contract wording comes pre-filled for each service.

What it does

From the quote to the final files.

Winning and starting the work

The quote, the contract and the deposit, settled before any work begins.

Quotes clients can acceptThe client reads the quote, downloads the PDF, and accepts or declines with a reason.
Contracts signed in the portalThe client signs the master agreement and the statement of work in one step, by typing their legal name. The signed PDF is filed automatically.
Contract wording per serviceEach service has its own wording, with your details filled in, edited beside a live preview.
Structured job requestsClients ask for new work with a service, goals, audience, deliverables, budget band and date.
Proposal pageTeam+The client sees the packages and terms, picks one and signs on one page, then goes straight on to pay the deposit.
Five-step job builderThe packages, prices and timeline come pre-filled from the service. You adjust them per job and choose the payment schedule.

Why it holds

A job with an unsigned contract never releases its final files, even when it is paid. A job that hasn’t reached signature is locked by its status, so a missing contract is never read as nothing to sign.

NorthlightQuoteContractProposal

Quote Q-0148

Brand identity · Harbour & Co · Valid to 8 Oct

Awaiting replyAcceptedPDF

Brand strategy£900

Logo suite£1,200

Brand guidelines£300

Total£0

Receipt R-0209Sam Carter · 24 Sep, 14:18Next: sign the contract →

Sign to start the job

Master service agreement

Statement of work — Brand identity

Covered by one signature

Type your full legal name to signSam Carter

Master service agreementWith statement of work

SignedSam Carter · 24 Sep 2026, 14:32

Signed PDF filed

Proposal · Website refresh

Coming

Essential£1,800

Homepage refresh
Four inner pages

Choose

Most chosenRecommended£2,500

New homepage
Six inner pages

Choose✓ Selected

Complete£3,400

Copy written
Photo shoot

Choose

Your choicePick a packageRecommended · £2,500Deposit today£0Sign and pay deposit

Accepted by Sam CarterReceipt issued

SignedPDF filed to the job

Proposal pagePick, sign and pay in one place

Reviewing the work

Feedback in context, and a paper trail for every yes.

Checkpoints with repliesThe client approves each checkpoint or asks for changes, and replies inside it.
Pins on proofsThe client drops numbered comment pins on an image. Images only, for now.
Watermarked proofsProofs carry your watermark automatically, and you can switch it off.
Decision receiptsEvery accept, decline, approval and change request creates a numbered PDF receipt with the name, time, IP address and browser.
Read-only share linksThe client shares a job with a colleague who has no account. The link shows status and milestones, not files, expires after 7, 30 or 90 days, and can be revoked.
Review deskDrag a box on a proof to leave a note, mark notes resolved, switch between versions, and see an automatic summary of where the job stands.

Why it holds

A decision is only saved if its receipt is issued in the same database transaction. No receipt, no decision.

NorthlightProofCheckpointDesk

Homepage design · v2

Proof

NORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOFNORTHLIGHT · PROOF

Hero a little brighter?

Logo a touch larger

SendSent for revision

Homepage design · v2

Waiting on youApproved

Milestone2 of 5 · Design3 of 5 · Pages

Northlight · 09:40Updated the hero copy and logo size.

Sam CarterReply to Northlight…Looks great, approved.

Request changesApprove

Receipt R-0212Sam Carter · 24 Sep, 14:32 · IP and browser recordedPDF

Harbour & Co · Website

Coming

Where we areStage 0 of 5

DiscoveryDesignPagesReviewLaunch

Summary · updated just now2 open · 5 resolvedv1 → v2

Homepage v2 approved by Sam Carter on 24 Sep.

2 notes open on Inner pages, 5 resolved.

Next: final balance due at launch.

Comments on the imageWatermarked automatically

Approved with a replyEvery decision gets a receipt

Review deskWhere the job stands, written for you

Getting paid and handing over

The final files release when the last payment clears.

Card paymentsThe client pays a deposit and a final balance, or pays per milestone, by card.
Files locked until paidOn one-off and milestone jobs, the final files sit behind a lock with a Pay & unlock button.
Handover packA finished job shows the final files, a handover note and a 1 to 5 rating.
Pack that opens itselfOn a signed job, the handover pack releases itself the moment the final payment clears.
Invoices and billingInvoices, outstanding totals, receipts and the saved card, in one place for the client.
Retainer hours bankHours used against hours allowed each month, with a time log and optional rollover per client.
Change ordersTeam+Priced extras and pass-through costs, agreed in the thread and added to the final balance, or as a milestone of their own on a milestone job.

Why it holds

Download links for final files come from one place, which checks payment and contract every time, and each link expires after five minutes. A payment can’t be recorded twice: an open checkout is reused, and a duplicate pending payment is blocked.

NorthlightUnlockChangeHours

Handover pack

Logo suite.zip

Brand guidelines.pdf

Social kit.zip

“Thanks for choosing Northlight — full pack attached.”

Harbour & Co · Brand identity

Coming

Change order CO-03£450

Extra social templates

Requested by Sam Carter in the thread

Stock photo licence£60 · at cost

Pending

Final balance£2,400

Original £2,400+ Change order £450+ Pass-through £60

September retainer

0 of 20 hours used

3 SepHomepage revisions3h

10 SepIcon refresh4h

18 SepSocial templates2h

Rollover on · 3h carried from August

Final filesReleased when paid

Change ordersAgreed in the thread, added to the balance

Retainer hoursRollover set per client

Keeping clients moving

Clients don’t log in to portals, so the decision goes to them.

Act from emailEmail buttons sign the client in and open the exact decision, for 72 hours. The client still makes the call in the portal.
Automatic remindersReminders for unanswered quotes, checkpoints, payments and signatures, with one switch to turn them all off.
MessagesThreads per job and per client, with attachments, reactions, read receipts, search and live updates.
Notifications everywhereIn the app, by email (each type can be switched off) and by push, plus an installable app that carries your icon.
Friday digestOnce you switch it on, clients get a weekly round-up of where things stand every Friday.
Call bookingCalls booked through Cal.com, or added by hand, show on the client’s dashboard, on your day view and in the job, with reminders a day and an hour before.
Reply by emailComingClients answer a review request from their inbox, and the reply lands in the thread.

Why it holds

Email links survive the mail scanners that open links first, because opening a link only shows a page. Only a hash of each link is stored, and two-factor sign-in is never skipped.

NorthlightEmailRemindersMessages

Inbox · Sam Carter

NorthlightYour proofs are readynow

AccountsYour October statement09:12

Team calendarFriday planning, 10:00Mon

Northlightto Sam Carter

Your proofs are ready

Homepage design v2 is ready for your review.

Signs you in · works for 72 hours

Signing you in

Signed in from email

Checkpoint · waiting on you

Homepage design v2

Automatic reminders

Quote Q-0148 · no reply in 3 daysPendingReminder sent

Checkpoint · Homepage v2PendingReminder sent

Final balance · due FridayScheduled

Follow up on late payment · INV-0231Reminder sent

Harbour & Co · Website

Homepage design v2 is ready for your review.

homepage-v2.pdf

Seen

One note on the header — logo’s a touch small.

Could we move the review call to Thursday?

Call change requestedSam Carter · Review call, Thu

Straight to the decisionNot yet approved

Reminders on autopilotOne switch turns them off

Live threadRead receipts and reactions

Your brand, your studio

Your clients see your studio. Handover stays in the background.

Your brand everywhereName, logo, colours, app icon, sign-in backdrop and email branding.
Five document stylesPlain and Minimal on every plan. Studio, Editorial and Ledger on Team.
Six app themesEach with a light and a dark mode.
Your own servicesCreate, duplicate and archive the services you sell.
Studio board and InsightsTeam+Every job on one board by stage, plus approval turnaround, time to pay, revenue by service and clients at risk.
Hide “Powered by Apexify”On portal screens and emails with the Team plan, and on PDFs, handover packs and share links too with Agency.
Staff loginsTeam+Invite your staff to run jobs with you: three admin seats on Team, ten on Agency.
Your own Stripe accountComingClient payments go straight into your studio’s own Stripe account.

Why it holds

Settings only accept values from a list in code. Backdrops and document styles are checked against it, and a test keeps the list in step with the app.

NorthlightBrandDocumentsBoard

Studio brand

Applied everywhere

Studio nameNorthlight

Logonorthlight-mark.svg

Accent colour#F05B3D60A5FA

NorthlightSign insam@harbour.co••••••••Sign in

App icon

NorthlightYour quote is readyView quoteEmail

Document style

StudioPlainEditorialLedgerMinimal

NorthlightQ-0148

Quote24 Sep 2026

Prepared for Harbour & Co · Brand identity

ItemAmount

Brand strategy£900

Logo suite£1,200

Brand guidelines£300

Total£2,400

Studio board

Coming

Proposal1Kestrel FoodsPackaging

In progress2Marlow DentalWebsiteOak & IvyBrand identity

In review21TidewaterVideo editHarbour & CoWebsite

Delivered12Fenwick LtdApp buildHarbour & CoWebsite

Approval turnaround1.8days

Time to pay4days

Revenue by serviceBrand£12.4kWeb£9.1kVideo£4.2k

At risk1client

Studio coloursPreview updates live

Five document stylesEvery PDF

Pipeline boardStudio insights

Who it's for

Built for studios that quote their work.

A good fit

Studios doing bespoke, quoted projects and retainers in brand, web, software, audio and video.
Teams of one to ten people.
Bought by the owner or founder, and used every day by the studio lead and the client’s decision-maker.

Not the right fit

Productised or subscription design shops that run request queues.
Teams looking for general collaboration software.
Studios that invoice in currencies other than pounds sterling.

What it deliberately doesn’t do

Invite onlyClients can’t sign up on their own. You invite them.
Your studio up frontYour client’s relationship is with your studio. Our only mark is a small “Powered by Apexify”, which the Team and Agency plans take off.
No plans for clientsClients never pay Apexify and never see a plan.

Access

Set up by hand, one studio at a time.

Handover runs Apexify’s own client work every day, and it opens to other studios soon.

I set up each studio by hand. Get in touch and we’ll set up your workspace together.

Security and trust

Built to be trusted with your clients.

Sign-in
Passwords are hashed with bcrypt and checked against known breaches. Users can see their sessions and sign any of them out.
Two-factor sign-in
An authenticator app with recovery codes, available to every user.
Audit log
About 55 kinds of action are logged, and you can read the log in Settings.
Locked-down app
A strict content security policy, HSTS, and no other site can frame the app.
Erasure
An admin can erase a client contact.
Tested on every push
About 650 test files run automatically on every change.

Do my clients see Handover?

They see your studio. Handover appears only in the browser tab and the name of the installed app. “Powered by Apexify” shows on the sign-in screen, emails and PDFs. The Team plan hides it on portal screens and emails, and the Agency plan on PDFs, handover packs and share links too.

Do clients need to log in?

Email buttons sign them in and open the exact decision, so they never need to remember a password to approve something.

Can a client get the final files without paying?

Not on one-off or milestone jobs. The server won’t issue the download link until the payment has cleared and the contract is signed.

Is the e-signature legally binding?

It records the typed name, the account, the time, the IP address and the browser, then files a signed PDF. The starter contract wording hasn’t been reviewed by a solicitor, so use your own.

Can I use my own contracts?

Yes. You can edit the wording for each service.

Which currencies does it support?

Pounds sterling only.

What does it cost?

Pricing is being worked out. Get in touch and I’ll tell you where it stands.

How do I start?

Get in touch. I set up your workspace with you.

Handover

Workspace

Your studio

Your client

Day to day

Winning and starting the work

Reviewing the work

Getting paid and handing over

Keeping clients moving

Your brand, your studio

Set up by hand, one studio at a time.

Sign-in

Two-factor sign-in

Audit log

Locked-down app

Erasure

Tested on every push