The Maison Standard
Our commitments,
published in plain sight.
This page is what we can be held to. Every house says it works hard. We would rather put numbers on it. Below is what we promise, with the timings attached, so you can check whether we did it. These are not ambitions. They are the floor. You should know what your representation answers for before you sign with anyone, including us.
Legal Flag Turnaround
Twenty-four hours.
Flag something to us and you get a real answer within twenty-four hours, in writing. Not a holding reply. Everyone we represent has our lawyer’s direct line, and anything that looks wrong in a contract gets named and answered before the next working day is out.
Contract Markup
Forty-eight hours, marked up.
Any agreement that arrives for you is marked up within forty-eight hours. We read it, we flag what is wrong with it, and we answer it in writing. That always covers where your image can be used and for how long, what you are locked out of while it runs, who has to approve what, your right to check the numbers later, and when you actually get paid.
Earnings Transparency
A statement every Friday.
Every Friday you get a statement showing what you earned, what is still owed to you, and what has actually landed. You should never have to ask where your money is or chase someone to find out. Longer summaries follow monthly and quarterly, laid out so your accountant can use them without rebuilding anything.
Audit Rights
You can check our math.
Every deal we sign for you keeps your right to open the books and see what was paid, what was held back, and what you were owed. You can do that yourself or send your own accountant or lawyer to do it. You do not need our permission and you do not have to explain why.
Payment Escrow
Your money, in its own account.
Payments from brands land in a protected account that is separate from the one the house runs on. Your money is never mixed with our money, and it is never used by our business. Every movement in and out is tracked and documented, so you can always see where your money is sitting and when it is coming to you.
Direct Access
Answered the same day.
Anything you send through the portal reaches a person by name and gets answered the same working day. No queue, no ticket number, nobody sitting between you and the people doing your work. And you are not stuck with a portal: you have your representative’s mobile number from day one.
The Quarterly Review
Every quarter, in writing.
Four times a year we put your career on paper: what is working, what you are sitting on and not using, what worries us, and what should come next. Representation that only handles what is in front of it is barely representation. A year is long enough for a good position to go quiet without anybody noticing, so we look four times instead of once.
Application Answers
Ten business days, either way.
Send us your work and you get a real answer within ten business days, including if the answer is no. Someone here reads every application properly. We do not run a queue and we do not let them pile up, and we would rather tell you no clearly than leave you checking your inbox for a month. If we decline, we say so plainly, and you are welcome to come back to us later.
Inquiry Response
One business day.
Write to us through Contact, or through a brand or introducer form, and you hear back from a person within one business day. Not an autoresponder telling you someone will follow up, and not a ticket sitting in a queue. A real answer, from someone here, that addresses what you actually asked. We record when your message arrives and when it is actually answered, so this is not a courtesy we extend when we remember to. It is timed, and we can be held to it.
Studio Applications
One business day, then five.
Apply to Maison Studio and someone tells you within one business day that a person has your application. You have our decision within five. The first of those is the one that matters to you, because the silence right after you press send is the part that feels like being ignored, and it is the part most studios leave you in. Both are recorded against the day you applied, so we can be held to them, and you get an answer either way.
Studio Changes
Two business days, as often as you like.
A date moves, a review lands, you finish something new. Send it to us the day it happens and it is on your site within two business days. There is no limit on how often you can ask and there never will be, because a number of updates a month is a cap pretending to be a gift. You will not be given a login and a training video. You tell us, and someone here does it.
Studio Delivery
Live within fourteen days.
Once we have agreed the direction of your site, it is live within fourteen days. We count from that moment rather than from your first email, because agreeing the direction is the last part that needs you. If new photography is wanted we book that separately and tell you when, so the clock never runs on a diary nobody controls. If we are late for a reason of ours, the first two months of care are ours too.
On publication
A promise you cannot check is not a promise. Ours are written down, timed, and kept where you can hold us to them.
We publish the Maison Standard because we expect to be held to it. If a commitment above is not met in a given matter, we expect to answer for it: privately, promptly, and with specifics. That is the deal.