How we work
The same five steps on every project. Nothing here is a formality: each step exists because skipping it has cost somebody money.
Scoping call
Thirty minutes, no charge. We ask what the system has to do, who uses it and what happens if it is late. You leave with a range and the things that would change it.
Paid discovery
One to three weeks. Written scope, technical approach, risks and a clickable prototype where it helps. It is credited in full against the project if you proceed, and it is yours if you do not.
Build in two-week increments
Working software at the end of every increment, on a real environment you can open. A written status you can forward to your own board, without us in the room.
Handover
Repository, documentation, infrastructure, accounts and a runbook. We walk your team through it. Another team can pick this up, and that is deliberate.
Support
Thirty days of defect fixes at no charge. After that, a retainer if you want one and a clean goodbye if you do not.
What we commit to in writing
- A fixed price, or time and materials with a ceiling you set. We do not bill past the ceiling without your written approval.
- The people you met on the call are the people on the project.
- All source code, design files and accounts transfer to you on final payment.
- Thirty days of defect fixes after handover, at no charge.
- If we are the wrong team for the work, we say so on the first call.
What you get in the first two weeks
Most projects start with a paid discovery. This is what reaches you while it runs, so you can judge us on work rather than on a pitch.
- A kickoff with the engineers who will build the system, not with a sales lead.
- Access to the repository and the task board from the first day. Both transfer to you on final payment.
- A written list of questions and assumptions, so the gaps in the brief are visible before they turn into estimates.
- A first cut of the data model and a list of every system the product has to talk to.
- A written scope: what is in, what is out, and what is deliberately left for later.
- A technical approach and a risk list, with a plan against each risk.
- A clickable prototype of the core flow, where the product has an interface.
- A fixed quote, or a time-and-materials plan with a ceiling, inside our published range or with a written reason why not.
Larger systems need a third week. Discovery costs $1500-4000 and is credited in full against the project; if you do not proceed, the documents are yours to take to another supplier.
Three ways to engage
PricingFixed price
For a scope that is written down and unlikely to move. The risk of being wrong is priced into the number, so it only pays off for you when the scope is solid. Changes are quoted from the published hourly table before the work starts.
Time and materials with a ceiling
For work that will change as you learn. You set the ceiling, hours are reported every week, and nothing is billed past the ceiling without your written approval.
Dedicated team
Two to four engineers with part-time QA and project management working through your backlog, billed monthly with a three-month minimum. It suits a product that already exists and needs steady delivery rather than a launch.
Payment terms are the same in all three models and are published on the price list. Defects found after handover are fixed free for 30 days.
What we will not do
- Start building before the scope is written down. A week saved at the start is usually a month lost in the middle.
- Quote below our hourly floor of $55. Under it the work stops paying for review, testing and support.
- Promise a date that only holds if nothing goes wrong. You get a range and the things that would move it.
- Take on work with health or financial data without your compliance owner involved from the first week.
Tell us what you are building
A short description is enough to start. We reply with questions, a range and the two or three things that would change it.