Fixed-price project
The usual arrangement. A written scope, a fixed price, a date. Best when the thing being built has a recognisable shape — a website, an application, a migration, an integration. The risk of the estimate is ours, which is the point of a fixed price and the reason discovery matters.
- Fixed price agreed before anything starts
- Changes priced separately and agreed, never absorbed silently
- Estimation risk is ours
- Best for work with a recognisable shape and an end
Monthly retainer
A set amount of capacity each month, for work that is continuous rather than project-shaped. Marketing engagements are almost always this, because search and content compound over quarters rather than weeks. Retainers are cancellable with notice — a retainer you cannot leave is a subscription to somebody else's business, not a service.
- Agreed capacity each month with a written plan for what it goes on
- Reporting that states what moved, what did not, and what we got wrong
- Cancellable with notice; your accounts and data are yours throughout
- Best for marketing, ongoing development and operations
Embedded team
We work inside your process — your stand-ups, your board, your repository. Suits businesses with an existing technical team who need capacity or a specific competence for a period. Less suitable if you want us to take responsibility for outcomes, because in this model the direction is yours and the accountability follows it.
- Your process, your tools, your priorities
- Useful for a specific competence you need temporarily rather than permanently
- Direction and accountability stay with you
- Not the right model if you want us to own the outcome
Wholesale, for agencies
If you are an agency, you can resell our delivery under your own name. You keep the client relationship and the margin; we do the engineering and stay invisible. We would rather work behind a good agency than compete with one, and a great many agencies are relieved to have somewhere competent to send the technical work instead of subcontracting it blind.
- Your brand on everything the client sees
- You hold the client relationship and set your own pricing
- Wholesale rates, with no per-seat rebilling on anything
- We will sign whatever non-solicitation you need; we are not trying to reach your clients
Paid audit
A fixed-price review of something that already exists — a codebase, an infrastructure setup, a website, a marketing account — ending in a written report you own and can act on with anyone. It is the cheapest way to find out whether we are worth hiring, and it is the honest way for us to find out whether we can help. Sometimes the report says keep your current team.
- Fixed price, fixed scope, written report
- The report is yours; you can hand it to another supplier
- Often ends in a recommendation to change less than you expected
- Frequently how a larger engagement starts, and sometimes how one is avoided
Tell us what you are trying to do
A short conversation is usually enough to tell whether we are the right people. If we are not, we will say so and point you somewhere better.