Send a brief
Six fields.
That's the whole form.
We don't ask for your budget before we've met. It's a strange thing to demand from someone who hasn't been told what things cost. Rates are published further down this page.
Rates & engagement models
How billing works,
before you ask.
Most studios make you sit through two discovery calls to learn this. Exact figures depend on seniority and how much of your day we overlap. The structure never changes, and you'll have a written rate before you commit to anything.
| Model | Right when | Team | Billed | Notice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial sprint | You want proof before a commitment. Nearly everyone starts here. | 1-2 engineers | Two weeks, flat fee | None |
| Dedicated seat | You have a backlog and nobody to burn it down. | 1 engineer, full time | Monthly | 30 days |
| Fractional | You need senior judgement, not forty hours of it. | 1 senior, part time | Monthly | 30 days |
| Engineering pod | One roadmap, a real date, and it needs coordinating. | 3-5 + lead | Per sprint | One sprint |
| Fixed scope | You would rather buy an outcome than an hour. | Sized to scope | Per milestone | Per contract |
| Assessment | You inherited a system and need to know what you've got. | 2-3 senior | Five days, fixed fee | N/A |
What's included
Second-engineer review on every pull request, weekly demonstrations, daily written updates, and handover documentation. None of these are line items.
What's extra
Production on-call, if you want us carrying a pager. Priced separately and never assumed.
Currency & invoicing
Invoiced monthly in USD, GBP, EUR or INR. Net 15. No setup fee and no minimum contract beyond the notice period.
Ramping up or down
Add or remove engineers with 30 days' notice. You are never renegotiating the relationship to change its size.
The two-week trial
Retainer engagements open with a paid two-week trial on real tickets from your backlog. If it isn't working at the end of it, you stop. No notice period, no exit fee, and you keep everything that was built. Roughly nine in ten trials continue. The ones that don't were cheap lessons for both sides.
Before you write
Quick answers
to the usual questions.
The longer versions are on how we work.
What should I include in the brief?
What needs building, what already exists, and why it's urgent. If you know the stack and how much timezone overlap you need, include those. That's usually enough for a rate. A paragraph is fine; we'll ask the rest on the call.
Will you sign an NDA before we talk?
Yes, gladly, and we can send ours or sign yours. Nothing about your enquiry is shared outside the engineers who would work on it.
We're not ready to start yet. Should we still get in touch?
Yes. Capacity is planned weeks ahead, so an early conversation usually means a better start date later. There's no follow-up sequence. We'll just note when you expect to be ready.
Do you work with small companies?
Yes. Our smallest engagements are a single fractional engineer; our largest are pods of five running for over a year. What matters is whether the work needs senior people, not how large you are.
Can we hire your engineers permanently?
Sometimes, and we won't obstruct it. There's a conversion arrangement in every contract, set out up front rather than sprung on you later. We'd rather someone move to a client openly than lose them to a recruiter quietly.