Engagement Models
Five ways to work with us
Pick the one that matches how the work actually arrives. Each has a different commitment and a different pricing basis — and each ends in a written quotation rather than a number on a web page.
Dedicated engineer
- Priced as
- Monthly retainer
- Commitment
- 2 month minimum, then rolling
You have a continuous backlog and want the same person in it every week.
- Full-time or part-time allocation to your team
- Works in your tools, your standups, your board
- You direct the work day to day
- Weekly written report: shipped, blocked, hours used
- Two-week paid trial before the first full month
Project — fixed fee
- Priced as
- Fixed fee against a defined scope
- Commitment
- Milestone-based, ends on acceptance
You have a defined build with an end state and want it delivered, not managed.
- Scope schedule with written acceptance criteria
- Milestone payments tied to delivery
- Change Orders for anything outside the scope
- Runbook and documented handover on completion
- Warranty period after acceptance
Staff augmentation
- Priced as
- Hourly, against a cap you set
- Commitment
- Per sprint, no minimum term
You need a specific skill for a specific stretch without a headcount decision.
- Automation, integration, AI/LLM, front-end or backend specialists
- Time logged and reported against your cap
- Nothing billed past the cap without your written approval
- Scales down as cleanly as it scales up
Maintenance & support
- Priced as
- Monthly retainer with an included hours allowance
- Commitment
- Initial term, then month to month
Something is in production and you need it monitored and kept working.
- Monitoring, with notification when a run fails
- Break-fix — restoring agreed behaviour
- Adapting to third-party platform changes, within the allowance
- Defined response targets by severity
- Monthly summary of runs, failures and hours used
IT procurement
- Priced as
- Supplier cost plus a stated margin
- Commitment
- Per purchase order
You need hardware, licences or cloud capacity sourced and set up properly.
- Multiple supplier quotations, shown to you
- Cost basis and our margin as separate lines
- Sourced to order against a purchase order
- Delivery receipt with serial numbers recorded
- Optional provisioning, setup and asset inventory
How you get a price
Four steps, and the first two cost you nothing.
01
Scope call
Thirty minutes. What the work is, what systems are involved, what done looks like. No obligation, and an honest answer about whether we are the right fit.
02
Written quotation
Model, scope, deliverables, timeline, commitment and price — in writing, valid until a stated date. A binding price only exists here, never on a web page.
03
Agreement
A Services Agreement with a scope schedule, plus an NDA and a Data Processing Agreement where personal data is involved.
04
Work starts
On receipt of any agreed upfront portion and the access needed — not before. That protects both sides.
What actually moves the number
Two automations that sound identical in a meeting can differ several-fold in cost. These are the reasons why — worth knowing before the call, because you can often influence them.
How many systems it touches
Every integration point adds credentials, error paths and testing. Two systems is not twice one; it is more.
Whether the process is documented
If we have to map the process before we can automate it, that is discovery work. Documented processes are cheaper to automate.
Data quality
Clean, consistent data is straightforward. Inconsistent data means validation, exception handling, and decisions about what to do when a record does not fit.
Volume and platform tier
Higher volume can require a paid platform tier, or a different architecture entirely.
How much is genuinely new
Where something close already exists in our capability library, we start from there rather than from nothing.
Your turnaround on approvals
More a timeline factor than a price one — but on anything priced by time, delay costs money.
What is never included
Stated up front, because discovering this on an invoice is how good working relationships go wrong. Platform costs in particular stay with you deliberately — the accounts should be in your name so you keep control of them, and so moving away from us later is easy.
- Third-party platform subscriptions — n8n, Make.com, model providers, CRM seats, hosting. These stay in your name, on your payment method.
- API and usage charges incurred by running the automation.
- Hardware, unless quoted separately under IT procurement.
- Platform training beyond the handover for what we built.
- Work outside a signed scope — that is what Change Orders are for.
Straight answers
Why are there no prices on this page?
Because any figure published here would be wrong for most readers. The same automation can differ several-fold in cost depending on how many systems it touches, whether the process is documented, and how clean the data is. Rather than post a number and then explain it away, we scope properly and quote in writing. A thirty-minute call gets you a real figure, and it costs nothing.
How do I get an actual price?
Book a scope call, or send an enquiry describing the process. You get a written quotation with scope, deliverables, timeline and price, valid until a stated date. Figures on a website are indications at best; a quotation is a commitment.
Which engagement model should I pick?
If the work has a clear end state, take fixed-fee project. If it is a continuous backlog, take a dedicated engineer. If you need one skill briefly, take staff augmentation. If something is already live and needs keeping alive, take maintenance. If you are unsure, describe the situation on the call and we will tell you which fits — including when the answer is none of them.
Do you charge for the scope call or the quotation?
No. Both are free. Paid work begins only once an agreement is in place and any agreed upfront portion has been received.
What happens if the scope changes mid-project?
A Change Order: written agreement on the scope, timeline and fee impact before work on the change begins. Nothing outside the signed scope gets built silently, and nothing surprising appears on an invoice.
Do you require a long-term commitment?
No. A dedicated engineer is one month minimum then rolling; staff augmentation is per sprint; project work ends on acceptance. A dedicated engagement also starts with a two-week paid trial, so you test the fit before committing to it.
Describe the work, get a real number
Thirty minutes on a call, then a written quotation. Both free, and you are under no obligation to proceed.
Request a quote