How we engage
4
Phases against a Statement of Work. The same shape, every engagement. No retainers, no scope drift, no agile cover for missing milestones.
Pricing is transparent, we share ranges on the qualifying call and lock specifics in the SOW.
2 weeks
Fixed-fee, paid up front, non-refundable
Operations audit, stack mapping, opportunity sizing. Two weeks inside your operation with the people doing the work.
What we do
What you commit
Deliverables
Sample artifacts
4 weeks
Fixed-fee, paid 50% up front / 50% on delivery
Solution design, HITL touchpoints, integration plan, and a Statement of Work for the Build phase.
What we do
What you commit
Deliverables
Sample artifacts
12–24 weeks
Milestone-billed against the SOW
Implementation, integration, and deployment to production against the Architecture phase SOW.
What we do
What you commit
Deliverables
Sample artifacts
Ongoing, 6 to 12-month contracts
Monthly, with annual roadmap review
Tuning, monitoring, and expansion. The phase where AI either keeps earning its keep or it does not.
What we do
What you commit
Deliverables
Sample artifacts
What it costs
| Phase | Duration | Shape | Order of magnitude |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | 2 weeks | Fixed-fee, up front | low five figures |
| Architecture | 4 weeks | Fixed-fee, 50/50 | mid five figures |
| Build | 12–24 weeks | Milestone-billed | six figures and up |
| Operate | Ongoing | Monthly retainer | low five figures / mo |
Hiding pricing wastes everyone's time. Specific quotes come from the qualifying call once we know the operation. We will not under-promise to win the engagement.
Frequently asked
Discovery and Architecture are scope we control, we know how much work it is. Build is scope you control via the SOW we agree on at the end of Architecture. Milestone billing keeps incentives aligned: we get paid for shipping, not for time on a clock.
Discovery and Architecture are fixed-fee, we share ranges on the qualifying call. Build pricing comes from the Architecture SOW and depends on scope. Operate is monthly. We do not hide pricing; we share it once we have enough context to quote honestly. As a rough order: Discovery is in the low five figures, Architecture is in the mid five figures, Build runs six figures and up, Operate is a monthly retainer in the low five figures.
No. Cash only. Equity contracts complicate operating relationships and we want the right to walk away if a fit fails.
We eat it. Build is fixed-scope, milestone-billed against the SOW. If we miss a milestone, we keep working without billing the next milestone until it ships. We have not had to invoke this in practice, but it is the contract.
Sometimes. We need a shortened Discovery first to assess the system and the operating context, and a clear handoff from whoever built it. We say no often enough that the asking is worth it.
Yes, within reason. We work to standard procurement processes, sign a DPA when GDPR or CCPA applies, and complete vendor security questionnaires as part of the engagement. We will push back on terms that fundamentally conflict with how we deliver.
Your call. We can deploy in your VPC (preferred when data residency or compliance posture matters) or in ours (faster to stand up). Either way, your data stays your data, no training on client data, no cross-engagement reuse.
Yes. We integrate against the systems they manage every engagement. We do not compete with implementation partners on the platform layer, we sit on top.
Talk to us
We'll walk through the operation you're thinking about, share rough numbers, and either schedule Discovery or be honest about why we shouldn't.