What it costsPricing
A pricing page that refuses to give a number is worse than no pricing page, so here are the ranges the work has actually landed in.The ranges this work has actually landed in, so you can tell before the first conversation whether we are in your budget.
Every job is quoted on its own, in writing, before you commit to anything. There is no price list, because the same three words can mean an afternoon or the better part of a year. It depends on the product, the size, the scope, how much research it needs, how your business actually works, and what is already in our queue. Tell us your budget and we will tell you straight what it will and will not buy.
We work to your budget
We work to the budget you have, whatever it is. Small jobs are welcome and we do plenty of them. Large ones are welcome too, and so is open-ended work with no fixed end. What we will not do is take your money for something we do not think will work, or quietly spend it on the wrong half of the problem.
If you have a number in mind, say it in the first message. It is not a haggling position. It is the constraint we design against, and it changes what we propose rather than what we charge.
How long it takes
It runs from a single day to about eight months, and which end you land on depends on the job rather than on us. Most things are quick: a website, an app, an internal tool or an automation is usually 1 to 7 days of development and testing. Bigger platforms run weeks to months. Genuine research, AI development and anything where the answer is not known at the start are the long end, though even there we can normally show you something working within 1 to 3 days and then keep going. Long-term ongoing development and research have no end date by design, because they are not projects with a finish line. Two other things move the date and neither is about difficulty: how quickly you come back on revisions and questions, and what is already in our queue when you ask. We tell you the real start date before you commit, not after.
What a budget actually changes
We will take on most things, and the budget usually decides how rather than whether. A smaller budget means a tighter scope, a simpler build and a longer wait behind other work. A larger one buys depth, speed and the research time to solve something properly rather than adequately. Tell us what you have and we will tell you what it buys, or tell you plainly that it does not buy enough and what would.
The three shapes an engagement takes
Small and specific
Quoted per job
usually 1 to 7 days
One clear thing that needs doing.
- A fix, a page, an integration, a review
- Scoped and quoted before it starts
- Often the sensible way to try working together
- No minimum engagement and no retainer required
A build
Quoted per project
days to months, in stages
The system your business will run on. Days for a straightforward one, months for a large one.
- A fixed written figure and a date before you commit
- Priced in stages, so you can stop at the end of any of them
- Working software every week or two
- Search, analytics and social preview setup included
- Full handover: code, accounts, domains, documentation
Ongoing or open-ended
Monthly, your choice
no end date, cancel whenever you like
Support once it is live, or long-term development and research with no finish line.
- Support and maintenance, monthly or on call
- Hosting, monitoring and backups if you would rather not
- A block of hours a month for changes as you think of them
- Or continuous development and research, run as an ongoing engagement
- Never a condition of ownership. You already own everything
How the money works
You approve a written figure before any work starts. Nothing reaches your invoice that you have not agreed to first, and a scope change is priced and approved before it is built. Larger projects are billed against stages rather than up front, so you are never paying far ahead of what has been delivered.
What moves the number
- Your budget
- Say it early. It is not a haggling position, it is the constraint we design against, and knowing it changes what we propose rather than what we charge.
- Our current queue
- Everything here assumes we can start. If we are mid-project the date moves, and we will tell you what it moves to before you commit rather than after.
- Integrations
- Each external system that has to be talked to adds scope. Systems with a good API add little. Systems without one add a lot, and that is usually where a quote grows.
- Data migration
- Clean data migrates cheaply. Fifteen years of a spreadsheet does not.
- Compliance
- Obligations that need evidence, such as audit trails, retention and access control, are worth their cost, but they are a cost.
- Design
- Working from your existing brand is cheaper than creating one.
- Deadline
- A date we would not otherwise pick is a real constraint and it is priced as one.
What never moves
- The quote. Once it is written and accepted, that is the number, unless you approve a scope change in writing.
- Ownership. You own the code, the accounts and the domains regardless of what happens afterwards.
- The free conversation. It stays free even if we tell you to hire someone else.
Our own products
Our own products price separately and each product page states its own. Some are free, two are open source, and the rest have a free tier with paid plans above it.
Common questions about cost
What does a project cost?
A focused piece of work, such as a booking system or a rebuilt site, usually lands in the low five figures. A platform your business runs on is larger. We will not pretend to know your number before we understand the problem, but you will have a fixed written figure before you commit to anything, and the conversation that gets us there is free.
How long does it take?
Most projects run six to sixteen weeks from go-ahead to live. You see working software throughout, so you are never waiting months to find out whether we understood you.
What if we need changes halfway through?
Expected, and fine. We price the change, you approve it in writing, then we build it. Nothing gets added to your invoice that you have not agreed to first.
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