Software development
Custom software development scoped before it is priced
Anyone can quote a number before understanding the problem. It will be wrong, and the argument about why arrives in month four.
Context
How we scope
Most engagements start with a paid discovery: usually two weeks of mapping the process as it actually runs, the systems involved, the integrations, and the edge cases the people doing the work handle by instinct. It ends with a written scope, a real number, and a recommendation.
Discovery is chargeable and credited against the build. That keeps it honest on both sides — you get a document you own and could take to another developer, and we are not pricing an unknown by padding it.
Sometimes discovery ends with a recommendation not to build. That is a good outcome and it happens often enough to mention: a configured product plus an integration solves a large share of what people arrive asking for custom software to do.
Scope
What you get
- A written scope with assumptions and exclusions stated plainly
- Fixed price where scope is genuinely fixed, time and materials where it is not
- Working software delivered incrementally, reviewed as it goes
- Documentation, tests, and a deployment process your team can run
- Code and accounts owned by you from the first commit
- A maintenance arrangement sized to the application
Detail
Who this is not for
Projects under $5,000, because the overhead consumes the budget and you end up paying for process rather than software. Businesses looking for the cheapest possible quote, because we will not be it. And anyone who needs a fixed price on a scope nobody has defined yet — that number exists, it is just going to be wrong.
Saying this plainly saves both sides a sales call, which is the point of publishing it.
FAQ
Questions people ask
Why charge for discovery?
Because free discovery is either shallow or recovered inside an inflated build price. Charging for it means we can spend real time on it, and you get a document you own — one you could take to a different developer entirely. It is credited against the build if you go ahead.
Can you give a ballpark before discovery?
A range, yes, and we will be clear that it is a range. What we will not do is give a fixed price for something nobody has scoped, because that number is a guess and the conversation about why it moved is worse than the one about scoping properly first.
What if requirements change mid-project?
They will. Incremental delivery exists so changes are absorbed at the point they are cheap rather than discovered at the end. Changes that move the scope get quoted as they arise, in writing, before the work happens.
Related
Next step
Find out what this would look like for you
A 20-minute call. We ask what breaks, what it costs you, and who handles it now. If we are not the right fit we will say so.