How we engage
Most firms work with us on a monthly retainer.
A fixed amount each month. We build and we consult. No hourly billing, no change orders, and no negotiation every time the work turns out to be slightly different from what anyone expected — which it always does.
Monthly retainer
$1,500 – $10,000 / month
Where you land depends on how much is in flight, not on how many hours anyone logged. We agree the band up front and revisit it when the shape of the work changes — in either direction.
What moves you within the range.
Three bands, and they are about throughput rather than seniority or headcount. The same people do the work either way.
Lower
One system in flight at a time. A slower cadence, more advisory than build. Smaller firm, fewer integrations, less legacy history to absorb.
Middle
A system in production while the next is being designed. Regular integration work against platforms you already run.
Upper
Several systems in flight, an active migration, or a cutover period where a new system and an old one both run and have to be reconciled.
What the retainer covers
- Discovery and operational mapping, continuously — not once at the start
- Design and build of the systems we agree on
- Integration with the platforms you already run
- Deployment, monitoring and the fixes when something breaks
- Standing advice on how the business operates, whether or not it ends in software
What it does not
- Third-party licence and hosting costs. Those are yours, in your name, on your accounts.
- A ticket queue. We are not a helpdesk and should not be your first line for password resets.
- Staff augmentation. We are not filling a seat on your team.
Three things that are true of every engagement.
- 01
You own everything
Repository, hosting, database and credentials, in your name from the first day. If we stop working together, nothing switches off and nothing has to be handed over, because it was never ours to hand.
- 02
Month to month
No minimum term and no notice period beyond the month you are in. A retainer that has to be escaped is a retainer that stopped earning its place, and we would rather know.
- 03
The first month is usually mapping
Not building. We look at how the firm actually runs and come back with what is worth fixing, ranked and costed — including the things that are not worth fixing, and the systems you are paying for that should simply be switched off.
Next step
Find out which band you'd be in.
Thirty minutes on how your firm operates. You will leave knowing roughly what this would cost and whether it is worth doing — and if it is not, we will say so on the call rather than in a proposal.
Book an Operational Strategy Call