What if buying software worked more like commissioning a house extension?
You see the plan first, and the price is fixed. Each milestone is built, reviewed, and paid for before we move on.
Why this exists
Software is usually sold by the hour. That tends to go badly for the buyer: scope stays vague, deadlines slip, and the engineer is rewarded for taking longer, which is the wrong incentive on both sides.
AI changes what's worth charging for. Typing code is cheap now, but typing was never the hard part. The hard part is deciding what to build, choosing the tools, breaking the work into pieces, spotting what could go wrong, and keeping an eye on what the AI actually produces. That work is still expensive, and that's where I spend my time.
The other thing that changed: keeping a detailed plan up to date used to be a losing battle. Now it isn't. The plan can live alongside the code and stay accurate as the project moves. That makes fixed-scope delivery realistic again, not just a nice idea that falls apart in week two.
How it works
1. Scoping call.
A short, free call. We see whether your project fits this kind of work and whether we'd get on. If it isn't a fit, I'll say so and point you to someone better.
2. Discovery.
A paid phase where I produce the milestone plan, the acceptance criteria for each milestone, the tech stack decision, and a fixed quote for the build. The plan is yours to keep whether or not you continue with me.
3. Build.
Each project runs in cycles of up to eight weeks. Larger projects are split into a sequence of cycles, scoped one at a time. Inside a cycle, every milestone has criteria we agreed on before it started, and ends with software you can actually run. Change requests come in between milestones, with a fixed price and a signature before anything new gets built.
4. Accept and pay.
You review each milestone against the criteria we set. Once you accept it, it's invoiced.
What turnkey delivery covers
This works best when you already know roughly what you want built. Some projects that fit:
- A web or native app, from blank repo to release
- A backend rebuild or migration where you can describe the before and after
- A specific subsystem (auth, billing, search, ingestion) added to a codebase that already exists
- Performance work with a number to hit
- An R&D spike that needs to produce something concrete
Your stack, your call. Pick whatever language and platform fits your team, and I'll work in it. Any mainstream stack is fine.* I'll give you my view during discovery on trade-offs and on what your team can keep maintaining after I'm gone, but the choice is yours.
Solo, with specialists when needed. I plan and ship the work myself. For things outside my range like product design, security audits, or specialised infrastructure, I bring in people I trust on a per-project basis. You'll always know who's doing what and why.
* Windows server stacks are the one exception. If your project depends on Windows-only tooling, this isn't a good fit.
Other modes
Fractional CTO
Senior technical leadership without a full-time hire. The work is usually architecture review, helping you hire, choosing vendors and tools, code review, and being the senior voice in the room. It's a retainer over a few months, not a single project. Shipping production code isn't part of the default deal; if you need that too, we add it on as a turnkey project.
Engineer in Residence
A senior engineer working alongside you for a defined stretch of time. Hands-on building, pairing, prototyping, whatever the moment calls for. You pay for the time, not specific deliverables. Useful when you don't yet know exactly what you're building, like in pre-product or pivot phases.
FAQ
What if the scope changes mid-project?
Once a milestone has started, its scope is fixed. Anything new gets handled between milestones, with its own price and sign-off before work begins. There's no built-in “free tweaks” budget, and that's the point: it's how fixed-scope avoids the drift that hourly work tends to produce.
Who owns the code?
You do. Each milestone's code becomes yours when you pay for it. The exception is general-purpose patterns I work out along the way, things that aren't specific to your business; those I keep the right to reuse on other projects.
What counts as “done”?
Each milestone has clear acceptance criteria, written down in advance and not changed mid-flight. If you think something doesn't meet them, you say so in writing and I have a set period to fix it.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes, mutually, for the engagement and two years after it ends. By default I can describe past work in general terms publicly (e.g. “rebuilt a payments backend for a fintech”); if your contract says otherwise, that wins.
Are you really solo?
Yes. I plan and ship the work, and I bring in specialists I trust when a project needs skills I don't cover. Anyone I bring in is named in the contract before they start.
Ready to talk?
The first call is short and free. If the project sounds like a fit, I'll come back with a proposal for the discovery phase. If it isn't, I'll say so and point you to someone who'd be a better match.