labs@atheron:~/engagement$ engage --compare
Ways to work with us
Pick one, or combine them.
Pay a fixed price for a defined scope, have your own team by the month, or keep a monthly block of hours with a promised response time. Here is what each one costs, and how paying us works.
// how we work
How we work with you
Pay as each milestone is signed off, watch the build move in the client portal, keep a care plan after launch, or add our engineers to your team.
Pay per signed-off milestone
After the deposit, you pay as the work is finished. A milestone's invoice is raised when you sign it off in the client portal, or when its answer-by date passes with no reply. Each milestone is invoiced once.
- The amount for each milestone is set in your signed quote.
- Ask for changes instead, and the milestone goes back into progress with nothing invoiced.
- Every invoice is under Invoices in the client portal.
Live repo tracker
Your project's page in the client portal shows where each piece of the build stands, read straight from the project's GitHub repository. When our developers record progress there, your tracker moves by itself. You do not need to refresh.
- Each item shows as planned, in progress or done, with a note and the date it was finished.
- It sits beside your milestones on the project overview.
- Anything we mark as internal stays out of it.
Monthly care plans
Our broader maintenance offer for a product that is live: maintenance, updates, monitoring and fixes, shaped around your product on a monthly retainer. Each care plan is quoted. The support plans further down are our priced, fixed levels of support.
- Fixes when something breaks.
- Updates that keep the product current.
- Monitoring of the live product.
Dedicated team
Our engineers work inside your team, in your channels and on your priorities, booked by the month and billed monthly in advance.
- Named people who work on your product and nothing else.
- A project manager plans each week with you.
- Change priorities whenever you like. The team follows.
// compare
Which one fits?
Most first projects are fixed price. A team suits work that keeps going. A retainer suits a product that is already live.
Fixed-price project
- Best for
- A defined first version or a clear piece of work.
- Price
- Per scope. A typical first web app: CAD 57,200.
- When the scope changes
- A change order, priced in the estimator before any work starts.
- Billing
- A deposit, then milestones as each is accepted, then a holdback.
- Response times
- Add a support plan for after launch.
Dedicated team
- Best for
- Work that keeps going, where priorities move week to week.
- Price
- From CAD 60,450 a month.
- When the scope changes
- Change it whenever you like. The team follows.
- Billing
- Monthly, in advance.
- Response times
- Your team, in your channels, during business hours.
Retainer
- Best for
- A live product that needs fixes, updates and small changes.
- Price
- From CAD 1,425 a month.
- When the scope changes
- Use the month's hours on what matters most.
- Billing
- Monthly, in advance, on the 1st.
- Response times
- Promised by plan, from one business day to one hour.
// teams
A team of your own, by the month.
Named people who work on your product and nothing else. A project manager plans each week with you.
3 people
Pod, 3 people
For one product moving steadily.
≈ US$42,500 a monthCAD 60,450
- Project manager0.5
- QA engineer0.5
- Engineer1
- Senior engineer1
6 people
Squad, 6 people
For a product with design and testing every week.
≈ US$86,800 a monthCAD 123,575
- Project manager1
- QA engineer0.5
- DevOps engineer0.5
- Software architect0.5
- Engineer2
- Senior product designer0.5
- Senior engineer1
10 people
Studio, 10 people
For several streams of work at once.
≈ US$139,000 a monthCAD 198,385
- Project manager1
- QA engineer1
- Software architect1
- Engineer3
- Junior engineer1
- Senior product designer1
- Senior engineer2
5% less than the same people by the hour, for committing to the months.
Prices in your currency are estimates from today's Bank of Canada rate. All invoicing is in CAD or USD.
// support
Priced support plans.
Every plan gives you hours each month for fixes, updates and small changes, and a first response within the time promised. A plan on its own is a retainer.
Essential
Fixes and updates for a product that changes rarely.
≈ US$1,000 a monthCAD 1,425
- First response
- 1 business day
- 8 hours a month
Standard
Fixes, updates and small changes for a product in daily use.
≈ US$2,500 a monthCAD 3,565
- First response
- 4 hours, business hours
- 20 hours a month
Priority
For products that cannot be down: the fastest answers, in business hours.
≈ US$5,010 a monthCAD 7,135
- First response
- 1 hour, business hours
- 40 hours a month
Round-the-clock on-call
≈ US$2,500 a monthCAD 3,565
An add-on to Priority: someone answers within the hour at any time, nights and weekends included.
Billed monthly in advance on the 1st, for at least 3 months. Hours not used in a month do not roll over.
Prices in your currency are estimates from today's Bank of Canada rate. All invoicing is in CAD or USD.
// payment
How payment works.
You pay a deposit, then a payment at each milestone. Every estimate shows its own schedule, so you know the amounts before you start.
// The deposit, before work starts
- 50% for a build under CAD 15,000
- 30% from CAD 15,000 up to CAD 100,000
- 20% over CAD 100,000
// Milestones
The rest is split across the project's milestones, and you pay each one when you accept it. Each kind of project has its own milestones. A project of several kinds merges them, with one launch at the end.
- Website
- Discovery and content plan, Design approved, Site built, Launch
- Web app
- Discovery, Design approved, Core features, Full build, Testing and fixes, Launch
- Mobile app
- Discovery, Design approved, First build on devices, Store submission, Launch
- Bot
- Commands agreed, Working in a test server, Launch
- Smart contracts
- Specification, Contracts and tests, Testnet deployment, Mainnet
- Blockchain
- Architecture, Devnet, Testnet, Mainnet
- AI system
- Specification and evaluation plan, Working pilot, Production
- Custom LLM
- Data and evaluation plan, Training, Evaluation and red-teaming, Production
- Accounting integration
- Data mapping and sandbox connection, Sync built and reconciled in sandbox, Live cutover, Hypercare
- Materials management
- Discovery and site walk-through, Design approved, Stock, receiving and transfers, Tracking and devices working, Pilot site live, Rollout
- Custom API
- API contract agreed, Core resources built, Security, gateway and connections, Docs, SDKs and load tests, Launch and first callers
- Specialist work
- Access and discovery, Findings or build, Report and handover
A 10% holdback is due 30 days after launch, once the warranty ends with no open defects.
Hardware, GPU time, outside audits and licences are billed up front, at cost, outside the milestones. They can be paid by any of the methods below, with no card surcharge.
// The terms
- A milestone is accepted when you approve it, or after 5 business days with no response. Then it is invoiced.
- Invoices are due in 7 days. We send one reminder.
- Work pauses when an invoice is 14 days past due, and starts again when it is paid.
- Overdue amounts carry interest of 1.5% a month.
- The schedule moves by the length of any pause.
- Retainers and support plans are billed monthly in advance on the 1st, with a 3-month minimum. Hours not used in a month do not roll over.
- A change order is priced from the estimator in the client portal. 50% is paid before work on it starts, the rest with its milestone.
// Ways to pay
- A Stripe invoice, paid by card, ACH or PAD
- Wire transfer or EFT
- Interac e-Transfer
- USDC, priced in CAD at the time of the invoice
// start
Not sure which one fits?
Tell us what you are building, and we will tell you which way of working suits it, and why.