By Christian Jaen Morales
Software projects are usually priced one of two ways: a fixed price for the whole thing, or time and materials until it is done. Both put the risk on one side of the table. We price a build per two-week increment instead, and this post explains why.
The estimate is free, discovery is fixed
The intro call is free and ends with an estimate: a price and a rough number of increments, in 5 working days, which is enough to decide whether to go ahead.
Discovery is what turns that estimate into a plan. It is priced at $7,500. How long it takes depends on how ready your requirements are, and the price does not move either way. It ends with what will be built, in what order, at what total, with the riskiest part proven in code. That document is yours whether or not you go on to build with us.
Build is per two-week increment
Each increment runs two weeks, carries one fixed price and ends with a demonstrable release. You see what shipped, and you decide whether the next increment is worth it. If the returns flatten, you stop, and you keep everything built so far.
What this changes
Three things:
- Scope arguments stop. There is no fixed price to defend, so a change of direction is a conversation about the next increment, not a change order.
- The demo is real. An increment that ships nothing demonstrable is an increment you would not pay for again, so nothing is left half-built at a boundary.
- The end is yours to call. A build runs for as many increments as you choose to buy, one demo at a time, and it stops at the one where you decide the returns have flattened.
What it does not change
The price of an increment does not vary with what is in it. A hard increment and an easy one cost the same, and we would rather absorb that than argue about it.