The tool you wish existed? We'll build it.

It depends on scope, which is why we quote per project after we talk. Rough mental model: a small automation or simple internal tool is a few-thousand-dollar project. A working MVP with backend, database, and integrations is usually mid-to-high four figures, sometimes low five. We'll tell you exactly what something costs after a 30-minute conversation — no estimates dragged out over weeks.

50% on project start, 50% on final delivery. Stripe invoice both times — you get a real receipt for accounting. No retainers, no monthly minimums, no surprise overages. If scope changes mid-project, we have an explicit conversation and either adjust the quote or descope something else. Surprises only happen on the upside.

Roughly anything above $1,500. Below that, the overhead of writing a spec, setting up the engagement, and doing weekly check-ins eats too much of the value. For tiny one-off automations or quick fixes, our honest advice is to use Zapier, Make, or find a freelancer on Upwork. We'd rather refer you well than overcharge for something that doesn't justify the formal engagement.

We comfortably build up to about $50k. Above that, we'll be honest: you probably need a larger agency. We can refer you to people we trust. The reason: a real $100k+ project usually has parallelizable workstreams beyond what a small team can handle. Better to know upfront than crash into it in month 3.

Sometimes. If you fill out the contact form with enough detail, we can sometimes ballpark a range over email. But anything beyond rough ranges needs a call — we need to understand your business reality before quoting, and that's almost never doable via async messaging. The good news: the call is 30 minutes, free, and you walk away with a written spec either way.

That happens a lot, and it's fine. The first call is partly therapy — we help you articulate what you actually want by asking the right questions. If after 30 minutes we still don't have a clear scope, we'll suggest a small scoping engagement (a few hundred to a couple thousand depending on complexity) where we write a full spec, mock up the UI, and price the actual build. You can take that spec to anyone — us, another developer, no one.

Most projects ship in 1–6 weeks. A clean automation is usually a week. A full MVP is usually 4–6 weeks. We'll give you a real timeline in the spec — including the buffer for the surprise stuff that always shows up. We don't optimistic-estimate. The number we give you is the number we actually believe.

Sometimes. If your deadline is real (investor demo, regulatory date, contractual milestone), tell us upfront. We can usually compress timeline by cutting scope — there's almost always 30-40% of a v1 that isn't actually needed for the deadline. What we won't do: take on a rushed deadline and ship something broken just to hit the date. If it can't be done well in the time available, we'll tell you.

Usually within 1-2 weeks of signing off on the spec. If we're fully booked, we'll tell you upfront — no false promises about start dates. The site shows "Available · taking new projects" at the top when we have real capacity.

Two at most, sometimes one when projects are large. Anything more and quality drops. This is a hard rule — we'd rather turn down a project than pretend we have capacity we don't.

Five steps. 1) 30-min call where you describe the problem. 2) Within 48 hours we send a written spec + fixed quote. 3) You approve, we kick off (50% upfront). 4) Working demo every Friday with a 5-minute Loom walkthrough. 5) Ship, hand off code/docs/access, 14-day stabilization for fixes.

Weekly Friday update by default — Loom + working demo link. Plus async text/email anytime you have a question or change request. Most weeks the Friday update is the only formal sync. Heavier-touch projects can include weekly 30-min calls if useful.

Two paths. Small changes (a minor tweak, a copy edit, a button reposition) are part of the engagement. Real scope changes (new features, new sections, "can we also...") trigger a conversation: we either adjust the quote, descope something else, or log the idea for v2 after launch. The goal is no surprises in either direction.

Either party can pause or stop at any milestone. You pay for what's been built; we hand over the code and documentation; we both walk away cleanly. No drama, no lawyers, no kill fees. We'd rather end a project early than drag a bad fit across the finish line.

Sometimes the right move is "you don't need custom software, here's the existing tool you should use." If a 30-minute call saves you a 10-week build, we'd rather tell you that. Honest advice in the first call is free. Spec-writing for actual builds is part of the engagement.

Good fit: you have a specific problem you've already felt, you can describe what success looks like, and you can make decisions without 6 stakeholders.

Bad fit: you want me to figure out the business model, you need a 12-person team for compliance reasons, or you want enterprise-grade SaaS that competes with companies who have 50 engineers.

Yes, with one caveat: we're not your co-founder, and we won't function as one. We'll build the version of your idea you bring to us. We'll push back on technical decisions where we have strong opinions. But we won't validate your business model, find your customers, or commit to revenue share. If you need that, you need a technical co-founder — different relationship, different contract, different price.

No. Most of our best clients are operators, not engineers — landscapers, restaurant owners, contractors, small SaaS founders. You describe the problem in plain English, we translate to code. The only requirement is being able to make decisions and give clear feedback.

Yes — agency overflow and sub-contracting are fine. We'll happily plug into your stack, your project manager, your ticketing system. The only thing we won't do is anonymize our work as if you built it. White-label is fine; ghost-build is not.

HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI Level 1, FINRA, FedRAMP — these aren't lanes for a small team. Real expertise required. We'll refer you to firms that specialize. Lighter compliance (handling PII responsibly, basic data hygiene) is fine — that's just good engineering.

Probably yes. Most projects don't compete with anything we're running. If there's a genuine conflict we'll flag it upfront and we can both decide if it's workable.

You do. Full IP transfer on final payment. Code, infrastructure access, documentation — all yours. You can hire anyone else to extend or maintain it. No platform lock-in, no licensing fees, no surprises in year two.

Every project includes 14 days of free stabilization for bugs and small adjustments. After that, you either take it from there (you own everything) or we set up a small monthly retainer for ongoing changes. No mandatory retainers — your call.

Wherever makes sense for the project. Usually Netlify or Vercel for frontends, Supabase or Railway for backends, your own Google account for Apps Script work. Everything is in your accounts, not ours — we get access as a collaborator while building, then drop access on handoff if you want.

Code in your GitHub. Deployment configured and live in your accounts. README with setup steps. Architecture doc explaining what's where and why. Login credentials transferred securely. A 30-minute walkthrough call. Everything another developer would need to take over without ever talking to us.

Yes. Standard mutual NDA available if you want one signed before sharing details. For most projects it's not necessary — but if your idea is competitive-sensitive, just say so in the form.

We match the stack to the project. Frontends: React, Next, vanilla JS. Backends: Node, Python, serverless functions, Google Apps Script. Data: Postgres, Supabase, Sheets, Airtable. Deploy: Netlify, Vercel, Railway. AI: Claude API, OpenAI. We optimize for boring, well-supported, easy-to-hand-off. See the Stack section above for the full list.

WordPress (different ecosystem, better builders for that), heavy game engine work (Unity, Unreal), low-level systems programming (kernel modules, drivers), enterprise Java (Spring, etc.), and Salesforce admin work. We also stay away from anything where the primary skill is regulatory compliance — HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI Level 1 — because the right answer there is a specialist firm, not a small team.

Mobile-responsive web apps that work great on phones: yes, that's a big chunk of what we build. Native iOS/Android apps with App Store distribution: not our lane — different toolchain, different skill set. We'll refer you to specialists. For most "I need a mobile experience" cases, a well-built mobile web app is the right answer anyway.

Yes — practical AI integrations are one of our favorite types of project. Lead classification, document extraction, transcript summarization, response drafting, sentiment scoring. Claude and OpenAI APIs are the usual tools. We're not interested in building chatbots for chatbot's sake, but AI inside an operational workflow that earns its keep — that's good work.

Usually yes. Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, QuickBooks, custom CRMs, internal databases — most modern systems have APIs or webhooks. If yours is older or weirder, we'll figure out a path: scheduled syncs, CSV imports, scraping if absolutely necessary. The harder integrations are usually old SOAP APIs or proprietary file formats — doable, but slow.

Three real differences. 1) Direct contact: you talk to the builders, not a project manager. 2) Velocity: agencies optimize for billable team-hours; we optimize for shipping. Same project usually finishes in half the time. 3) Honesty about scope: agencies have an incentive to add features (more billing); we have an incentive to ship the minimum useful thing (move to the next project). It's not better or worse — different. For projects under $50k we think small teams win. For projects over $100k a larger agency is usually right.

Fair concern. Our answer: boring tools + clean code + documented handoff. We deliberately use stacks any competent developer can pick up. Code lives in your GitHub. Deployments live in your accounts. If something happened to us tomorrow, you'd hire another developer and they'd be productive within a day. The bus factor is real but mitigatable.

Sometimes, yes. Agencies sub-contract us when they're slammed or need a specific capability they don't have in-house (custom Apps Script work, Claude integrations, scrapers). We're comfortable working under another agency's brand on white-label terms.

Most of our work is internal tools for businesses that don't want their operations dissected publicly. We're happy to walk you through specific examples (with the client's permission) once we're in a conversation about your project.

Tucson, AZ. We work remotely with clients anywhere in North America. For Tucson/Phoenix clients we can do occasional in-person kickoffs if useful, but it's almost never necessary. 90% of our projects never involve a single in-person meeting.

Generally no. We take cash. If you want to bolt on a small equity grant as a bonus that's fine, but the base engagement is paid in dollars. We've all been the "early developer with equity who got nothing" — not doing that again.

Mountain Time. Most of our deep work happens 6am-12pm; afternoons are for calls and shallower stuff. We're responsive to text/email during business hours. Don't expect replies on weekends or after 7pm — that's how we avoid burnout, which is how we keep shipping.

Yes — once we're seriously talking about a project, we'll connect you with one or two past clients in a similar space. They'll tell you what we got right and what we'd do differently. We find pre-engagement reference calls more useful than scrolling testimonials.