Pricing
Starting points for serious platform work.
These are the ways clients usually bring me in: a written architecture decision, a production platform build, ongoing technical leadership, or a scoped custom engagement when the work does not fit a standard lane.
Every engagement starts with a free 30-minute discovery call. If the fit is wrong, I will say so directly.
Ways to work together
Architecture Sprint
Starting at $15K
3 weeks
A written architecture decision document, in 2–3 weeks.
You bring an open question. Shopify Plus alternative? FileMaker rewrite? Move off SaaS to AWS?. and walk out with a practical assessment your team can actually act on. No code shipped. The deliverable is the decision.
What’s included
- Current-state architecture audit (system diagrams + risk surface)
- Identified failure modes ranked by likelihood + business impact
- Migration / build roadmap with sequencing + effort bands
- Cost analysis (build, run, opportunity)
- Live walkthrough + Q&A with you and up to 3 stakeholders
What’s NOT included
- Implementation work (separate Platform Build engagement)
- Embedded participation in your team's standups
- Vendor selection beyond the recommendation memo
Best fit
You're 60–80% sure of the path forward and need an outside read before committing $200K+ of build budget. or you're stuck and want a senior architect to map the actual choices.
Platform Build
Starting at $80K
3-6 months
A production system, deployed and running, in 3–6 months.
End-to-end delivery: I scope it, build it, ship it, and run it through the first cutover. You get production code on AWS, full CI/CD, observability, and a zero-downtime migration from whatever you're moving off of. Real example: a 19-month engagement that built and now runs the $500K+/month commerce platform at Fine's Gallery.
What’s included
- Production AWS environment (Terraform-managed, multi-account)
- Custom application + integrations (payment, email, search, etc.)
- CI/CD pipelines + observability + on-call runbook
- Zero-downtime cutover from your existing system
- 30 days post-launch hypercare
What’s NOT included
- Marketing, paid ads, SEO services (recommend specialists)
- Mobile apps (iOS / Android / React Native)
- Generic Shopify theme work (this is custom platform engineering)
Best fit
You've decided to build, the spec is clear, and you'd rather have a principal-level engineer ship it than coordinate a 5-person agency. Typical: $5M–$50M revenue businesses outgrowing SaaS, or regulated firms needing custom data architecture.
Fractional CTO
Starting at $10K / month
3-month minimum
Embedded technical leadership, with a 3-month minimum.
You have a small engineering team and a CEO who doesn't speak engineering. I'm in your standups, on your decision threads, reviewing your architecture, and shipping critical pieces directly when needed. Active retainer with Fine's Gallery; available for one or two more.
What’s included
- Architecture governance. review every major technical decision
- Vendor + tooling decisions (build vs. buy, when to switch, when to stay)
- Engineering team mentorship + code review on critical paths
- Direct shipping when scope warrants. not just consulting
- Monthly written exec summary for non-technical stakeholders
What’s NOT included
- Full-time substitute for a VP of Engineering at scale (>30 engineers)
- People management (hiring, firing, comp decisions)
- Vendor relationship ownership
Best fit
$5M–$50M businesses with 5–30 engineers navigating a critical scaling, migration, or platform decision. You don't need a $300K full-time exec. you need senior judgment on the hard calls.
Custom Engagement
Scoped after discovery
Scoped after discovery
Scoped when the problem does not fit a standard lane.
If your situation doesn't match Sprint / Build / CTO. security audit, regulatory data architecture, due-diligence support, executive technical advisory, founder pairing. send the relevant context and I will define the shape before money changes hands.
What’s included
- Discovery call (30 minutes, free)
- Scoping document. fixed-price or T&M depending on shape
- Defined deliverables, defined timeline
What’s NOT included
- Hourly contract dev work at staffing-agency rates
- Anything that requires more than one full-time engineer (let me refer you)
Best fit
Work that is valuable enough to define carefully before it starts. Examples: a regulated registry's UTXO ledger design, a confidential due-diligence engagement, a fractional pairing arrangement.
Decide quickly
Which engagement is the right shape?
Read this top-to-bottom. The first row that matters to you usually decides which engagement fits. Custom isn’t shown. By definition it’s scoped after a discovery call.
| Decision / condition | Sprint | Build | CTO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get a written architecture decision document | |||
| Code shipped to production | Partial | ||
| Vendor / build-vs-buy decisions made for you | Partial | ||
| Embedded in your team async / in standups | Partial | ||
| Fixed scope, fixed price | Partial | ||
| Done in under a month | |||
| Useful when you already know what to build | Partial | ||
| Useful when you don’t know what to build yet |
FAQ
Common questions
Sprint and Build are fixed-price with a 50% deposit at start, balance on delivery. Fractional CTO is monthly retainer billed in advance, net 15. Custom is whatever fits the engagement; usually milestone-based.
Sprint: 3 weeks (one engagement). Build: scope-dependent, typically 3–6 months. Fractional CTO: 3-month minimum, then month-to-month with 30 days' notice.
No. straight retainer or fixed-price only. Equity-for-services creates incentive misalignment that I've seen damage too many engagements. If equity makes sense, it'd be a separate conversation.
Yes. Sprint and CTO engagements are explicitly designed for this. I'll review your team's work, pair on hard problems, and write decision memos that everyone can execute against.
Standard mutual NDAs, yes. I won't sign anything that prevents me from disclosing the engagement existed (that hurts both sides) or that requires assigning IP that's clearly outside the engagement scope.
Pick "Custom / not sure yet" in the contact form. The 30-minute discovery call exists for exactly this. By the end of it we'll either know which engagement structure fits, or it'll be clear that I'm not the right person and I'll tell you so directly.
Pressure-test the platform decision before you commit budget.
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to align on objectives, stress-test your architecture, and leave with a concrete set of recommendations. No obligation, no sales pitch. Just actionable technical guidance.