Ways to work with us.
Every mission takes one of three shapes. Same way of working, different commitment.
For deciding what comes next
Open Entry.
The smallest engagement we run. An audit of the software you own, or a workshop on the direction you're missing. Fixed price, fixed length, and an answer you can act on — what to fix now, what to plan, what to leave alone.
For building something new
Open Build.
A defined block of days with a clear scope and a clear end. You're involved as we go: staging environments you can click around in, short check-ins, no curtain drawn across the work. When it's done, it's documented, explained, and handed over.
For keeping it moving
Open Studio.
A bucket of days, drawn down as your needs surface. New features, integrations, maintenance, technical advice, the small valuable things that never justify a full project. Your work is in our schedule, your context is in our heads, and when something comes up, we can move.
How a mission maps to these.
A mission usually starts as Open Build: a first block of days, a first version in front of users. It continues as further blocks while we prove that delivery got better. It ends at handover, or becomes Open Studio when a client wants to keep the door open.
Also: Open Lead. When a mission needs someone to lead the technical work for a while: a tech lead or a fractional CTO, from inside the work. Usually part of a mission, rarely instead of one. How Open Lead works →
How the days flow.
We work in days. Simple to track, honest to invoice, easy to talk about. No "consulting hours" that mean something different to everyone.
Payment follows the shape of the work. An Open Entry is a fixed price, invoiced at the start — the one engagement where you know the number before we've opened the hood. An Open Build is prepaid as a bucket, with any extension agreed before the days are used — no silent overruns. An Open Studio is billed monthly against the bucket you've committed to. An Open Lead is flat monthly, because what you're buying is presence and accountability, not a stack of days.
Time and materials exists for the edge cases — early exploration, genuinely unknown scope. It's not a competing shape, it's a payment mode that sits inside a shape when the shape needs it.
The full operating manual — communication rhythm, external expertise, code ownership, what happens if you leave — lives on How we operate.
Which one fits?
Tell us what you're trying to build, fix, or lead. We'll tell you which shape makes sense — or shape a new one if none do.
Let's talkLean builders. We deliver.