What a fixed-price quote actually covers, and why we insist on one

Most software agencies bill by the hour. It is easy for them: whatever happens, they get paid. It is hard for you: the thing you are buying has no price until it is finished. We quote fixed prices, and have done so on every project for years. This is what that means in practice.

What the number is based on

A fixed price is only honest if the scope is written down. Before we quote, we produce a short document that lists:

• Screens and flows — every screen the user will see, and the paths between them.
• Data and integrations — what the system stores, and every external service it talks to (payments, maps, your accounting package, a CRM).
• Roles and permissions — who can do what.
• Platforms and devices — iOS, Android, web, which browsers, which minimum OS versions.
• What is explicitly out — the things we talked about and decided not to build yet.

The last point is the one most proposals skip, and the one that causes the most arguments later. If a feature is not in the document, it is not in the price, and we say so in plain words rather than leaving it to be discovered.

What is included in the price

Design, development, testing, deployment to your cloud account and the app stores, documentation your team can follow, and 30 days of fixes after launch for anything that does not work as specified. Project management is not a separate line item; it is part of doing the work.

What is not

Third-party costs are passed through at cost: cloud hosting, app store developer accounts, SMS and email sending, AI model usage, paid APIs. We estimate them up front so there are no surprises, but they are your accounts and your bills, because you should own them.

How changes are handled

Scope changes on every project; the question is how. Our rule is simple: a change is written down, priced, and approved before it is built. Small things that take under a couple of hours we absorb. Anything bigger gets a short change note with a price and a timeline impact, and you decide. Nobody is surprised by an invoice.

Why we take the risk

If we estimate badly, we eat the difference. That happens occasionally, and it is the right outcome: we are the ones who should know how long things take. The discipline it forces on us — scoping properly before quoting — is also what makes projects go well, so it is less of a sacrifice than it sounds.

When fixed price is the wrong tool

If you do not yet know what you want to build, a fixed price would be a guess dressed up as a commitment. For that stage we suggest a short, paid discovery phase — usually one to two weeks — that ends with the scope document above and a firm quote for the build. For a product that is live and evolving every week, a dedicated team on a monthly retainer fits better. Both are on our pricing page.

If you have a brief, send it over. The quote comes back in writing, with the scope attached, and it is the price you pay.