Fixed price

A fixed price is only honest when the scope is genuinely settled

We quote fixed price for defined work and carry the overrun ourselves. We turn it down when requirements are still moving, because the alternative is an argument about change requests by week six.

Ask for a fixed quote Compare all five models

A quote takes about a week of scoping work, and you keep the scope document either way.

What has to exist before we can quote a fixed price.
Written scope Including what is excluded	Required
Integrations examined Not just named	Required
One person who decides Sign-off without a committee	Required
Acceptance criteria How we know it is done	Required
Design still being explored Direction not settled	Then not fixed price

Four greens and no red is roughly the test.

Scoping weekWritten scope before any number
Ecommerce buildsLive in 6 to 12 weeks
OverrunCarried by us, not billed to you
Scope documentYours whether you proceed or not

The honest question first

Fixed price buys certainty and costs flexibility

You are paying us to absorb risk. That is a fair trade on settled work and a bad one on anything exploratory.

Do not use fixed price for

Work that is still being figured out

A product whose direction may change after user feedback
Anything depending on a system nobody has opened yet
Long programmes where priorities will shift
Work where you want to steer sprint by sprint

Take a dedicated team instead and keep the flexibility you will actually use.

Fixed price fits

A defined piece of work

A first version with an agreed feature list
A migration where the source and target are known
An integration against a documented interface
A rebuild of something that already exists
Procurement that requires a single number to approve

Then we quote it and carry the overrun, which is what you are paying the premium for.

Plain definitions

Two questions to settle before asking anyone for a fixed quote

A fixed price is a bet on a specification. Both questions are about whether the specification is real.

Fixed price or time and materials?

Fixed price means one number for an agreed scope, with the supplier carrying the overrun. Time and materials means you pay for the days worked and carry the risk yourself, in exchange for changing your mind without a negotiation.

The choice follows how settled the requirements are, not how much you dislike uncertainty. Buying fixed price for something undecided converts a technical risk into a contractual argument, which is worse for both sides. A common and sensible pattern is discovery on time and materials, then a fixed price once the scope stops moving.

What makes a scope fixable?

Four things. Acceptance criteria somebody can test against rather than opinions about. Integrations whose interfaces you can show us rather than describe. Data whose shape and volume are known. And a person authorised to say yes without convening a committee.

If all four hold, a fixed price is genuinely cheaper for you than the alternative. If two of them hold, we will tell you so and quote the scoping work instead of the build. That is the honest version of this page.

How we quote

Five things in every fixed price arrangement

A scoping week first: We write the scope, including what is excluded, before quoting. Guessing produces either a padded price or an argument later.
Acceptance criteria agreed up front: Written so both sides recognise done the same way. Most fixed price disputes are really disagreements about this.
A change process, used sparingly: Changes are priced separately and honestly. If we are raising them weekly, we picked the wrong model and will say so.
Payment against milestones: Tied to demonstrable progress rather than dates on a plan.
Overrun carried by us: If it takes longer than we estimated, that is our problem. That is the entire point of the model.

What quotes cleanly

Six kinds of work that suit a fixed price

Each of these has a definable end. Anything that ends when somebody is satisfied does not belong here.

A data migration with an agreed field mapping: The clearest case on this list. Row counts on both sides make acceptance a matter of arithmetic rather than judgement.
A defined first version with a cut scope: Where the features have been ruthlessly reduced to what one real user needs. Good discipline as well as a good contract.
An integration against a documented interface: Two systems, one interface specification, a defined set of records moving. Fixed price works well when the other side is documented and badly when it is not.
A rebuild of an existing screen or module: Where the current behaviour is the specification, because it can be observed rather than debated.
A compliance or reporting output with a fixed format: A certificate, a return, a regulated report. The format is set by somebody else, which is exactly what makes it quotable.
A proof of concept with an agreed question: Fixed scope, fixed duration, and a written answer at the end. The answer may be no, and that is a successful outcome.

Tell us what needs building

Three fields. An engineer reads it, not a sales rep. You get an answer within one working day.

We tell you whether fixed price is honest for this work
If it is, you get a scoping week and then a number
No obligation, and no phone number needed to start

Commercials and governance

What a fixed price agreement has to contain

Six clauses. If a supplier quote is missing three of them, the number is not really fixed.

The scope, in testable terms: Acceptance criteria written down and agreed before signature, not described in a proposal and interpreted afterwards.
The change mechanism: Written variations with a price and a schedule impact, agreed before the work happens. Every fixed price project has changes; the ones that go wrong are the ones with no route for them.
What you have to provide, and by when: Access, test data, environments, and the person who signs off. Supplier delay is our problem, and client delay has to be somebody problem too or the date means nothing.
Payment against milestones: Tied to demonstrable outputs rather than to dates in a calendar, so progress and payment stay connected.
Warranty after go-live: A defined period where defects against the agreed scope are fixed at no charge. We ran 60 days on the Norwegian platform.
What happens if we are wrong: We carry the overrun. That is the whole product, and it is why the estimate is conservative and the scoping comes first.

Who does the work

Twenty engineers, eight of them senior

An honest fixed price depends on the estimator being the person who has to deliver it. On a team this size they are the same person, which removes the usual incentive to win the work and worry later.

Engineers in Ho Chi Minh City: 20
Senior engineers: 8
Average experience: 5+ yrs
Working with US, UK and EU teams: 10+ yrs

You meet whoever will do the scoping. Ask them what they would refuse to quote in your project, because a supplier who will quote everything has priced the argument in.

How we work

Five engagement models, and you pick how much you keep

The models differ in one thing: how much of the management you hand over. Everything else, including who owns the code, is the same in all five.

Changing model later is normal. Augmentation into a dedicated team is the common direction, and the people stay.

Staff Augmentation

Engineers join your team and work inside your process, your board and your code review.

Team control: You manage the day to day
Pricing: Monthly per person, by role and seniority
Minimum: 1 month

Dedicated Team

A team that works only on your product, with a lead on our side running delivery.

Team control: Shared. Our lead runs delivery, you set priorities
Pricing: Monthly per role, lead included
Minimum: 3 months

Offshore Development Centre

A long-term engineering site under your standards, where we carry recruitment, HR, payroll and equipment.

Team control: You direct the work, we run operations
Pricing: Monthly per role plus site costs
Minimum: 6 months

You are hereFixed Price

One price for a scope that is genuinely settled, with the overrun carried by us.

Team control: We deliver, you accept against written criteria
Pricing: Fixed bid, paid against milestones
Minimum: Project based, usually 10 to 14 weeks

Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT Model)

Everything in the centre model, with the whole team moving into your own Vietnamese entity on an agreed date.

Team control: Transfers from us to you
Pricing: Monthly per role, transfer price agreed up front
Minimum: 2 to 6 years

FAQs

Questions we get on the first call

Why is fixed price more expensive per hour?

Because we price the risk of being wrong about the estimate. On settled work that premium is small. On unsettled work it is large, which is a signal you should use a different model.

Do you charge for the scoping week?

Yes, as a small fixed engagement. You keep the scope document and can take it elsewhere. Free scoping tends to produce optimistic scoping.

What if we change our minds mid-project?

Changes are quoted separately. If they are frequent, we will suggest moving to a dedicated team rather than nickel and diming you through a change process.

What if you underestimate?

We absorb it. That is the deal, and it is why we are careful about which work we accept on this basis.

How long do fixed price projects usually run?

Best under three months. Beyond that, requirements move enough that fixed scope starts working against both sides.

Who owns the result?

Your company, entirely, on final payment as set out in the agreement.

What does a fixed price project cost?

It depends entirely on the scope, which is the unsatisfying but honest answer. A proof of concept or a cut first version is usually 10 to 14 weeks, and a full system runs longer. Fixed price carries a premium over time and materials because we hold the risk of being wrong, and that premium is the product rather than a markup. The scoping work is what produces your number.

Can we do discovery on time and materials, then fix the price?

Yes, and we recommend it for anything that is not already specified. A short paid discovery produces the acceptance criteria, the interface details and the data shape, and then the fixed quote is based on evidence rather than on optimism. It also gives you a clean exit point if the answer turns out to be that the project should not happen.

What happens when the scope was wrong rather than incomplete?

Then we say so and we stop, rather than delivering something that meets the letter of an agreement nobody wants any more. A written variation resets the scope and the price. The alternative, building to a specification everybody has privately abandoned, wastes your money to protect our position.