Do We Offer Fixed Price Software Development Projects?

The short answer: we don’t offer fixed price software development projects for the kinds of codebases we typically inherit, and there’s a very good reason why.

When founders contact us, they’re often working with an existing application that has grown more complex over time, where performance, maintainability or future development needs require a deeper understanding. The last thing they want to hear is that pricing depends on investigation, but the reality is that accurate estimates require understanding the technical environment before committing to a scope.

We’ve experienced this challenge ourselves. Early on, we took on a fixed-price project to “fix some performance issues” in a Node.js application. Simple enough, right? Then we discovered the application had accumulated architectural complexity over time, including custom query behaviour, missing database optimisation and authentication workflows that needed improvement. What should have been a two-week project required a broader Node.js backend rebuild because the foundation was fundamentally broken.

Why Fixed Price Software Development Can Be Challenging for Legacy Codebases

The problem with fixed pricing is that it assumes you can accurately estimate the scope of work upfront. That works fine for greenfield projects where you’re building from scratch with known requirements. But with legacy codebases? You’re essentially asking us to quote for an archaeological dig before we know what’s buried.

Here’s what we typically find when we take over a legacy codebase:

We recently worked with a SaaS company that had been quoted $50,000 fixed-price by another agency to “modernise their React frontend.” The agency spent three months rewriting components, then disappeared when they realised the real problem was the API layer, which was returning hundreds of megabytes of unfiltered data to the frontend. The React components weren’t the issue. The architecture was. A fixed-price contract incentivised them to work on the symptoms rather than admit the real problem was larger than scoped.

Red Flags in Fixed Price Software Development Proposals

If an agency or development team is offering fixed pricing for a complex existing codebase, these are areas worth exploring before committing:

These promises can sound appealing, but the practical details often depend on the complexity of the project.

The Honest Cost of Flexible Software Development

When we work hourly or on weekly retainers, we’re aligned with you. If we discover a faster solution, you pay less. If we find a significant architectural issue that needs addressing, we can have an honest conversation about whether to fix it properly or work around it temporarily based on your budget and priorities.

For example, we inherited a Django backend with circular imports that made it impossible to add new features without triggering import errors. The “fixed price” solution would have been to quote for untangling the entire import structure—probably $30,000 of work. Instead, working hourly, we identified the three critical import cycles that were blocking the founder’s immediate needs, fixed those in a week for $6,000, and documented a plan for addressing the rest over time. The founder got immediate value, not a massive upfront commitment.

This is the reality of rescue project work. You need flexibility to make smart decisions as you learn more about the codebase. Fixed pricing removes that flexibility and creates adversarial incentives.

“The honest feedback – as a company owner who has limited knowledge of how mobile applications work, having their input on the best decisions to make for the app has been extremely helpful.”

— Molly Sinclair, Owner, Cleverpop

When Fixed Pricing Actually Works

We’re not dogmatically against fixed pricing. It works when:

But here’s the thing: founders who come to us are often working with systems that have evolved over time and need a clearer understanding before planning the next phase. That is usually a situation where investigation, diagnosis and prioritisation are valuable before committing to a fixed scope.

What We Actually Promise

We bill weekly at $3,200 per senior developer. Here’s what that actually gets you—and what we won’t pretend to guarantee:

Complete transparency: You see exactly what we worked on each week. We don’t pad estimates to cover risk. We don’t have any incentive to drag things out—our reputation depends on being efficient.

Honest diagnosis: When we discover that your performance problems aren’t in your React components but in your database query patterns, we tell you. We don’t have a sunk cost in a fixed-price contract that assumed it was a frontend problem. One client came to us with page loads taking 2 seconds—after fixing the underlying architecture, we got that down to 200ms.

We’ll tell you when we don’t know something: If we haven’t seen this exact problem before, we’ll say so. Then we’ll figure it out. Honesty beats false confidence.

We’ll push back on bad ideas: Your success matters more than our billable hours. If you’re about to spend $20,000 on something that won’t work, we’ll tell you—even if it means less work for us.

Security that’s right-sized for your stage: We won’t promise “enterprise-grade security” or “100% secure.” We’ll make sure you’re secure enough for where you are now, with a clear path to tighten things as you grow.

Course correction: Halfway through a project, we realised the founder’s real priority had shifted from fixing bugs to shipping a new enterprise feature that a major customer needed. With hourly billing, we pivoted immediately. With fixed pricing, we would have been contractually obligated to finish the original scope first.

How We Protect You from Runaway Costs

The legitimate concern with hourly pricing is: “What if this takes forever?” That’s a real fear, especially if you’ve been burned before. Here’s how we address it:

Weekly check-ins: Every week, we review what got done and what’s next. If something’s taking longer than expected, you know immediately, not three months later.

Milestone-based planning: We break work into one or two-week milestones. “Get the homepage load time under 2 seconds.” “Fix the authentication flow so enterprise customers can SSO.” You’re never locked into a multi-month engagement wondering when you’ll see results.

Senior developers only: We don’t pad teams with junior developers learning on your dime. You get experienced developers who’ve seen these problems before and know how to fix them efficiently. When we augment your team, you’re getting people who make your existing team faster, not slower. We’ve seen development velocity double after fixing underlying architecture issues.

We eat our own mistakes: If we go down the wrong path and waste time, we don’t charge you for it. We’ve written off hours when we made a bad architectural call and had to backtrack. That’s on us, not you.

This Works Best If You’re Willing To Be Involved

Hourly pricing requires a different kind of client relationship than fixed-price. We need founders who:

The #1 reason projects we rescue failed? Lack of communication—and it’s not always the previous developer’s fault. Sometimes founders disappear for weeks, don’t respond to questions, or expect developers to read minds. We require clients to join daily standups. You’ll see exactly what’s being worked on, what’s blocked, and can reprioritise on the fly. If you can’t commit to regular communication, we’re probably not the right fit.

If you want a development partner who collaborates on decisions and provides technical guidance, that approach usually creates better outcomes than simply implementing requirements without discussion.

Frequently Asked Questions About Fixed Price Software Development

Why don't you offer fixed price software development for legacy projects?

Fixed price software development works best when the scope, requirements and technical environment are already understood. Legacy projects often contain unknown technical debt, undocumented decisions and hidden risks that make accurate upfront estimates unreliable.

When does fixed price software development make sense?

Fixed price development can work well for clearly defined projects with stable requirements, known technology choices and a well understood scope. It is less suitable for rescuing existing applications where investigation is required.

How do you control costs without a fixed price contract?

We use transparent weekly billing, milestone-based planning and regular progress reviews. This allows priorities to change as we learn more about the codebase while keeping costs visible and controlled.

What software project pricing model do you recommend?

For complex rescue work, flexible engagement models usually provide better outcomes because they allow engineering teams to solve the highest-value problems discovered during assessment and development.

Can you estimate a software project before starting?

Yes. We can provide an assessment of the likely effort, risks and priorities. The difference is that recommendations are based on understanding the codebase rather than making assumptions before investigation.

The Real Question You Should Ask

Instead of “Do you offer fixed price?”, ask yourself: “Do I want a vendor who’s incentivised to avoid discovering real problems, or a partner who’s incentivised to solve them efficiently?”

Fixed price proposals for complex legacy systems often rely on assumptions about the codebase that may change once deeper investigation begins. A transparent approach allows priorities and decisions to adapt as more is understood.

We’d rather have an honest conversation upfront: “Your codebase has these issues, here’s roughly what it’ll take to address them, let’s work in weekly increments so you can see progress and make informed decisions.” That’s how we’ve helped founders rescue failed projects, scale to 30,000 users, and reduce AWS costs by 90%.

If you want the certainty of knowing exactly what you’ll pay before we start, we’re probably not the right fit. But if you want honest technical guidance, efficient execution, and senior-level judgment on what’s actually worth fixing, let’s have that conversation.