Honest answers about estimates, day rates, and project pricing.
Software-Pricing is a frequent first question and a frequent first source of mismatch. Below: how we build an estimate, what is and is not in our day rate, when fixed price beats time-and-materials, and a sample calculation for a typical MVP project.
Three steps. First, a 30-minute intro call where we listen to the problem and check if we can deliver it seriously. Second, a discovery phase where we map requirements into effort brackets - typically two to ten engineering days, billed at our day rate. Third, a written estimate with a fixed price for the agreed scope, or a T&M structure for genuinely open-ended work. We never quote without discovery; the only thing worse than a high estimate is a low one that turns into a surprise.
Engineering day rate (€1,100) covers eight hours of focused work by the assigned engineer: implementation, code review on our side, deployment to a staging environment, and one demo per week. Not in the day rate: dedicated infrastructure, third-party licenses or API costs (passed through at cost), and out-of-scope changes (handled via a written change request). Consulting (architecture reviews, audits, workshops) is billed separately at €190/h - different value, different commitment shape.
Fixed price works when the scope is clear enough that we can scope it without hand-waving. Marketing sites, well-defined MVPs, classic CRUD applications. T&M works when discovery itself is the work: research-heavy projects, integrations into systems we cannot fully see in advance, or fast-moving products where the spec is the next iteration. We default to fixed price after discovery; if discovery shows the work is genuinely open-ended, we say so and switch to T&M with a weekly cap.
A typical MVP project: 6 weeks of build, ~250 hours of engineering, 2 weeks of upfront discovery, deployed on Fragon Cloud. Total range: €30,000 to €45,000 net, depending on scope and integration count. A leaner MVP (fewer integrations, no auth, single-platform) lands closer to €15,000 to €25,000. An app with backend, auth, two platforms, and store submission lands in the €25,000 to €40,000 range. Numbers are honest, not aspirational - we have shipped projects in each of these brackets.
30-minute intro call, non-binding. We give you a price-and-time range within one business day.
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