Dedicated team vs fixed-price project: how to choose
When a fixed scope protects you and when it slows you down; how we structure both models and what each costs.
Two ways to buy development work, and each protects the client from a different risk. Here is how we structure both and when each one fits.
Fixed-price project
A fixed scope, a fixed price and a fixed timeline, agreed before the work starts. The client is protected from budget overrun: whatever it takes to deliver the agreed scope is our problem. The cost of that protection is rigidity — a change of scope means a change request, an estimate and a signed addendum.
It fits when the result can be described precisely in advance: a website with a known structure, a CRM implementation for a documented process, an integration between two known systems. Our published “from” prices and the calculators on this site are fixed-price starting points.
Dedicated team
Engineers assigned to the client for a month or longer, invoiced monthly, managed by us and directed by the client’s priorities. The client is protected from the cost of change: the backlog can be reordered every week without renegotiating a contract. The cost is that the budget is open-ended by design.
It fits when the product is evolving: a SaaS in development, an internal system that grows with the business, a series of integrations with no fixed end.
What we do the same way in both
- Discovery first. Even a dedicated team starts with a week of discovery so the first month is spent on the right things.
- One responsible person on our side.
- Weekly written status.
- Code and documentation in the client’s repository from day one.
What it costs
Fixed-price work is quoted from the service pages. A dedicated team is priced from the $35 hourly rate for clients abroad; a full-time engineer is roughly 160 hours a month. Part-time allocations of 40 or 80 hours a month are possible.
Switching between the models
A common path: a fixed-price MVP in two to three weeks, then a dedicated team for the product that grows out of it. The contract is written so the switch does not require starting over.