Ten honest answers on the engagement details — code ownership, communication, warranty, NDAs, billing terms, retainers, and what happens when requirements shift mid-project.
You own 100 percent of the source code at delivery, including the database schema, deployment configs, and infrastructure-as-code. Ownership transfers via a work-for-hire clause in our Statement of Work. We retain rights only to generic libraries, internal tooling, and snippets used across multiple clients — never anything specific to your business logic.
We integrate into your existing stack — Slack, Microsoft Teams, Linear, Jira, GitHub Issues — rather than forcing you into ours. Async daily updates on active sprints, weekly 30-minute demo calls, and ad-hoc calls as needed. The founder (Bill Beltz) is on every call and in every channel. No account-manager filter, no junior intermediary.
Every project includes a 30-day post-launch warranty covering any bug against the written SOW at no charge. If a SOW-spec feature breaks, we fix it. The warranty doesn't cover scope changes, third-party API outages, or bugs caused by client-side modifications. We've never had a client invoke the warranty for fundamental quality issues.
Yes. Bill Beltz, the founder, is on every call, writes code on every project, and is your single point of contact from kickoff to handoff. No account managers, no offshore handoff after the sales call. You can text or email directly during business hours. For after-hours emergencies on retainer clients, there's a documented escalation path.
All client data is treated as confidential by default — no NDA required to start the conversation. We sign your NDA on request before any privileged information is shared. Production credentials never leave 1Password vaults. Client code lives in your GitHub or our shared org with role-based access. We don't use client code as portfolio examples without written permission.
First step: raise it on the next weekly demo, in writing if it matters. We treat dissatisfaction as a process failure and fix the underlying cause, not just the symptom. If we genuinely can't deliver to spec, we refund the current sprint and walk away cleanly. We've never had a client invoke this. The discovery phase is designed to prevent it.
We bill fixed-fee per milestone for almost all project work — typically 30 percent at kickoff, 40 percent at the midpoint deliverable, 30 percent at launch. Retainers bill monthly in advance. Time-and-materials only for exploratory work or open-ended maintenance. Net-15 payment terms on invoices. ACH preferred; Stripe accepted with a small processing fee.
Yes — most clients move to a monthly retainer after launch covering support, monitoring, dependency updates, and a defined feature-work allowance. Retainers run $1,500 to $8,000 per month depending on scope. No long-term commitment — month-to-month with 30-day notice on either side. About 70 percent of our project clients retain us beyond launch.
Yes — we sign reasonable NDAs before privileged information is shared. We have a standard mutual NDA ready, or we'll sign yours after a quick legal review. We don't sign NDAs with unusual non-compete clauses, perpetual confidentiality (we cap at 5 years), or liability terms beyond contract value. Most client NDAs go through unchanged.
Small changes within the original spirit of the SOW are absorbed without paperwork. Larger requirement shifts go through a brief change request: what's changing, timeline impact, budget impact, and rationale. You approve in writing before we touch them. We don't silently expand scope and then surprise-bill you. Roughly 70 percent of projects ship with no formal change orders.
No NDA needed to talk. No slide deck. Just an honest conversation about what you're building and whether we're the right fit.