Time & Material
Hourly development, design, and Meta Ads consulting - with a pre-agreed cap, timestamped hour logs after every session, and 15-minute billing increments. For work that cannot be fixed-price scoped: evolving requirements, inherited codebases, R&D, and emergencies.
Six situations where T&M is the right choice over fixed-price.
Fixed-price works when scope is clear. T&M works when it is not - or when speed matters more than cost certainty.
Evolving scope - you are building as you learn
You are in discovery mode. You know the problem you are solving but not the exact solution. Fixed-price needs a fixed scope. T&M lets requirements evolve as you learn what works.
R&D and prototype work
Proof-of-concept, MVP experimentation, or technical feasibility work. You do not know how long it will take - and anyone who quotes it fixed-price is guessing.
Extending a platform we did not build
You have an existing Shopify store, CI4 app, or WordPress site built by someone else. We cannot give a fixed price until we have read the codebase. T&M starts immediately while we learn the platform.
Ongoing feature additions at your pace
You have a backlog of features and you want to ship them in priority order, one sprint at a time. No need to scope everything upfront - just run the sprint, review output, and decide the next.
Emergency or time-critical work
Your site is down. A security issue needs immediate patching. A client deadline moved forward. T&M gets us working within hours - no scoping phase, no proposal, no delay.
You want to evaluate us before committing
A T&M sprint is a low-commitment way to see how we work, how we communicate, and how we handle code that is new to us - before moving to a fixed-price project or retainer.
Four roles. Clear rates. No surprises.
All rates exclusive of GST. Rate locked for 6 months from first engagement. 15-minute increments - no rounding up.
- ✓Shopify Liquid, CI4, Laravel, WordPress, PHP, MySQL
- ✓Code review, bug fix, feature build, integration
- ✓API documentation provided on request
- ✓Complex integrations, multi-role systems, security work
- ✓Codebase audit, architecture review, technical consulting
- ✓Founder-level oversight included on all senior engagements
- ✓Account audit, campaign build, CAPI implementation
- ✓Creative brief, audience strategy, one-off consulting
- ✓Reporting format agreed before engagement starts
- ✓Figma screens, component builds, design review
- ✓Landing page design, PDP redesign, brand work
- ✓Source files delivered in Figma at session end
Six types of work billed on time and material.
Theme modifications, new sections, app integrations, PDP enhancements, bug fixes, and speed optimisation on existing stores we did not originally build.
Feature additions, API integrations, admin panel extensions, Shield auth changes, database migrations, and bug investigations on existing platforms.
Theme modifications, ACF field additions, plugin integrations, WooCommerce changes, and content structure updates on existing WordPress sites.
Targeted security investigation when you have a specific concern - suspicious activity, access logs, a failed penetration test - billed per hour until resolved.
Account review, campaign audit, CAPI implementation support, or one-off creative strategy session. Billed per engagement or per hour.
Architecture review, vendor evaluation, code review, performance investigation, or a one-off technical decision you need a second opinion on.
From request to invoice in five steps.
Role, stack, rough hours estimate, and urgency. If it is an emergency we start the same day. If it is planned work we schedule within 3 business days.
We agree what we are working on, the hourly rate, and a cap - an upper limit of hours beyond which we stop and check in with you before continuing.
We start working. For larger sessions we share progress after every 4 hours so you know exactly what has been done before we continue.
At the end of every session - or weekly for ongoing T&M - you receive a detailed hour log: timestamps, tasks completed, outcomes, and any decisions made.
Invoice issued at the end of the session or weekly for ongoing work. INR + GST. No rounding up - we bill to the nearest 15 minutes.
What you receive after every session.
We agree a maximum number of hours before starting. We stop and check in when we approach it - never silently bill beyond the cap.
Timestamped log of exactly what was done, when, and for how long. You can verify every minute billed.
We bill to the nearest 15 minutes. No rounding up to the nearest hour.
For sessions longer than 4 hours, we share an interim update so you know what has been completed before we continue.
We never start hours that are not pre-approved in writing - email or WhatsApp. No surprise invoices.
The rate agreed at the start of your first T&M engagement is locked for 6 months. Rate changes are communicated 30 days in advance.
T&M vs Fixed-Price vs Retainer.
| What you need | T&M | Fixed-Price | Retainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price known before starting | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scope can evolve mid-engagement | ✓ | Change order | ✗ |
| Best for undefined or R&D work | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Pay only for hours worked | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Emergency / same-day start | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Predictable monthly cost | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Not sure which model? Tell us what you need and we will recommend the right engagement structure before you commit to anything.
Projects delivered on T&M.
T&M questions we answer before every engagement.
Tell us what you need. We will tell you whether T&M or another model fits better.
Book HoursNeed work done fast, or scope that cannot be fixed? Start here.
Pre-agreed cap. Timestamped hour log. 15-minute billing. Same-day start for emergencies.