How we build
A plan before the code. A person on every change.
Every project we take on runs through the same process: a written plan and a fixed estimate you approve, small tickets built with AI-assisted tooling, and a person reviewing every change before it ships.
It is how we have shipped more than 230 software projects since January 2020, and it is the same setup we can install for your team.
Every project, seven steps
The process
From request to invoice, step by step.
You know what is being built, what it will cost, and who checked it, at every step. The order never changes, whether the work is a new system or a one-line fix.
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01
Intake
Every piece of work starts as a written request: from a call, an email or the intake form. We capture what you need, why, and what is in the way. Nothing gets built from a hallway conversation.
- Your request, written down
- The systems and people involved
- A clear owner on our side
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02
A written plan and a fixed estimate
Before any work, the request becomes a written plan: the work broken into small pieces, each with its own scope and estimate. A planning agent drafts it from your request and your codebase. A senior engineer reads it, corrects it and signs off before you see it. When the path is not clear yet, we start with paid discovery, a deeper written analysis billed at half our standard rate and credited back when you approve the plan.
- What is in scope, and what is not
- An estimate for each piece
- Questions and risks named up front
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03
Your approval
Nothing starts until you approve the plan. Approval locks the scope and the estimate. If something new comes up later, it gets its own estimate and you decide whether to do it.
- Scope and estimate locked
- No work before you say yes
- Changes quoted before they are made
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04
Development in small tickets
The approved plan is split into tickets, each small enough to review in one sitting. Each ticket runs through an AI-assisted pipeline: a developer agent writes the change, a test writer adds tests, a code reviewer checks it, and a design reviewer checks anything you will see on screen.
- One ticket at a time
- Tests written with the change
- Automated code and design review
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05
Human QA by a senior engineer on every change
A senior engineer reviews every change before it ships. Each ticket reaches them with a summary, proof that it works, a QA checklist and the list of files it touched. They check it against the checklist; if it fails, it goes back through the pipeline. Only then is it released, with a changelog entry and release notes.
- A person signs off on every change
- A QA checklist per ticket
- Release notes you can read
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06
Your review and feedback
You review the finished work on staging before it goes live. Your first round of feedback is included in the estimate. Later rounds are estimated as new scope, and you approve them before we start. Every feedback item becomes its own ticket and goes through the same pipeline and the same review.
- Staging access to review the work
- First feedback round included
- Later rounds approved by you first
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07
Billing that matches the estimate
You are invoiced for the plan you approved. We track our time, but it never changes your price. If the approved work takes longer than we estimated, that is on us. You pay the estimate.
- Invoiced at the approved estimate
- No overages on approved work
- Extra scope only if you approved it
Inside step 4 and 5
AI does the legwork. A person signs off.
Each agent has one job and a written brief for how to do it. None of them can ship anything. Their output is a proposed change with evidence attached, and it waits for a person.
Planner
Reads your request and the codebase, drafts the plan, and breaks it into tickets with a scope and an estimate each.
Developer
Writes the change for one ticket, following the patterns already in your codebase rather than inventing new ones.
Test writer
Writes and runs tests for the change, so the proof that it works comes with the code.
Code reviewer
Checks the change for correctness, security and quality, and sends it back when something is off.
Design reviewer
Checks anything on screen for visual consistency, accessibility and how it holds up on a phone.
Senior engineer QA
A senior engineer reviews every change against its QA checklist before it ships. The agents propose; a person decides what goes live.
What it means for you
Speed from the tooling. Control from the process.
You know the price first.
A written plan and an estimate for every piece, approved by you before any work starts. The estimate is what you pay.
You see every change.
Small tickets, staging access, and release notes in plain language. Nothing disappears for six weeks and comes back as a surprise.
Nothing ships unreviewed.
Automated tests and reviews catch the routine problems. A person checks every change before it reaches your users.
Common questions
About how we build
AI agents draft much of it, along with the tests and the first reviews. A person reviews every change before it ships, and the same standards apply to AI-assisted code as to anything written by hand.
That is on us. You pay the estimate you approved. If the work turns up something the plan did not cover, it gets its own estimate and you decide whether to do it.
When a project is not clear enough to estimate well, we start with a deeper written analysis. It is billed at half our standard rate and credited back when you approve the resulting plan.
Your first round of feedback on delivered work is included in the estimate. Later rounds are estimated as new scope, and you approve them before we start.
Yes. We install the same pipeline in your stack and train your team to run it. Tell us about your team below and we will follow up.
Two ways in
Hire the process, or install it.
Work with us
Have something to build?
Tell us what you need and what is in the way. We reply within one business day, and the first thing you get from us is a written plan, not an invoice.
For agencies and software teams
Want this setup in your own team?
We install the same pipeline in your stack: the planning, development and review agents, the plan to release workflow, and the QA rules. Then we train your team to run it, and keep it tuned as the tools change.