Mostly that means owning the software a company runs on, from the first commit through to the part their customers pay for. I have done it as a founding engineer more than once, and I still maintain systems I wrote years ago.
Most projects are one of these, or a couple of them together. If yours is none of them, it is still worth asking.
A site designed around your business so the people who find you can quickly see why they should get in touch.
One place where your team can see everything about your customers, your jobs, and your numbers.
Your systems passing data to each other reliably so that nobody has to retype anything.
An app that keeps working for years and keeps up with each new iOS release without needing a rebuild.
Every project is different and the details change, but this is the shape of it.
We spend half an hour working out what you are actually trying to achieve and whether I am the right person for it, and if I am not, I will tell you on the call rather than send you a proposal anyway.
The proposal sets out what I will deliver, what is not included, and one fixed price, so you know what you are buying before you agree to anything, and the price does not move unless you ask for something new.
You get a written update every Friday whether or not there is news, so you are never left wondering where things are, and most projects also get a link where you can watch progress as it happens.
If you already have your domain, hosting, email, and accounts set up, I work with what is there, and if you have none of it and are not sure what any of it means, I sort it out and put it all in your name.
Everything transfers to you with written documentation and a recorded walkthrough you can rewatch instead of asking me again, and two weeks of fixes are included after launch.
Once it is live I can stay on to handle updates, hosting, and changes as the business moves, which is how most of my client work runs, or you can take it from there yourself.
These do not change from project to project, and they are most of the reason the work tends to still be running years later.
The code, the hosting, the domain, and the accounts are all in your name from the start, and if you would rather not think about any of that, I set it up and walk you through what each piece does.
I build things so that you are not forced into a rebuild a year later because of shortcuts taken early on, and some of what I have built has been running and earning for a decade.
Anything touching money, customer records, or something you cannot undo gets tested properly before it goes near a real person.
When something breaks, I want you to hear about it from monitoring before an annoyed customer tells you, so I set that up as part of every project.
I have built most of these systems before, which makes me quick, and that time goes into finishing sooner while still doing the parts you will never see properly.
You will never need to decode jargon to understand what I am doing or what it costs. If something technical matters to your decision, I will explain why it matters.
These are client systems, apps with users who have stayed for years, and the infrastructure behind all of it.
I joined as the founding engineer before there was a product, built the platform the company launched on, and stayed with it for years afterward while the business tripled year over year.
Founding engineer, full timeA construction company runs its customers, leads, jobs, files, and signable proposals on a system I built, which spans an API, an internal dashboard, a public site, and a content pipeline the team runs without me.
Sole engineer
Habite has been shipping for a decade with thousands of active users, across every iOS version, two backends, and one full data migration.
Designer and engineerIt depends on what you need, which is why I do not publish prices. The scope call and proposal turn a vague idea into one fixed number before you commit to anything. Projects generally start in the five figures, so if you are looking for something in the hundreds I am not the right fit and I would rather tell you that now.
The proposal gives you a timeline with milestones, which I only put together once I understand the project properly, and I take on a small number of projects at a time so the one you are paying for gets real attention.
Not at all, and most of my clients are not. You do not need to know what hosting is or who owns a domain. You need to know what problem you are solving, and I handle the rest and explain anything that affects a decision you have to make.
It means the work lives in accounts with your name on them, and you can hand it to any other developer at any point without asking me. Some agencies keep this on their own accounts so you cannot leave. I set it up the other way round, and I show you where everything is at handover.
Often I can, since I have joined companies as a founding engineer and picked up other people's work plenty of times. Send me what exists and I will tell you whether it is worth building on or worth replacing.
That is a normal place to start. The call is partly there to turn an idea into something specific enough to build and to price. You do not need a spec written out.
Two weeks of fixes are included. After that most clients keep me on for updates, hosting, and new work as things change, but it is optional and you are not locked in, and I have been looking after one client system for years now.
Sometimes you should, particularly if you need a lot of people at once. What you get here instead is one senior engineer who builds the thing and is still around afterwards, and you talk to that person directly rather than through an account manager.
We start with a short call that costs you nothing, and I will tell you plainly whether I am the right person for it.
Start a project