What I do, and what it costs

Four ways to work together, roughly in the order people use them. Every one starts with a conversation, and none of them starts with a number I haven’t put in writing.

Technical Audit & Roadmap

$1,500–$2,500

Two weeks. A straight read on what you have and a written plan for what to do about it.

Review of your current stack, code, and infrastructure
Where the real risk sits — reliability, security, cost, key-person exposure
What to build, what to buy, and what to leave alone
A prioritized roadmap with rough effort and cost against each item
A written document you own — usable with me, another developer, or an agency

Best for.: You're about to spend real money on technology — a build, a hire, an agency — and want an independent read before you commit.
How it’s priced.: Fixed fee, agreed in writing before we start.
Typical timeline.: Two weeks.

Fractional Technical Leadership

$3,000–$8,000 / month

Part-time engineering leadership for founders and operators making software decisions with real money attached:

Technical strategy and architecture decisions
Vendor and tool evaluation — what to buy, build, or leave alone
Whether AI belongs in your operation, and where it's a distraction
Hiring, managing, and evaluating developers
Technical due diligence
A second opinion on what your current developer or agency is telling you

The AI optimization panel inside Salon Ops AI. It recommends adding one haircut per day to raise net profit by $846 a month, a 22% increase, then explains why it passed on the other levers — a $2 price increase yields more on paper but risks pushback from price-sensitive customers, labor reduction could strain service quality, and an extra operating day adds burnout. — Five levers analyzed. It chose +$846/month over a +$1,747/month price increase — and said why.

On the AI question specifically: I’ve built production retrieval systems that answer questions from a company’s own documents and data — and the optimizer above runs inside software I use to run my own business. It analysed five levers and picked the smallest change with the largest safe return, then explained why it passed on the price increase that looked better on paper. That judgment is what you’re hiring.

Best for.: You're spending real money on technology and want someone in your corner who has run the teams and built the systems.

How fractional engagements work →

Platform Build

from $8,000

A fixed-scope custom platform, built and launched in milestones.

What’s included

Discovery and technical scoping
Marketing site (design + build, mobile-first)
The application layer: forms, logic, validation, save-and-resume
Admin dashboard — review, approve, assign, act
Authentication and access control
Automated, event-triggered email
Database design and setup — your data, your infrastructure
Payments and subscriptions, where you need them
Monitoring and analytics (GA4), SEO fundamentals
Domain, SSL, and hosting configuration
Privacy Policy and Terms
Developer handoff documentation + a recorded walkthrough
Post-launch support window

Best for.: You've outgrown a no-code tool and need the real thing — an application, not a bigger website.
How it’s priced.: Line-itemed and milestone-based — kickoff, midpoint, launch. You approve the scope and the number before anything starts.
Typical timeline.: 4–10 weeks depending on scope.

Care & Growth

$750–$2,500 / month

Launching is the start, not the finish:

Maintenance, monitoring, and dependency updates
Small features and iteration
Analytics review — what's working, what isn't
Priority access when something needs attention

Best for.: You launched a platform and want it to keep improving without hiring staff.

Not sure which one you need?

That’s what the call is for.

Book 30 minutes