How we work

Three ways to work with us

These are our standard terms. In every proposal we adjust them to the project’s scope, timeline, and risk. We always start with the same free 30-minute discovery call; we don’t send proposals without that conversation. Afterwards we send you a proposal with scope, owner, timeline, and price.

1) Diagnostic

  • Performance and architecture diagnostic: one production system and one business question, with a fixed scope and a reference price; one week of engineering delivered over two calendar weeks. Terms on its page.
  • Custom diagnostic: when the problem does not fit in one system and one question (architecture, costs, concurrency, migrations), or when instrumentation is missing and has to be built before measuring. Fixed price for a defined deliverable: 40% at the start, 40% with the draft, and 20% with the final report.
  • A 4-hour session, USD 600 as a reference, for a specific question or a second opinion, without a report.

The diagnostic has value on its own: your team can execute it even if you don’t hire us for the implementation.

Every figure we deliver follows the procedure in How we measure: what was measured, where, when, under which load and with which tool, with the report and acceptance-criteria templates we use.

2) Development project

  • Agile MVP: fixed-price package by milestones for the first version of a product: a two-week definition and architecture phase (the architecture sprint) and a build by milestones, usually six weeks in total, with an optional mobile app. Its own terms and payment split are on its page.
  • Stable scope: fixed price by milestones. The proposal sets the share of the total price for each milestone, within these ranges: discovery and design (20–30%), first working version (30–40%), final delivery and stabilization (30–40%). Every milestone has written acceptance criteria.
  • Uncertain scope: time-based with a budget cap. Biweekly or monthly invoicing, regular reviews, and a cap that is never exceeded without your approval. Fixing a price too early usually hurts both sides.

3) Technical advisory

A monthly fee with included hours and scope defined in the proposal: architecture and code review, technical decisions, and support for your team. It is the “external CTO” arrangement.

Apart from the three paths, training: courses and workshops priced per cohort in the proposal; catalog and reference prices in Training.

Who is accountable and how we size the team

Every proposal names its technical owner and defines the scope, the team required, availability, the price or budget cap, and the acceptance criteria. SIMYL’s technical leadership reviews all delivered work. When an engagement needs more hands, we bring in engineers under our direction and review, and we confirm their availability before committing capacity. We don’t lend people to your team: when we work on a time basis, scope, ownership, and quality stay with us.

After delivery

  1. Stabilization: included after the final delivery, for the period defined in the proposal.
  2. Handover: technical and operational documentation, and sessions with your team.
  3. Continuity, if you need it: monthly advisory, a prepaid maintenance hour bundle (monthly or quarterly), or help training or finding the people who will maintain the system.

Common terms

  • Deposit to reserve capacity; the percentage depends on the type of work.
  • Acceptance criteria for every delivery, in writing.
  • Change management: if the scope changes, cost and timeline are reviewed before continuing.
  • Invoicing: electronic invoice. Clients in Colombia are invoiced in Colombian pesos, with the amount fixed in the proposal; clients in other countries in US dollars or euros, paid by international bank transfer. Before signing, we tell you how taxes and withholdings apply in your country.
  • Intellectual property: custom work is yours; SIMYL’s reusable components remain SIMYL’s, and we license them to you at no cost for your product.
  • Confidentiality (NDA) when required; we only mention a project in our portfolio, or publish anything about it, if the contract allows it or the client authorizes it. Nothing we build on commission is released as open source without that agreement.
  • Late payments: we may pause work until overdue invoices are settled.

When the project calls for it, we agree on other arrangements in the proposal, such as sprint packages or a variable part tied to a measurable result, always with a baseline and a measurement method agreed in advance.

Request the discovery call and tell us what you need to solve.