Technical Engagement Policies

Technical Assessment & Action Plan

Fee and delivery

Fixed fee: $5,000. Typical delivery is 10 business days after required access and information are available. The assessment is a standalone engagement; its fee is not automatically credited toward implementation.

Covered environment

One primary application or website, its directly supporting hosting and database environment, up to three connected services or integrations, and up to two critical business workflows. Available source code, configuration, documentation, and relevant logs are reviewed within that scope.

The systems, workflows, and questions are listed before work begins. A proposed substantial project can be assessed against an existing environment. A wholly new platform or broader multi-system undertaking may need separately scoped planning.

Meetings and investigation

One 60-minute kickoff, up to two 30-minute discussions with designated staff or providers, and one 60-minute findings meeting are included.

Targeted inspection and representative checks may cover application structure, maintainability, dependencies, hosting, databases, deployment, access, integrations, data flows, known failures, scheduled processes, operational bottlenecks, available backup and recovery arrangements, observable security concerns, technical risks, and feasibility of proposed changes.

The assessment does not examine every line of code or exercise every possible user journey.

Deliverables

A concise system and dependency map; findings ranked by business impact and urgency; recommended actions and reasoning; important unknowns and further investigation; a proposed implementation sequence; indicative investment ranges and dependencies; and a recommended structure for implementation or ongoing support.

Investment ranges are planning estimates. A fixed-price implementation commitment requires agreed scope and acceptance criteria.

Exclusions

Production repairs, development, migrations, deployment, comprehensive penetration testing, compliance certification, legal opinions, exhaustive data validation, load testing, disaster-recovery exercises, full product specifications, graphic design, detailed implementation tickets, unlimited vendor discussions, and lengthy procurement questionnaires are not included.

Production changes are outside the standard assessment. Urgent findings are explained with a recommended response; remediation requires separate authorization.

Client inputs and delays

Provide one accountable contact, authorized access, available documentation, relevant provider contacts, business requirements, and answers within two business days where practicable. You remain responsible for business policies, legal requirements, and authorizing access.

Missing information limits the investigation. Timeline or scope changes are agreed; additional work requires approval. Client delays of more than five business days may release the delivery slot. Work resumes at the next available opening.

Payment and completion

$2,500 reserves the engagement. The remaining $2,500 is due when written findings are delivered.

One consolidated round of factual corrections and clarification is included if submitted within five business days of delivery. Follow-up does not include investigating newly introduced systems or requirements.

Ongoing Technical Partnership

Fee, term, and environment

The starting fee is $5,000 per month, paid in advance. The initial term is three months, followed by month-to-month service with 30 days’ written notice.

Coverage includes one primary application or website, its supporting hosting and database environment, up to three named integrations, and directly related DNS, application email, and Cloudflare configuration where applicable.

An integration is one named external service connection. New integrations, major upgrades, and additional applications require review before inclusion. A separate paid onboarding assessment is normally required unless the environment is already sufficiently understood.

Monthly capacity

Up to 20 hours per month of technical capacity covers agreed planning, recommendations, development, improvements, maintenance, updates, troubleshooting, incident investigation, hosting and database administration, integration administration, monitoring configuration and review, vendor coordination, proposal review, documentation, administrative tools, and automation.

Meetings, investigation, correspondence, coordination, testing, and deployment count toward capacity. This is reserved capacity and a continuing relationship, not unlimited support or an unrestricted task list.

Within that capacity, I maintain a prioritized work list, a practical view of upcoming needs and risks, a record of significant decisions, and recommendations for separately scoped initiatives.

Communication and authority

Up to two scheduled 30-minute meetings per month, a brief weekly written update when work is active, and a monthly summary of completed work, capacity used, significant issues, and next priorities are included within the 20 hours. Asynchronous questions use one agreed channel.

Meetings have agendas and end at the scheduled time. Additional meetings require agreement and consume capacity. One client contact consolidates requests and resolves conflicting priorities; specialists join when needed.

Routine improvements can proceed within agreed authority. Material changes to cost, functionality, customer experience, or business rules require client approval. Silence does not authorize spending or changes to business rules.

Service hours and response

Standard service hours: Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Eastern, excluding U.S. federal holidays and closures communicated in advance.

Routine requests receive an initial response within two business days. Critical incidents reported through the designated channel receive an initial response within four business hours.

A critical incident means the covered production application is unavailable, a core transaction flow is unusable, or an active security compromise is suspected. Initial response means acknowledgment, triage, and communication of the next step—not guaranteed resolution within that period.

Work is scheduled by impact, priority, dependencies, and available capacity. Exclusive access and uninterrupted immediate work are not included. After-hours response, weekend coverage, and stronger availability commitments require a separate agreement. Automated monitoring does not imply continuous human monitoring.

Overages, rollover, and larger work

I flag usage at approximately 75% and identify expected shortfalls. Additional work requires written approval of scope, price, and scheduling. Larger projects are separately scoped.

Up to four unused hours may roll into the immediately following month, expire after that month, and do not accumulate further. If I cannot provide agreed capacity for reasons on my side, we agree on a credit or rescheduling; it is not treated as unused client capacity.

You may authorize a limited incident-response allowance beyond included capacity during onboarding. Without that authorization, work beyond the allowance requires approval.

Responsibilities and specialists

I lead agreed technical work, explain material tradeoffs, document important decisions, and coordinate implementation. Agreed specialists may be involved while I retain technical oversight. Separately chargeable specialist work requires approval; the same work is not charged twice.

You provide business objectives, priorities, operating requirements, an empowered contact and urgent-approval backup, timely access and decisions, approval of policies and third-party spending, and appropriate business and legal review.

Exclusions and ownership

Unlimited development or support, employee help-desk services, customer support, routine content entry, graphic design, ongoing SEO, comprehensive security audits, compliance certification, and legal advice are excluded.

Coverage does not extend to every system, device, account, or vendor in the company. Uptime, resolution times, and third-party performance are not guaranteed. Extensive procurement questionnaires and administrative work require explicit prioritization within capacity.

Third-party subscriptions, hosting, licensing, and usage fees are paid separately by you. Accounts and assets remain under your ownership.

Existing defects, unsupported components, and substantial remediation are documented during onboarding. Accepting the partnership does not include fixing every existing problem within the starting fee.

Client delays and transition

Reserved capacity remains payable when work is blocked by missing client inputs. I identify the blocker and move to another agreed priority where practical.

Delays do not create an entitlement to immediate catch-up work or displace scheduled commitments. Materially affected initiatives are reviewed for scope and scheduling before restarting.

On termination, remaining paid capacity can be used for documentation and orderly handover. Additional transition work is separately agreed.