Delivery Credits: Common Questions

The Basics

What's a delivery credit?

It's a unit of completed work, sized by complexity. A 1-credit task is a quick fix. A 13-credit task is a major feature build. You're paying for what gets delivered, not how long someone sits at a keyboard.

How is this different from paying by the hour?

With hours, you're buying time. With credits, you're buying output. The cost of a task is based on its complexity, not how long it takes us to complete it. You get predictable pricing and we get the freedom to use the best tools and processes to deliver faster.

Who decides how many credits a task is worth?

We do, based on complexity. Before we start any task, you'll see the credit estimate. If you think it's off, we talk about it. No work starts without your approval on the scope.

What if a task turns out to be more complex than the original estimate?

We'll come back to you before spending additional credits. You'll never get a surprise on your monthly summary. If the scope changed, we explain why and you decide how to proceed.

Plans and Pricing

Why a quarterly commitment?

It lets us reserve capacity for you. We staff and plan around our committed clients first. A quarterly commitment means your work doesn't compete with ad-hoc requests for developer time.

What happens to unused credits at the end of the month?

They roll over once. If you don't use your March credits, they're available in April. If you don't use them in April either, they expire. This keeps both sides honest about workload planning.

What if I use all my credits before the month is over?

You can buy additional credits at the same per-credit rate. No markup on overages. If it happens regularly, we'll suggest moving to a larger plan.

Can I change plans mid-quarter?

You can upgrade at any time. Downgrades take effect at the next quarterly renewal. We want to make sure a smaller plan actually fits your needs before locking it in.

How do I cancel?

Give us 30 days notice before your quarterly renewal. No penalties, no long-term lock-in. If it's not working, we'd rather know and fix it than hold you to a contract.

Can I start with something smaller than the Sustain plan?

Yes. We build custom credit packages for clients who want to start smaller or have a specific workload that doesn't match the standard tiers. Book a discovery call and we'll figure out the right starting point together.

How the Work Gets Done

What does "developer-led, AI-accelerated" actually mean?

AI handles the repetitive parts of development: writing boilerplate code, running routine fixes, generating test scaffolding. Our developers review everything, make architecture decisions, handle complex logic, and test before anything ships. Think of AI as the power tool. Your developer is the carpenter.

Is AI writing all my code?

AI writes a lot of it. But every line gets reviewed by a real developer before it touches your system. The architecture decisions, security considerations, and edge case handling are all human. AI makes us faster. It doesn't replace judgment.

Do I get a dedicated team?

You get a dedicated project manager who knows your systems and coordinates all work. Developers may rotate based on the type of task, but your PM is your single point of contact and they maintain full context on your project.

How do I submit work?

Through your project management system. You describe what you need, your PM scopes it into tasks with credit estimates, and you approve. Most clients get into a weekly rhythm where priorities are set at the start of each week.

How do I know what's getting done each month?

You get a monthly delivery summary showing every completed task, credits used, and credits remaining. No ambiguity, no surprises.

Why does work get done so quickly?

Two reasons. First, our developer-led, AI-accelerated workflow means we're not writing every line from scratch. AI generates code, our developers direct it, review it, and test it. The skill is knowing what to build and catching what the AI gets wrong. Second, continuity. A team that already knows your codebase can make changes in a fraction of the time it would take someone new to even understand the context. Speed isn't cutting corners. It's the result of better tools and deep familiarity with your system.

Is there a ramp-up period when we start working together?

Yes, and we're upfront about that. Whether we're inheriting an existing codebase or starting something new, both the team and our AI tooling need time to learn your system, your business rules, and your workflows. Early on, tasks may take longer to complete. Efficiency increases over time as that knowledge builds. This is true of any software engagement, and it's one of the reasons long-term plans give you better results than one-off projects.

What does the first month look like?

Week 1, we learn your systems, business rules, and immediate priorities. Your PM gets embedded in how your business works. Week 2, first deliveries start shipping: bug fixes, quick wins, anything that's been on your list. Weeks 3-4, larger tasks are scoped and in progress, and the weekly rhythm is established. You'll see your first monthly delivery summary at the end of month one.

What if I'm too busy to submit tasks some months?

Your PM will proactively check in and help you prioritize. They're not waiting for tickets. They know your system and will suggest work that moves things forward even when you're heads-down on other things.

Estimates, Revisions, and Bugs

What if a task costs more credits than you estimated?

We eat the difference. If we quote 8 credits and it turns out to be a 13-credit effort, you pay 8. Our estimates are a commitment, not a guess. The risk of underestimating is on us, which is our incentive to scope work carefully upfront.

What about a really large task that's bigger than 13 credits?

We break it into smaller deliverable pieces. A request like "rebuild the reporting module" becomes four or five scoped tasks that each ship independently. You get progress along the way instead of waiting weeks for one big delivery, and you can reprioritize after any completed piece if your needs change.

What if I change the requirements after work starts?

The original credit estimate covered the original scope. If requirements change mid-task, we'll re-scope and give you a new estimate for the revised work. No surprises, but we can't absorb costs for a different deliverable than what was agreed to.

What counts as a revision vs. a new task?

If we delivered something that doesn't match the documented acceptance criteria, we fix it at no additional credits. That's on us. If you review the finished work and want it to do something that wasn't in the original requirements, that's new scope with a new credit estimate.

How do you prevent that from becoming a gray area?

Clear requirements before any work starts. Every task gets documented acceptance criteria that you sign off on. When the work is done, we compare it to what was agreed. That documentation is what protects both sides.

What happens if something you built breaks?

If we shipped it and it breaks, we fix it at no cost. Bugs in our work are our responsibility. If it breaks because of a change made outside our team or something beyond our control, that's a new task.

Communication and Availability

Do credits cover meetings and communication?

No. Meetings, Slack messages, emails, and project coordination are free. Most day-to-day communication happens through your project management platform. Credits only get used when we're building, fixing, or shipping something.

What are your business hours?

Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm CST. Weekend and after-hours work is not included in standard plans.

What if something critical breaks after hours or on a weekend?

We monitor applications 24/7. For critical issues, we'll make a best effort to respond outside business hours. If your business requires guaranteed 24/7 monitoring and response, talk to us about configuring a custom package for that.

Credit Examples

What does a 5-credit task look like?

A client needs their CRM to automatically send a summary email to the sales manager every Friday with that week's new leads, status changes, and closed deals. This involves building the email template, writing the query logic to pull the right data, scheduling the job, and testing across different data scenarios. Multiple steps, a couple of systems involved, but well-defined scope.

What does a 5-credit task look like for operations?

A staffing company needed their system to automatically flag when a staff member's certification was expiring within 30 days and send a notification to the ops manager with the employee name, certification type, and expiration date. This involved connecting to the existing employee database, building the expiry check logic, configuring the notification emails, and testing across different certification timelines. Clear scope, a few systems involved, and a concrete result.

What does an 8-credit task look like?

A client's internal portal needs a new reporting dashboard that pulls data from two different sources, displays filterable tables and charts, handles role-based permissions so managers see different data than staff, and exports to CSV. This requires planning the data layer, building the UI, wiring up the filters and permissions, and thorough testing across user roles. Significant build with real complexity.

What does a sample month look like on the Sustain plan?

Here's a typical month:

• 3 bug fixes (4 credits)
• 1 automated notification system (5 credits)
• 1 integration with existing tool (8 credits)
• 2 UI improvements (4 credits)
• 1 report automation (5 credits)

Total: 26 credits used, 4 rolled over to next month. Your monthly delivery summary breaks it down exactly like this.

How We Compare

How does this compare to hiring a full-time developer?

A mid-level developer costs $90-130k in salary alone. Add benefits, payroll taxes, equipment, and management time and you're north of $120-170k per year. That's one person who needs to be managed, can only work on one thing at a time, takes vacation, and might quit. Our Build plan at $11,400/mo ($136,800/yr) gets you a project manager, access to multiple developers, AI-accelerated delivery, QA, monitoring, and zero HR overhead. You get a team for the cost of one hire.

How does this compare to offshore development?

Offshore rates look cheaper on paper. In practice, most clients who come to us from offshore engagements spent more in total because of rework, communication gaps, timezone delays, and code they couldn't maintain. Our team is 100% US-based. You own your code. Communication is direct, in your timezone, in plain English. And if something goes wrong, your contracts are enforceable in US courts.

How does this compare to my current part-time developer?

If you're paying a freelancer $100-150/hr to maintain a system they didn't build, the Sustain plan at $5,700/mo often costs less and delivers more. You get a team instead of one person, a dedicated PM who knows your system, continuity when people are sick or busy, and AI-accelerated delivery. You also get monitoring, QA, and someone proactively looking at your system instead of just responding to tickets.

Ownership and Trust

Do I own the code?

Yes. 100%. Everything we build for you is yours. No licensing fees, no dependency on us to keep it running. You get access to your repositories from day one. The code, documentation, deployment configs. If you ever want to walk away, you take everything with you. No negotiation.

What if something breaks outside business hours?

Our monitoring tools catch errors in real time. For clients on monthly plans, we respond to critical issues as they're detected, not just during business hours.

I'm currently paying you by the hour. What changes for me?

Your monthly cost stays about the same. The way we report work changes from hours logged to tasks completed. You'll actually have better visibility into what's getting done because the summary is tied to deliverables, not timesheets.

What if I have a broken system from a previous vendor?

We work with this constantly. We'll assess what you have, give you an honest answer about whether to fix or replace it, and help you regain access to your own code and infrastructure. Book a system assessment and we'll start there.

What if I have a question that's not on this list?

Ask. We'd rather answer twenty questions upfront than have you wondering about something three months in. Reach out anytime.

Still Have Questions?

We'd rather answer twenty questions upfront than have you wondering about something three months in. Book a call or send us a message.

Book a Discovery Call Or get in touch

Looking for plan details and pricing? See our delivery credits page