Question 1

How is this different from hiring a freelancer or a marketplace dev?

Accepted Answer

Task-based hiring sells you hours. We sell you a partner. Same senior team across every engagement, founder-led calls, and accountability for outcomes — not just time billed. If you need a one-off CSS tweak, a freelance hire is fine. If you need to actually ship something that lasts, hire a studio.

Question 2

How fast can we start?

Accepted Answer

Discovery call within 48 hours. For projects, kickoff is typically 1–2 weeks out depending on scope. Retainer slots open at the start of each month — we book 4–8 weeks ahead during peak season.

Question 3

What if we already have an in-house dev team?

Accepted Answer

Most of our partners do. We slot in as the senior Shopify layer — running specific workstreams, mentoring, or owning the parts your in-house team doesn't want to specialize in.

Question 4

Can you take over a build someone else started?

Accepted Answer

Often, yes. We do a paid 1–2 week audit first to assess code health and risk, then quote whether to refactor or rebuild. We won't inherit a mess we can't stand behind.

Question 5

How do you handle pricing?

Accepted Answer

Projects are fixed-fee, scoped from the discovery call. Retainers start at $4k/month and scale by reserved senior hours. Plus Partner engagements are custom-quoted against a multi-quarter roadmap. No hourly invoices for surprise work — everything is scoped before we start.

Question 6

What does a typical project budget look like?

Accepted Answer

Theme refactor: $15–35k. Custom Plus theme rebuild: $45–120k. Migration to Plus: $35–90k. Custom app: $20–80k. Performance audit + remediation: $12–30k. Discovery calls give you a real number, not these ranges.

Question 7

Do you offer payment plans?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Most projects bill 30/40/30 across kickoff, midpoint, and launch. Retainers bill monthly in advance.

Question 8

Are there setup fees on retainers?

Accepted Answer

If we haven't worked together before, the first month includes a one-time onboarding fee that covers stack audit, Notion setup, and a roadmap workshop. After that, just the monthly retainer.

Question 9

Where are you based and what time zones do you cover?

Accepted Answer

Founder-led from Europe, with senior team members across the US, EU, and Gulf. Standard coverage 9am–9pm CET, with on-call windows for retainer partners during launches and Q4 sale events.

Question 10

How do you communicate during a project?

Accepted Answer

Async-first via Slack and Loom for daily progress. Weekly sync on Zoom (recorded). All work tracked in Notion with a public-to-you roadmap. Critical decisions go into a written doc; we don't decide in DMs.

Question 11

Do you work in our tools or yours?

Accepted Answer

Yours, ideally. We adapt to Linear, Jira, Asana, ClickUp, Notion, Confluence — whichever your team already lives in. We bring our process; we don't ask you to adopt our tools.

Question 12

Do you only work with Shopify Plus?

Accepted Answer

No, but Plus is where most of our work lives. We take on standard Shopify work when the brand is on a clear path to Plus or has the complexity to justify a custom build.

Question 13

Do you work headless / Hydrogen?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We've shipped Hydrogen storefronts, but we'll be honest if your case doesn't justify going headless. Most brands belong on Online Store 2.0; some don't. We'll tell you which you are.

Question 14

Do you write tests?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Custom apps are unit + integration tested. Storefronts are E2E tested with Playwright on the critical paths (PDP → cart → checkout). Lighthouse CI runs on every PR.

Question 15

Do you sign NDAs and DPAs?

Accepted Answer

Yes — both standard. We can sign your paper or send ours within a day. GDPR-compliant by default; SOC 2 alignment available on Plus Partner engagements.

Question 16

Where is data stored?

Accepted Answer

Defaults to Shopify-region datacenters where Shopify allows. For app data, EU residency available on request. We avoid US-only stacks for Gulf and EU partners.

Question 17

Who owns the code?

Accepted Answer

You do. Every line of code we write for a partner is delivered with full IP transfer at the end of each invoiced milestone. No license tricks.

The questions we hear most.

Engagement

How is this different from hiring a freelancer or a marketplace dev?

How fast can we start?

What if we already have an in-house dev team?

Can you take over a build someone else started?

Pricing

How do you handle pricing?

What does a typical project budget look like?

Do you offer payment plans?

Are there setup fees on retainers?

Process

Where are you based and what time zones do you cover?

How do you communicate during a project?

Do you work in our tools or yours?

Technical

Do you only work with Shopify Plus?

Do you work headless / Hydrogen?

Do you write tests?

Legal & security

Do you sign NDAs and DPAs?

Where is data stored?

Who owns the code?

Got a question
that isn't here?

The questions we hear most.

Engagement

How is this different from hiring a freelancer or a marketplace dev?

How fast can we start?

What if we already have an in-house dev team?

Can you take over a build someone else started?

Pricing

How do you handle pricing?

What does a typical project budget look like?

Do you offer payment plans?

Are there setup fees on retainers?

Process

Where are you based and what time zones do you cover?

How do you communicate during a project?

Do you work in our tools or yours?

Technical

Do you only work with Shopify Plus?

Do you work headless / Hydrogen?

Do you write tests?

Legal & security

Do you sign NDAs and DPAs?

Where is data stored?

Who owns the code?

Got a questionthat isn't here?

Got a question
that isn't here?