[0,0] RETAINER

Monthly Coder-in-the-Loop

Ongoing oversight, continuous improvements, and consistent shipping cadence. Like having a senior engineer on retainer.

MONTHLY ENGAGEMENT FLEXIBLE SCOPE

[1,0] INCLUDED

What's Included

Weekly Check-ins

30-minute sync every week to review progress, unblock issues, and plan the next sprint. Async Slack/email support between calls.

Code Review

Priority review on PRs with feedback within 24 hours (business days). Security, performance, and maintainability focus.

Architecture Guidance

Strategic input on system design, tech choices, and scaling decisions. Keep your codebase healthy as you grow.

Emergency Support

One emergency "fire drill" per month (production issues, critical bugs). Response within 4 hours during business hours.

[1,1] TIERS

Monthly Investment

Retainers scale with your needs. All tiers include weekly syncs, async support, and architecture guidance.

A full-time senior engineer costs $180K–$250K/year

Get the same expertise for 10–20% of the cost, without the overhead.

$250K/yr → $30K–$120K/yr

Advisor

$2,500 /month

Strategic oversight for self-managing teams who need expert guidance.

✓ Bi-weekly strategy syncs
✓ Async Slack/email support
✓ Monthly architecture review
✓ Decision documentation

Most Popular

Partner

$5,000 /month

Active partnership with hands-on review, priority support, and emergency coverage.

✓ Weekly 60-min deep-dive
✓ Priority PR review (24h SLA)
✓ 1 emergency response/month
✓ Quarterly roadmap planning

Embedded

$10,000 /month

Deep integration with your team. Architecture ownership and unlimited support.

✓ 2x weekly syncs + async
✓ Same-day PR review
✓ Unlimited emergencies
✓ Team training & mentorship

High-Touch

Enterprise

$18,000 /month

Fractional CTO-level engagement. Full technical leadership and strategic ownership.

✓ Daily standups available
✓ Board/investor reporting
✓ Hiring & team building
✓ Technical due diligence

⚠

Without Technical Oversight

× Teams spend 40% more time on bug fixes and rework
× Security vulnerabilities discovered post-launch cost 10x more
× Technical debt compounds every sprint without review

pricing-model.sh

$ xero retainer --terms
BILLING=monthly_recurring
COMMITMENT=3_month_minimum
CANCELLATION=30_days_notice

→ All tiers: 3-month minimum
→ Enterprise: Custom terms available

[2,0] SCOPE

Scope & Boundaries

In scope

✓ Code review, architectural guidance, planning
✓ Strategic technical decisions
✓ Small fixes and improvements (< 2 hours/month)
✓ DevOps, CI/CD, and deployment guidance

Out of scope

✗ Full feature development (use Custom Build instead)
✗ 24/7 on-call support
✗ Managing third-party vendors or contractors

retainer-model.sh

$ xero retainer describe
ENGAGEMENT_TYPE=monthly_recurring
COMMITMENT=flexible_scope
RESPONSE_TIME=24h_business_days
COMMUNICATION=slack_email_weekly_sync

✓ Continuous oversight
✓ Predictable monthly cadence
✓ Clear boundaries defined

[3,0] REQUEST

Request Retainer

Tell us about your project and needs. We'll follow up within 1 business day to discuss fit and pricing.

retainer-intake.sh

$ xero retainer init
→ Collecting engagement details
→ Ready for qualification