Most agencies quote the build. Nobody mentions the overrun.
Most app projects run 20 to 50% over their initial budget. Not because developers are expensive. Because they’re building against a moving target. Requirements shift. Things get built, then rebuilt.
We fix that before the build starts. The research is done, the design is tested, the specification is complete. A build team can price it accurately and build against it cleanly. Zero overrun.
What we charge.
Every project is scoped individually after the discovery call, so we don't work to fixed tiers. These figures reflect where our fees typically land based on complexity, the form factors involved, and the depth of research the project needs. Build cost is separate and not included in any of these figures.
Early-stage products with one core user journey. Usually phone-only. Often a pre-seed startup, a business adding a focused digital tool, or a founder testing a clear concept before committing to a larger build.
Funded startups, products spanning phone and web, established teams launching their next product. Typically covers full research, strategy, UX and UI design across two form factors, and complete technical specification.
Healthcare, fintech, enterprise apps, compliance-heavy products. Multiple form factors, deeper research, fuller documentation. Products with several distinct user types or significant integration requirements.
All prices exclude VAT. Most projects run between two and six weeks for foundation, plus build time on top. Final price is shaped by the discovery call and the proposal that follows.
What it looks like in practice.
Illustrative examples based on real project shapes run through our process. Costs reflect current market rates.
Private booking and care management platform
Strategy, behavioural research, UX and UI design, and complete technical specification across web and mobile. The platform needed to earn trust from users before asking them to book.
Specification detailed enough to commission a focused freelance team rather than a full agency, reducing build cost substantially.
Subscription app built around habitual behaviour change
Full foundation work for a subscription wellness product. Behavioural research, strategy, and psychology-driven design targeting habitual behaviour change in a competitive category.
Three rounds of concept testing before a line of code was written. Build scope reduced by approximately a third against the original brief.
Multi-role workflow platform with system integrations
Strategy, UX design, and complete technical specification for a workflow tool integrating with three existing internal systems. Multiple user roles, each needing a distinct design approach.
Specification allowed accurate competitive tendering. Client saved significantly against the first build quote received.
Downloads were real.
Bookings weren't.
Five sessions, thirteen games, six weeks, and we found exactly why users weren't booking, and what to build to earn their trust.
The factors that move our fee up or down.
Every project is scoped individually after the discovery call. These are the factors with the biggest impact on where within a range a project lands. Highest impact first.
Drives our fee up
Each device needs its own layout. Design and specification work multiplies with every form factor added.
More research, more documentation, more review at every stage.
Marketplaces, admin and end-user interfaces, B2B and B2C in the same product. Each audience needs its own research and design.
Diary studies, ethnographic research, and large-sample interviews take real time to do properly.
Each API, payment provider, or legacy system adds complexity to the technical specification.
Brand definition has to happen before product design can lock in.
Drives our fee down
One device, one layout, one design system, one build path.
If the thinking has been done well, we build from it rather than starting again.
Less to research, less to design, less to specify, less to validate.
Removes the brand-definition phase entirely.
Scoping phase one tightly keeps the engagement focused and the brief contained.
One component library, applied across both platforms.
When it’s worth it, and when it probably isn’t.
We’ll save you the discovery call on this one. Working with us isn’t always the right investment. Here’s the honest read on when it pays back, and when you’d be better off elsewhere.
When it’s worth it
You’re building a consumer product
Retention, trust, and emotional connection determine whether it succeeds. Those are designable. This is the work that makes them measurable.
The product needs to scale
Decisions made now are expensive to reverse. Getting them right before anyone starts building saves far more than it costs.
Your runway depends on this landing
When the cost of failure is significant, the cost of foundation work is dwarfed by what it prevents.
You’re in a regulated or sensitive sector
Healthcare, fintech, accessibility, safety. Getting it wrong carries real cost. Foundation work is where you catch problems before they’re built in.
Multiple stakeholders are involved
Foundation work produces the shared brief that prevents months of internal disagreement once the build is under way.
When it probably isn’t
You’re building an internal tool with five users
The investment doesn’t pay back at that scale. A good freelance designer will handle it.
You already have thorough research, strategy, and design
If the work has been done properly, paying to redo it is wasteful. We’ll review what you have and tell you honestly what’s missing, if anything.
You’re building a throwaway prototype to test one assumption
Foundation work is for products you intend to scale. For a one-week experiment, skip it.
You’ve already shipped something very similar
If the product is close to something you’ve launched before and the patterns are down, the foundation work is partly redundant.
Everything your project needs. Nothing it doesn’t.
Our engagements are scoped as a complete package. There’s no menu of services you buy separately and bolt together.
Behavioural research
User interviews, contextual inquiry, or deeper diary and ethnographic studies depending on what the project demands.
Strategic foundation
User needs, product positioning, competitive landscape, and the behavioural brief that every design decision works from.
Psychology-driven UX design
Information architecture, interaction design, and prototypes validated against the Feel Factor® emotional dimensions.
Full UI design
Every screen, every state, across every form factor in scope.
The full design system
Components, states, design tokens, and documentation. Not a separate design system phase.
Complete technical specification
Architecture, data models, API documentation. Not an extra you buy alongside the design work.
Build recommendations
Independent advice on team shape, budget, and the smartest route to launch.
Walkthrough and handover sessions
We walk you and your build team through the work in a proper session. We stay available for questions during the build.
Handled separately
Scope changes during the project. If requirements genuinely change, we agree the new scope and cost before proceeding. Never a surprise on the invoice.
From conversation to proposal to project.
Three steps from first contact to signed proposal. No pitch decks, no procurement theatre, no qualification calls before the qualification call.
Discovery call
Thirty minutes with Simon. We talk through your project, your users, and your timeline. Honest read on whether we’re a fit and what shape the engagement might take.
A bespoke proposal
If a full engagement makes sense, we put together a proposal shaped around what we’ve learned. Not a tier you’ve been slotted into. A package designed for your project, your team, and your timeline.
The work, then the handover
Research, strategy, psychology-driven design, complete technical specification, and independent advice on the smartest way to build. All packaged, walked through, and handed over. Yours to own.