End-to-End Project Builds
Fixed-scope software, shipped to production by an operator who owns the architecture and a team that ships every week.
Some work isn't a team-rental engagement. It's a defined outcome: an MVP for a new funded venture, a legacy migration with a hard cutover date, a new product surface that has to be production-ready by a board meeting. For those, we build fixed-scope projects with milestone billing, a named architect, and a team sized to the work. 20 years of these. 500+ ventures supported. We've seen most failure modes — and how to avoid them.
Why Most Fixed-Scope Software Projects Fail
The dirty math of fixed-scope software: agencies bid low to win the deal, then either eat the loss when scope creeps or play change-order games until the relationship is poisonous. The client ends up paying more than the original quote anyway, and the trust is gone.
The cause isn't dishonesty — it's that most agencies bid before they understand the problem. The scoping conversation is a sales call dressed up as discovery. The architecture is hand-waved. The estimate is built from "this kind of project usually takes…" and a margin layered on top.
We do it differently. The scoping phase is its own paid engagement (small, 2-4 weeks, capped). Out of it comes a real architecture document, a real risk register, and a real fixed-price SOW with milestone billing. We don't propose a fixed price until we actually know what we're building. The work to get there is small, transparent, and refundable against the build cost if you proceed.
What You Get From an Eternitech Project Build
Named architect on the SOW
The senior operator who scopes the project is the same person who owns the architecture from kickoff to handover. Their name is on the contract.
Real scoping, not sales-flavored discovery
2-4 week paid scoping phase that produces an architecture doc, a risk register, and a milestone-based SOW. Capped cost. Credited against the build if you proceed.
Milestone billing, not lump sums
You pay against shipped milestones, not against time. If a milestone slips, the conversation happens before the bill, not after.
Production-grade output, not demoware
CI/CD pipeline, automated tests, code review, documentation, runbooks, monitoring. We deliver software you can hand to a future internal team.
Handover that actually works
At project close, we deliver code, infrastructure, documentation, and a transition plan. We don't ghost. We also offer a 30-day support window included in every build.
Code you own from day one
IP assignment signed before any code is written. Clean repos in your accounts. No hostage clauses.
The Builds We Ship Most Often
Funded-Startup MVP
You closed pre-seed or seed. The technical co-founder either doesn't exist or is solo and underwater. You need a real V1 in production within 4-6 months — not a prototype, a product real users pay for. We build it with a small senior team and hand it back at the point where you're ready to hire your own engineering lead.
New Product Surface for an Existing Company
You have a product, customers, revenue. You're launching a new module, a B2B portal, a marketplace, a mobile companion, or an admin platform. The internal team is heads-down on the core product and can't spare the bandwidth. We build the new surface end-to-end and integrate with your existing stack.
Legacy Migration / Re-Platform
The old PHP/Rails/Coldfusion/Classic-ASP monolith is slowing the business down. You need to migrate to a modern stack without breaking the running system. We've done dozens of these — strangler patterns, incremental rewrites, data migrations, zero-downtime cutovers.
Internal Platform / Operations Tooling
The thing your business runs on internally — admin panels, ops dashboards, internal workflows — built right, owned by you. Often overlooked, often the highest-leverage build a company can commission.
How We Build
1. Scoping (Weeks 1-4)
Paid, capped engagement. The senior operator who'd own the build runs scoping interviews with you and your stakeholders, drafts the architecture, identifies the risks, and produces the SOW. Output: architecture document + risk register + milestone-based SOW + fixed price.
2. Mobilization (Weeks 5-6)
SOW signed. Team assembled from the bench — specific named engineers, you interview them. Repos created, infrastructure provisioned, CI/CD pipeline standing up. First standup with you on the call.
3. Build Sprint 1: Production-shaped foundation (Weeks 7-10)
We don't do "discovery sprints" that produce nothing shippable. The first sprint produces a deployable foundation — auth, data model, infrastructure, a minimal working surface — that goes to a staging environment you can poke.
4. Iterative Build Sprints (Weeks 11 through milestone N)
2-week sprints with demo + retrospective every sprint. You see real progress every two weeks. Scope changes are handled via change-order — short, transparent, predictable.
5. Pre-Production Hardening (Final 2-4 weeks)
Security review, performance testing, load testing, documentation freeze, runbook completion, monitoring setup. The team that's been building it is the same team that hardens it.
6. Handover + 30-Day Support
Code, infra, docs, runbooks handed over. The architect does a 1-hour handover session with whoever's taking over (your internal team or your future hire). 30 days of bug-fix and on-call support included in every project.
Pricing — Real Ranges
Fixed-scope projects price against the scope, not against time. Below are the ranges we see across the build types above. Final SOW is delivered at the end of the paid scoping phase, against actual architecture and actual risk.
| Project Type | Range | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping engagement (refundable against build) | $4,000 – $12,000 | 2-4 weeks |
| Funded-startup MVP | $60K – $180K | 4-6 months |
| New product surface | $80K – $250K | 4-9 months |
| Legacy migration / re-platform | $120K – $500K+ | 6-18 months |
| Internal platform / ops tooling | $40K – $150K | 3-6 months |
| 30-day post-launch support | Included | — |
Project Build vs. Engineering Team — Which Do You Need?
| Project Build | Engineering Team | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Defined outcome with a clear scope | Ongoing roadmap with shifting priorities |
| Pricing | Fixed-price, milestone-billed | Monthly per engineer |
| Commitment | One project, defined end | 3-month minimum, then month-to-month |
| Scope changes | Change-order process | Re-prioritize in next sprint |
| Best fit | MVPs, migrations, defined platform launches | Product companies scaling capacity |
Not sure which fits? Book a call and we'll tell you honestly — including when neither is the right answer for you.
How It Actually Works
The operating model — vetting, the operator's job, what happens when things break — is documented in full on a separate page. For project builds specifically, the operator stays on the engagement through handover, and the same engineers ship the whole project.
Read the full delivery model →Frequently Asked Questions
Do you ever do truly fixed-price without a scoping phase?
No. Anyone who does is either over-pricing to cover the unknowns or under-pricing to win the deal. Both end badly. The scoping phase is small, capped, and refundable.
What's the smallest project you'll take?
$30K is roughly the floor for a project build. Below that, you're often better served by a few weeks of an engineering team engagement.
What if my scope changes mid-build?
Change-order process. We give you a written impact estimate (cost, timeline, risk) within 3 business days. You decide whether to proceed. Standard, predictable, transparent.
Do you do design too?
We work with your designers if you have them. If you don't, we partner with vetted design partners — your operator coordinates. We're not selling design as a core service.
What if I don't proceed after scoping?
You keep the architecture document and the SOW. You've paid for them; they're yours. We don't lock the IP.
Who actually builds the code?
Vetted senior engineers from our India bench, supervised by the architect (your operator) in the US or Israel. Same model as Engineering Teams.
What if my project takes longer than the timeline?
If the delay is on us — bad estimating, slow ramp-up — we eat it. If the delay is from scope changes or your team's delays, we have an honest conversation about adjusting the timeline. The 2-week sprint cadence makes risk visible early.
Do you sign NDAs and IP assignment?
Yes, before any scoping work begins.
Talk About Your Project
Book a 30-minute scoping conversation with the senior operator who would architect your build. Bring the problem, the constraints, and the deadline. You'll leave with a clear next step — whether that's a scoping engagement, a different service model, or a referral to someone better suited.