Pricing
Published rates. No games.
Most firms hide rates behind a discovery call. We print ours. Here is the full rate card. How we bill and what real projects have cost are below it.
The rate card
Every role, every rate.
We bill individually per engineer per hour, never blended. These bands group the team by role; your engagement is staffed and billed at the real rate of the real people on it.
| Role band | Standardper hour | $25,000/mocommitment | $60,000/mocommitment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Associate Engineer | $40-55 | $36-50 | $32-44 |
| Engineer | $60-70 | $54-63 | $48-56 |
| Senior Engineer | $110-125 | $99-113 | $88-100 |
| Principal / Distinguished | $165-245 | $149-221 | $132-196 |
| SpecialistQA & Test ยท Systems Administration / Infrastructure | $55-75 | $50-68 | $44-60 |
Each engineer has one rate, set by their skill and experience. The bands group those rates into tiers and shift as the team grows. Specialist covers focused disciplines outside the core engineering ladder.
Why we publish this
Transparency is a feature, not a leak.
Opaque pricing protects the seller, not you.
Hidden rates exist to keep you on calls and keep the number flexible based on how much you look like you can spend. That's a bad way to start a relationship that runs for years.
So we publish everything, and we can, because the rates are honest. Real numbers don't need a sales call to survive contact with a prospect.
How we bill
You pay for the seniority you use, not a blended average.
A blended rate is a firm-wide average that overcharges you for junior hours and undercharges for principal hours, and hides who is actually doing your work.
We bill each engineer at their own rate. You see who worked on what, for how long, and what each one cost. The total scales with the seniority you need, not a firm-wide average.
That's why a higher hourly often costs less in total. A principal who fixes it in two hours beats a junior who takes two weeks to not fix it. Senior execution is usually the cheaper line on the bill, even when the rate looks higher.
Engagement shapes
Hourly, with options.
Underneath, everything is hourly. A salaried engineer is paid for forty hours a week whether they work five or fifty; that's hourly with the math hidden. We bill the unit directly, in one of a few shapes.
Hourly
Most of our work is exploratory or has scope that will evolve. Hourly keeps both sides honest about what the work actually takes.
Budget-managed
A fixed monthly spend with RoushTech managing priorities and delivery like an internal engineering manager. You set the budget; we run the team against your goals, adjusting scope month to month.
Fixed-price
Most engagements have too many unknowns for fixed-price to serve either of us. When scope is tight and the problem is well understood, it can work. Most of the time those conditions don't hold.
Equity
Comes up when the product and economics line up to offset costs. If that's on your mind, raise it.
What it looks like in practice
What real engagements have cost.
Real past projects, not a price list. What you pay depends on scope and complexity: even an MVP can run from under $20k to $200k. Use these as reference points, not quotes.
< $20k
Smallest MVPs to market. Tight scope, one-off, honest negotiation.
$100k
Viable product in four months. A committed build at the first discount tier, $25k a month.
$200k
Enterprise-grade MVP. Some of our most complex enterprise solutions hit their first viable release here.
$260k
Full SaaS platform rebuild. An analytics platform rebuilt end to end.
A full engineering department, on tap
A typical team-in-a-box engagement for a decently funded startup: a principal nearly full-time directing, two seniors and a mid or two building, with QA and part-time infrastructure support. A cross-functional team without hiring, onboarding, or standing up a department of your own.
Runs around $60,000 a month, the deepest commitment tier on the rate card above.
Most engagements are smaller: a single senior part-time, a small build team, an ongoing support arrangement. The model scales down as easily as up.
Every engagement is scoped on what you actually need.
We compete on total project cost, not per-hour rate. Senior engineers who execute correctly land most engagements in the lower half of total cost, even against cheaper hourly rates, domestic or overseas.
We've watched a competitor's $400,000 quote run past $1,500,000 before the work was fixed. Cheaper hourly rates don't make cheaper projects. They often make far more expensive ones. If the spreadsheet you're bidding into has only a per-hour column, we're the wrong firm.
Questions
The things prospects actually ask.
Is there a minimum engagement?
No floor to get started. We'll take a small, scoped piece of work hourly. The $25,000 and $60,000 figures on the rate card are monthly commitment levels that unlock the discount columns, not a minimum to work with us.
What do the $25,000/mo and $60,000/mo columns mean?
They're monthly spend commitments. Commit to $25,000 a month and you move to the first discount column; $60,000 a month, the second. Bigger commitment, sharper rate. Commitments run on a 12-month engagement.
How do you keep hours from ballooning?
We estimate up front where it helps, invoice monthly itemized per engineer so you see every line, and run most engagements budget-controlled: we set a budget for the work and steer the team to it. Individual tasks run over or under, the budget is what we manage to. "Hourly" with us is rarely a blank check.
What's billable?
If it takes our time, it's on the invoice: the work, the meetings, the coordination. We don't bury costs in an inflated rate and then pretend the surrounding work is free. You get an honest rate and an itemized bill instead.
How often do rates change?
Once a year, at the same time for everyone. We review the team at the start of each year and publish a rate sheet that holds for that year. Engagements follow that calendar, not your start date, so if you come on in November, expect the new sheet in January: the standard annual raises your engineers would get anywhere, not a renegotiation. Between resets, nothing moves.
What if we start and it isn't working?
Start hourly with no commitment and decide once you've seen the work. We recommend not committing early. If you run hourly for a month and then commit, we typically credit the discount you missed back against future invoices, so waiting to be sure doesn't cost you.
Want real numbers on your project?
Tell us what you're building. We'll give you a concrete scope, concrete hours, and concrete rates. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you honestly. No discovery funnel, no surprises.
Start a conversation