Pricing
We publish our rates.
Most firms hide rates behind a discovery call. We print ours. Here is the full rate card and our options for billing.
The rate card
Roles, rates, discounts.
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 |
Why we publish this
The rates are public because we can justify them.
Opaque pricing exists to protect the seller.
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, because we can back up what we charge. Real numbers don't need a sales call to survive contact with a prospect.
How we bill
You pay for the seniority you actually use.
A blended rate is a firm-wide average that overcharges you for junior hours and undercharges for principal hours. It encourages firms to spend fewer of those expert hours even when you may need them, 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 the work actually requires.
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. Work is delegated based on needs and total cost of ownership, not just hourly rate.
Engagement shapes
Hourly, with options.
Underneath, everything is hourly. A salaried engineer is paid for forty hours a week; companies hide this in various ways and pocket the difference. 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 clients want flexibility, and fixed price can't give it without overhead and slowdowns. It works when you can accept a locked scope and slower, more deliberate change control.
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.
These are real projects we've delivered. What you pay depends on scope and complexity: an MVP can run from under $20k to $200k. Use them as reference points.
< $20k
Smallest MVPs to market. Clear scope, purpose-built software for a niche nothing off the shelf covers.
$100k
Viable product in four months. A larger committed build, where expectations for what is delivered are higher and require more labor.
$250k
Full SaaS platform rebuild. An analytics platform rebuilt end to end in seven months, established rules and data migration included, delivered on time. The client's project manager didn't think it could be done.
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 for a project we'd do for under $200,000. Cheaper hourly rates don't make cheaper projects. They often make far more expensive ones.
Questions
The things prospects actually ask.
Is there a minimum engagement?
No floor to get started. Sign our contract, give us work to do. We've started many engagements just coming in and cleaning up problems from legacy platforms at only a few hours a week.
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?
Depends who's steering. When you direct the team yourself, spend follows your asks, and itemized per-engineer invoices show exactly where every hour went, so nothing creeps in quietly. When you want a number held, budget-managed hands us the wheel: we run like an internal IT team with an annual budget and hit goals within it, not the other way around.
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.
How often do rates change?
Once a year, at the same time for everyone. We review the team at the end of each year and publish a rate sheet that holds for the next year.
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 say so up front, without running you through a discovery funnel first.
Start a conversation