Check, fix, build — what each step is, what it costs, what it doesn't cover.

Everything below is the deal as it is written. Three steps, no packages to compare, nothing revealed after you pay.

All three steps are done by one person, me: I read the code, fix it and build it myself, and my name is on it.

Check — the Launch Verdict

The Launch Verdict is a written answer to one question: can this product take real users and real money today, or not yet.

I read your codebase, run the product, and write down what I find. You get an answer with the evidence behind it — not an opinion, and not a list of everything that could theoretically be better.

It is an engineering judgement after a review of a fixed number of days, of what I was given access to — not a guarantee, not insurance, and not proof that nothing is wrong. No review of any product, at any price, can do that.

What arrives

Five things arrive, and one round of written questions comes with them. All of it is yours to keep.

  1. 1. A written go/no-go verdict on whether the product can take real users and real money.
  2. 2. Every finding ranked by severity, each with the evidence: where it is, how to see it yourself, and what it costs if it stays.
  3. 3. A fix plan with named work items and the price of the sprint.
  4. 4. A scope spec, written so another contractor can pick it up and price it — you keep it, whoever ends up doing the work.
  5. 5. A recorded walkthrough of the findings, in my voice.
  6. 6. One round of written questions, within 14 days of delivery.

All of it arrives as one written document you can forward to anyone, plus the recorded video walkthrough.

$2,500 for an app with authentication, $3,500 for a SaaS that takes payments.

Five working days, or seven for the SaaS tier. Paid 100% up front. Which of the two applies is agreed in writing before you pay — and if the product turns out to be the other tier once I see it, rule 5 below says what happens.

What I look at

Every product

  • Authentication and sessions.
  • Authorization and roles — whether one user can reach another user's data.
  • Secrets and configuration.
  • Data safety — destructive operations, and whether a tested restore path exists.
  • Error handling and observability — whether you would even know it broke.
  • The release and rollback path.
  • Known-vulnerable dependencies.
  • The obvious performance hot paths.

A SaaS that takes payments, in addition

  • The money path — payments, webhooks, refunds, subscription state.
  • Tenant isolation — whether one customer's account can reach another's.

Anything I exercise actively runs on staging or on a copy — never on your production data.

How the days run

  1. Day 1 — Access and a walkthrough: what the product does, what "live" means for you, where the money and the user path run.
  2. Days 2–3 — The review itself. Findings collected with the evidence for each one.
  3. Day 4 — Severity ranking, then the fix plan with named items and a price.
  4. Day 5 — The written verdict and the recorded walkthrough, delivered.

A SaaS that takes payments runs the same sequence with up to two more days in the middle — the money path and tenant isolation are extra ground to cover.

No code is changed during a check — fixing is the next step, and you decide whether to take it. Not a penetration test and not a certification; the full list of what is not included is further down.

Fix — the Fix Sprint

The items named in your verdict's fix plan, fixed by the same hands that found them. It is sold only after a paid Launch Verdict: pricing a fix on code I haven't read is guessing, and I'd be guessing with your money.

What arrives

The named items fixed, and the written scenarios we agreed before the start now passing. Done is defined before anyone begins — not argued about at the end, and not decided by the calendar.

$9,000 to $12,000, two to four weeks. The exact price is named inside your verdict, from what the review actually found — never before.

100% of the verdict price is credited into a sprint started within 30 days of delivery. Paid 50/50 — half at the start, half on acceptance.

And if what I find is smaller than a sprint, there is no sprint to sell you: you keep the fix plan and the scope spec, and your own developer or any contractor can do the work.

Anything outside the named list. Scope grows only by newly named items, agreed in writing before they are worked on — nothing is quietly added to the bill.

Build

A product from idea to release, built to hold users and money from day one — not a demo that needs a second build. For a product that doesn't exist yet, or a rebuild the verdict says is the honest answer.

What arrives

A released product, accepted against written scenarios agreed before the build starts — "done" is defined first, in plain language, the way it is for a sprint.

There is no list price. The price and how it is paid are named from the spec — the written description of what gets built — in writing, before the work starts.

If there is no product yet, the free MVP Brief Builder is the first step towards that spec.

Design, brand and marketing, and no support after release — the build ends at release. Anything beyond the spec is a newly named item, priced before it is built.

The rules

Eleven rules. They apply to every engagement, and they don't change per client.

  1. 1. A check is paid 100% up front.
  2. 2. The days start on the agreed start date, once read-only access is in place — not when the money arrives. The clock never runs while you are waiting on your own team.
  3. 3. I run one check at a time. If the next start date is not this week, you hear it before you pay, not after.
  4. 4. If a check never starts, the whole amount comes back — whether you changed your mind before the start date, access never landed, the product turned out to be something I don't take on, or I couldn't deliver. Once the review has started, the price is not returned.
  5. 5. The tier is agreed in writing from your description. If the product turns out to be materially different once access lands, you hear it before the work starts — then you choose: pay the difference to the other tier, or take the full amount back.
  6. 6. 100% of the check's price is credited into a Fix Sprint started within 30 days of delivery.
  7. 7. No Fix Sprint is sold without a paid Launch Verdict first.
  8. 8. A sprint is paid 50/50 — half at the start, half on acceptance. Acceptance runs against written scenarios agreed before the work starts, so "done" is defined before anyone begins.
  9. 9. The sprint price named inside your verdict is valid for 30 calendar days, and it is tied to the state of the codebase at the time of the review. If the code keeps moving, the price gets named again. The published check prices do not move.
  10. 10. Scope grows only by newly named items, on every step. Nothing is added to the bill that was not written down and agreed first.
  11. 11. Your code stays yours. Access under a mutual NDA — read-only for a check. I change nothing in your infrastructure and nothing in your accounts, keep a working copy only while the work runs, delete it on delivery — and every tool that touches your code is named in writing before anything is sent anywhere.

What is not included

Six things this is not. Read them before you buy, not after.

  1. 1. No code is written or changed during a check. That is the Fix step.
  2. 2. Not a penetration test, not a security certification and not a compliance audit — no SOC 2, HIPAA or GDPR. A check is an engineering readiness review.
  3. 3. No design, UX, brand or marketing work — on any step.
  4. 4. Web products and the APIs behind them only — no native mobile apps, no games, no machine-learning models.
  5. 5. No ongoing support and no retainer. Questions after a check are one round, not a channel; a build ends at release.
  6. 6. No load testing at scale, and no audit of third-party vendors — I review how they are used, not what is inside them.

Start with a message.

Describe what you built and where it stands. You'll hear back from me within one business day, and nothing is paid until the first step and its price are agreed in writing. If your case isn't one I take on, I'll say so and tell you what would fit instead.

I read every message myself and reply within one business day.

Your name, email and message are used only to reply to you — nothing else. Privacy policy

FAQ about the deal

Can I buy a Fix Sprint without a verdict?

No. Pricing a fix before reading the code is guessing, and I'd be guessing with your money. The verdict is what makes a fixed sprint price possible — and 100% of it comes back to you in the sprint.

Can I get my money back?

If the review hasn't started, yes — the whole amount, no conditions. That covers changing your mind before the start date, access that never lands, a product that turns out to be something I don't take on, and my own failure to deliver. Once the review has started, the price is not returned: you are paying for the answer, and the answer arrives whether or not it is the one you hoped for. The other reversal in the deal is the credit — 100% of the price goes into a Fix Sprint started within 30 days.

What does acceptance mean on a sprint?

It means the written scenarios we agreed before the work started now pass. The scenarios are written down first, in plain language, so "done" is not a matter of opinion at the end. The second half of the payment follows acceptance, not a calendar date.

What if the review finds nothing serious?

Then you get that in writing, with the evidence, and the decision to ship is yours to make on it. A clean verdict is a result, not a wasted purchase — it is the difference between believing your product is ready and knowing what was checked and what was found. You still keep the scope spec and the recorded walkthrough.