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

What each step delivers, what it costs, and how long it takes is below. Nothing is added after you pay.

All three steps are done by one person, me. I review the code with AI agents built for this, check the critical paths myself, then fix and build what's needed. My name is on the conclusions.

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 review your codebase with AI agents built for this, check the critical paths myself, 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. It is 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 within five working days, or seven for the SaaS tier. One round of written questions is answered within 14 days of delivery. 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.

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

Price

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

Five working days, or seven for the SaaS tier.

How it's paid

A check is paid 100% up front.

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 a check runs

A check moves through four phases: access, the review, a written report, and a walkthrough.

Terms

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 person who reviewed them. It is sold only after a paid Launch Verdict. Pricing a fix before the code has been reviewed 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. Acceptance is in writing. If there is no written objection within 5 business days after delivery, the milestone counts as accepted and the second half is due. An objection counts only if it names an agreed scenario that doesn't work.

Price

$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.

How it's paid

Paid 50/50: half at the start, half on acceptance.

100% of the check's price is credited toward a Fix Sprint started within 30 days of delivery.

And if what I find is smaller than a sprint, the fixes are not many, and we can simply agree on them. You can still keep the fix plan and the scope spec, and your own developer or any contractor can do the work.

Terms

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.

Price

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.

First step

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

Terms

Build runs on your design, a proven UI kit, or a clean interface I design for the product. No marketing work, on any step. For 14 days after acceptance and full payment I fix defects at no charge and answer questions by email. A defect is something that doesn't match the agreed scenarios. New requests, and any support after that, are a separate agreement. Anything beyond the spec is a newly named item, priced before it is built.

The rules

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

  1. 1. A check is paid 100% up front.
  2. 2. If a check never starts, the whole amount comes back. Once the review has started, the price is not returned.
  3. 3. 100% of the check's price is credited toward a Fix Sprint started within 30 days of delivery.
  4. 4. The tier (an app with authentication, or a SaaS that takes payments) is agreed in writing before you pay.

Full terms are in the written proposal.

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. Build runs on your design, a proven UI kit, or a clean interface I design for the product. No 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. For 14 days after acceptance and full payment I fix defects at no charge and answer questions by email. A defect is something that doesn't match the agreed scenarios. New requests, and any support after that, are a separate agreement.
  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 the code has been reviewed is guessing, and I'd be guessing with your money. The verdict is what makes a fixed sprint price possible.

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. Acceptance is in writing. If there is no written objection within 5 business days after delivery, the milestone counts as accepted and the second half is due. An objection counts only if it names an agreed scenario that doesn't work.

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.

What happens to my code?

It stays yours. Access is the narrowest the step needs, read-only for a check, under a mutual NDA signed before anything is shared. I change nothing in your infrastructure and nothing in your accounts, keep a working copy only while the work runs, and delete it when the result is delivered. AI coding tools are part of how I work, and every tool that would touch your code is named in writing before anything is sent anywhere. You decide with that in front of you.