How does scoping work?

The first call is free and takes about 30 minutes. If the work looks like a fit, we quote a scoping engagement: a short piece of paid work that produces an architecture, a build sequence, an estimate, and a projection of what the thing will cost to run. That document is yours to keep and to build from, with us or with anyone else. Every fixed price we quote comes out of one, because pricing a build without one is guessing.

What moves the price up or down?

Scope first: how many user roles, how much of the work is integration with systems we do not control, and whether the data model has to fit something that already exists. Then how much of the running side you want us to take on, and what your compliance and audit requirements are. Speed costs money too. If a deadline needs weekend work we say so and price it before you agree to anything, rather than absorbing it and quietly cutting tests.

What are the payment terms?

Fixed-scope builds run on milestone payments tied to working software, starting with a deposit before the first line of code. Time and materials is invoiced monthly in arrears with the hour log attached. Retainers are invoiced monthly in advance. Invoices are due within 14 days.

Which currencies do you invoice in?

USD or KES. The two figures on this page are set separately rather than converted at the rate of the day, so the KES price is not a moving target between the quote and the contract. Clients outside Kenya are usually simpler to invoice in USD. Other currencies are possible by agreement, at a rate fixed in the contract rather than at payment time.

Pricing

Three ways to buy the work.

Fixed scope when the work can be pinned down, hourly when it honestly cannot, and a monthly retainer once the software is live and somebody has to answer for it. Every build price comes out of a scoping engagement, because quoting one without it is guessing with your money.

Most engagements
Fixed-scope build
One agreed scope, one price, one delivery date. Quoted after scoping, when we both know what is being built.
from$6,000per project
KES 800,000 per project
How it works
Scoping produces the plan, and the plan produces the price. From then on the number does not move unless the scope does, and a change of scope is a conversation before it is an invoice. Payments run against working software at agreed milestones rather than against the calendar.
What is included
- A fixed price and a delivery date, in the contract
- Milestone payments against working software
- Tests and CI from the first commit
- Staging and production environments, documented
- Handover with no lock-in to us
Best for: Products, rebuilds, and platform work where the scope can be pinned down first.
Time and materials
An hourly rate against a monthly ceiling you set. For work whose scope genuinely cannot be known in advance.
$40 to $80per hour
KES 5,500 to KES 11,000 per hour
How it works
You set a ceiling for the month. We log hours against it and send the log with the invoice, so you can see where the money went. When the ceiling is close we say so before we reach it, not after. Rescue work usually starts here and moves to a fixed scope once the system is understood.
What is included
- An hourly rate agreed before any work starts
- A monthly ceiling you set and can change
- An itemised hour log with every invoice
- Stop or pause at the end of any month
Best for: Audits, rescue work, and changes to a system nobody has mapped yet.
SLA retainer
A monthly fee for response times, patching, monitoring, and a set number of engineering hours. Three tiers, compared below.
from$350per month
KES 45,000 per month
How it works
You pick a tier. We sign an agreement with the response times in it, by priority, and it renews monthly. Unused included hours do not roll over, because the thing you are paying for is capacity held open for you rather than a block of hours in a drawer.
What is included
- Response times per priority, in writing
- Dependency and security patching on a schedule
- Uptime and error monitoring, alerting a person
- Included engineering hours each month
- A monthly report you can read in five minutes
Best for: Software in production that somebody has to answer for.

Every tier states the same three priorities, so the cards read across. Priorities are set by impact on your business, not by how loudly the ticket is written.

Standard
Business-hours cover for software that can wait until morning.
from$350per month
KES 45,000 per month
Cover
Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00 EAT
Response times
P14 business hoursSystem down, no workaround
P21 business dayMajor function broken, workaround exists
P33 business daysMinor issue, question, or small change
Included time
4 hours of engineering a month
Monitoring
Uptime checks every 5 minutes, alerting us
- Dependency and security patching each month
- Email and phone for logging issues
- A monthly report: uptime, incidents, patches, hours used
Most take this one
Priority
Extended-hours cover, a named engineer, and enough included time to absorb small changes.
from$650per month
KES 85,000 per month
Cover
Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 20:00 EAT
Response times
P12 hoursSystem down, no workaround
P24 business hoursMajor function broken, workaround exists
P32 business daysMinor issue, question, or small change
Included time
10 hours of engineering a month
Monitoring
Uptime, error tracking, and performance checks, alerting us
- Dependency and security patching every two weeks
- A named engineer who knows your system
- A quarterly architecture review
- A monthly report and a call to go through it
Critical
For systems where an hour of downtime costs real money. P1 is answered on any day.
from$1,200per month
KES 150,000 per month
Cover
P1 on any day, weekends included. Everything else Monday to Saturday, 08:00 to 20:00 EAT
Response times
P11 hour, any daySystem down, no workaround
P24 hoursMajor function broken, workaround exists
P31 business dayMinor issue, question, or small change
Included time
20 hours of engineering a month
Monitoring
Uptime, error tracking, performance budgets, and log alerting
- Dependency and security patching each week
- A named engineer and a written escalation path
- Quarterly architecture review and capacity planning
- A restore drill twice a year, run in front of you

One senior engineer answers these. The response targets are what one person can hold without a night shift, which is why the top tier answers a P1 on any day and stops short of round-the-clock cover. If you need someone awake at 03:00 every night, we will say so on the call and help you find it.

How does scoping work?: The first call is free and takes about 30 minutes. If the work looks like a fit, we quote a scoping engagement: a short piece of paid work that produces an architecture, a build sequence, an estimate, and a projection of what the thing will cost to run. That document is yours to keep and to build from, with us or with anyone else. Every fixed price we quote comes out of one, because pricing a build without one is guessing.
What moves the price up or down?: Scope first: how many user roles, how much of the work is integration with systems we do not control, and whether the data model has to fit something that already exists. Then how much of the running side you want us to take on, and what your compliance and audit requirements are. Speed costs money too. If a deadline needs weekend work we say so and price it before you agree to anything, rather than absorbing it and quietly cutting tests.
What are the payment terms?: Fixed-scope builds run on milestone payments tied to working software, starting with a deposit before the first line of code. Time and materials is invoiced monthly in arrears with the hour log attached. Retainers are invoiced monthly in advance. Invoices are due within 14 days.
Which currencies do you invoice in?: USD or KES. The two figures on this page are set separately rather than converted at the rate of the day, so the KES price is not a moving target between the quote and the contract. Clients outside Kenya are usually simpler to invoice in USD. Other currencies are possible by agreement, at a rate fixed in the contract rather than at payment time.

Prices are exclusive of taxes where applicable. USD and KES figures are set separately rather than converted at the rate of the day, so neither one moves when the other does.

Next step

Get a number that means something.

Bring the problem and a rough budget. The first call is free, and you will leave it knowing which engagement model fits and roughly what the work costs, or that we are the wrong studio for it.

Book a scoping call hello@kimcardtechnologies.com

The first call is free and takes 30 minutes. We reply within one business day.

Three ways to buy the work.

How the work is bought

Fixed-scope build

How it works

What is included

Time and materials

How it works

What is included

SLA retainer

How it works

What is included

SLA tiers, compared

Standard

Priority

Critical

Before you ask us

Get a number that means something.