Fixed price software development
What fixed price development means for you
You approve the cost before work starts
With fixed price development, there are no open invoices at the end of a task. Once you approve a quote, the price is set. If the work takes us longer than expected, that is our responsibility, not yours.
What it means: Budget certainty on every design and development task, from a single change request to a full project.
What it is not: A blanket arrangement for all activities. Meetings, project scoping, and emergency support, are billed hourly.
Scoping is where the work begins
A fixed price is only reliable when the scope is clear. Before we price any task, we document what is included, what is excluded, what we are assuming, and what the acceptance criteria are.
For larger projects, this also covers performance expectations, third-party dependencies, deployment process, and sign-off responsibilities. The quote you receive reflects all of this.
What it means: No gaps between what you approved and what we deliver.
What it is not: A rushed quote. If a project is too technically uncertain to price responsibly, we will make a project plan before providing a fixed price.
How a fixed price task works
For new design and development task
- Submit your request – You describe what you need, either through your project manager or directly via our task management system.
- We scope the work – We document the deliverable, assumptions, acceptance criteria, and any dependencies.
- You receive a fixed price quote – The quote shows the cost for the agreed scope.
- You approve – Work begins only after you confirm the quote.
- We deliver – The completed work is made available for your review on a staging environment, or deployed directly to your live site.
- Task closed and billed – Once the agreed deliverable is ready, the task is complete and billed at the approved price. *
For change requests on existing projects
- You request a change – Any addition or modification outside the original agreed scope is treated as a new task (a change request).
- We scope and price it – Each change request receives its own fixed price before work proceeds.
- You approve – As with new tasks, work starts only after approval.
- We deliver and close – The change is completed, reviewed, and billed at the agreed price. *
What stays on hourly billing (time and material)
Fixed price only works for tasks where the scope can be clearly defined. Some activities are genuinely open-ended, and the effort required simply cannot be known until the work is underway.
The following activities remain on hourly billing:
Client meetings, strategy sessions, and consultations
Project scoping done before a scope can be defined
Emergency support, where responding quickly matters more than a scoping process, including outside office hours
Why is not everything fixed price?
We would love to offer fixed prices for everything, but we cannot, because we simply do not know how much time certain tasks will require. Some tasks are impossible to predict:
- Meetings and communication: Fixed pricing requires a known, predictable scope. Meetings and consultations are open-ended by nature, so it is fairest to both parties to bill strictly for the time used. Some clients only need one or two meetings, others may need more. A client may also come to us wanting a new feature that turns out to already exist in their CMS. If we spend 45 minutes in a call walking them through the solution, that time costs us money and therefore, has to be invoiced.
- Project scoping: In some cases, initial research and solution planning are required before we can clearly define the scope and provide a fixed-price quote. This ensures accuracy and helps avoid unexpected changes later in the project. Since this work requires dedicated time and effort, it cannot be done for free.
- Emergency support: Emergency support often involves situations where the scope cannot be clearly defined at the outset. To ensure we can respond quickly and effectively, this type of work is billed on an hourly basis.
This is why these few tasks will remain on hourly billing.
Why we moved to fixed price
Budget certainty for every task
Under hourly billing, the final cost depends on how long the work takes. You approve work without knowing the cost. Under fixed price, you know the cost before a single line of code is written or a design file is opened.
Changes stay controlled
Any request outside the agreed scope is quoted as a separate fixed-price task before we start working on it. This means your project will never quietly grow in cost because of new ideas added along the way. Every addition is made visible, clearly priced, and approved by you first.
Better scoping discipline
Fixed price only works when scope is clear. That discipline benefits you directly: clearer deliverables, documented assumptions, and defined acceptance criteria on every task.
More accurate pricing through experience and AI
We use an internally developed project planning system that draws on data from years of completed projects. AI tools also support parts of our development and review process. The 1902 Software team remains responsible for architecture, quality, security, and delivery. The benefit of more consistent delivery passes to you through pricing you can rely on.
* Note: We do require pre-payments before starting any tasks. The cost of each completed task is deducted from your prepayment balance once the task is finished.
Ready to discuss your project?
Whether you have a new project or an ongoing development need, we are happy to talk through the scope and put a fixed price quote together.
Free, no-commitment
Commonly asked questions
Does fixed price apply to all work at 1902 Software?
No. Fixed price is the default for clearly scoped design, testing and development tasks. Meetings, estimation and planning, and emergency support work remain hourly because the effort for those activities cannot be defined in advance.
What happens if the work takes longer than expected?
If the work takes longer internally than we estimated, that is our responsibility. The price you approved does not change unless the scope changes.
What happens if I need something extra after I approve a quote?
Any work outside our original agreement will be handled as a separate fixed-price task. We’ll quote it clearly and get your approval before starting. This ensures your project will never quietly grow in cost because of new ideas added along the way. Every addition will be made visible, priced upfront, and approved by you first.
How detailed does the scope need to be before you can give a fixed price?
We’ll define the scope in enough detail so we both clearly understand:
- What’s included
- What’s excluded
- What assumptions we’re making
- What “done” looks like
For simple tasks, this can be done quickly. For larger or more complex projects, we’ll first have a separate discovery conversation to figure everything out before we price the actual development work.
What if a project is too uncertain to price?
If a project carries too much technical uncertainty to price responsibly, we will say so. In those cases, we discuss whether project planning work can reduce the uncertainty enough to proceed with a fixed price, or whether an alternative arrangement is more appropriate.
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