Rates tied to scope, not seat licenses
Prices below are in ZAR, exclude VAT, and assume read access to repositories plus four to six stakeholder interviews. Travel outside the Western Cape is quoted separately.
Fixed-scope engagements
| Engagement | Typical duration | From (ZAR) |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture review — single product or service group | 2–3 weeks | R 185 000 |
| Refactoring roadmap — builds on review or equivalent internal doc | 1–2 weeks | R 95 000 |
| Dependency & module audit | 1 week | R 62 000 |
Multi-repo estates, regulated environments with formal change control, or reviews requiring on-site pairing every day add 15–35% to the base fee. We confirm in writing before work starts.
What shifts the estimate
- Number of deployable units and languages in scope
- Whether production observability exists or we reconstruct behaviour from code
- Need for executive summary separate from engineer-facing annex
- Follow-up office hours for implementers (bundled 4 hours; additional hours at day rate)
Day rate & retainer
Ad-hoc advisory or workshop facilitation on architecture topics: R 14 500 per day (8 hours, prep included). Retainers for quarterly check-ins on a roadmap we authored: from R 28 000 per month for one scheduled session and async questions, capped at six hours.
Deposits & payment
Fixed engagements require a 40% deposit to reserve calendar time; balance due before final report delivery. Invoices are payable within 14 days. See refunds & cancellations for rescheduling and withdrawal terms.