The retainer · from £2,000/month

Unlimited requests. One fixed fee.

A senior software and data team that works your queue piece by piece. Cheaper than hiring, faster than procurement, and you can pause whenever.

Book a call See the plans ↓

A whole team, a fraction of the cost

A little of many, not a lot of one

Most businesses don’t need a full-time anything: they need a fraction of several specialists. A data engineer this month, a database expert next, cloud and automation in between. The retainer is exactly that, fractional access to a whole senior team, on one predictable monthly fee.

No salaries, no recruitment fees, no idle desk time: you pay for delivery, not headcount. And it budgets like a subscription, one line item, the same every month, scale up or down as the work demands.

Roles you’d otherwise hire

Indicative UK figures, rates as of June 2026.

What a hire really costs

Every year

Salary £62,000
Employer NI (15% above £5,000) £7,800
Pension (3% minimum) £1,860
Holiday & sick: paid time not worked £5,605
Insurance, equipment, software & training £8,400
Ongoing, every year £85,665

Once, to hire

Recruitment / agency fees (20%) £12,400
Interview time & onboarding £4,000
One-off, to hire £16,400
First year, all in £102,065
A Starter retainer on an annual plan, none of the above £24,000/yr
You keep, year one £78,065

…and £61,665 every year after. All in, a hire costs roughly 1.5× salary, before you’ve even found them.

How it works

Four steps. That’s the whole model.

  1. Step 1: Pick your plan

    Choose how many tasks run at once. One fixed fee: nothing to recruit or negotiate.

  2. Step 2: Send us your work

    Queue as many requests as you like: features, fixes, pipelines, automations, cloud work.

  3. Step 3: We deliver, piece by piece

    A senior team works your active tasks, keeps you posted, and starts the next when each is done.

  4. Step 4: Review, revise, repeat

    Keep the queue moving as long as it’s useful, or stop at the end of any billing period.

Pricing

Choose how much runs at once

Each plan sets your capacity: how many tasks run at once, and how many days a week we work your queue. Queue as many requests as you like.

  • Starter

    £2,000 /month

    Save 20%

    On an annual commitment, £24,000/yr

    Month to month £2,500 /month

    1 concurrent task

    Worked up to 2 days a week

    A smaller business that needs the team a few days a week, not full time.

    Start Starter

  • Standard

    £3,200 /month

    Save 20%

    On an annual commitment, £38,400/yr

    Month to month £4,000 /month

    1 concurrent task

    Worked every business day

    A steady stream of software and data work, one active piece at a time.

    Start Standard

  • Growth

    Most popular

    £6,000 /month

    Save 20%

    On an annual commitment, £72,000/yr

    Month to month £7,500 /month

    2 concurrent tasks

    Worked every business day

    More moving at once: two pieces of work active in parallel.

    Start Growth

  • Scale

    Talk to us

    3+ tasks, or embedded

    Dedicated, ongoing capacity

    A larger programme of work, or a team embedded alongside yours.

    Talk to us

Monthly plans run month to month with no long-term tie-in; annual plans run for the committed year. Upgrade any time (pro-rated); a downgrade takes effect at the end of your billing period. Third-party costs (licences, hosting, app-store fees) are billed separately. See the terms for plan changes and refunds.

Scope

What every plan includes

Retainer tasks are sized to be delivered in days to a few weeks: anything larger is quoted as a defined project. We scope each request when it lands and tell you which it is, splitting it into stages where that makes sense.

The retainer includes

  • Software development: build, enhance, maintain
  • Mobile & cross-platform apps
  • Database design, optimisation & administration
  • Data engineering, warehousing & Power BI
  • Cloud & managed cloud services
  • Automation, integration & middleware
  • SystmOne support, configuration & reporting
  • Spreadsheet work, fixes & migrations
  • Fixes, upgrades & improvements
  • Scoping of every request you send

Not included

  • Third-party costs (licences, hosting, app-store fees), billed at cost
  • Large, fixed-scope builds, quoted as defined projects
  • Anything on-site: we deliver everything remotely

For a large build, request a project quote.

Questions

The things people ask first

What counts as one task?

One active piece of work: a feature, a fix, a data pipeline, an automation. Queue as many as you like; we work through them one at a time.

What’s the difference between the plans?

Two things: how many tasks run at once, and how much of our week your queue gets. The plans buy capacity, not faster delivery on any single task.

Can I change plan?

Yes. Upgrade any time, pro-rated against the rest of your billing period; a downgrade takes effect at the end of it.

Is there an annual option?

Yes: commit to a year on any plan and save 20% on the monthly rate. Annual plans run for the committed year.

How big can a task be?

Sized to be delivered in days to a few weeks. Anything larger is quoted as a defined project: we scope each request when it lands and tell you which it is.

Can I cancel?

Yes. Monthly plans stop at the end of any billing period. Cancel within 7 days of starting and we refund 75% of your first month. Start again whenever it’s useful.

How fast is delivery?

It depends on each task’s size and your plan’s capacity. We keep work moving and keep you posted: book a call to talk through your likely pace.

What about a big one-off build?

Usually better as project work with a fixed quote. Tell us what you have in mind and we’ll scope it.

Do you work remotely?

Yes: fully remote delivery is how we keep the service predictable and good value.

What can the team work on?

Software, mobile apps, databases, data engineering and reporting (including Power BI), cloud and managed cloud, automation (including Power Automate), integration, and SystmOne support and reporting.