Choosing an engagement model
Project delivery vs. dedicated team vs. managed services — and how to pick.
The three models #
| Model | Best for | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Project Delivery | A defined outcome: a build, migration, or compliance program with a finish line | Fixed per milestone, from $25k |
| Dedicated Team | Ongoing product development needing sustained senior capacity | Monthly per engineer, from $9,800 |
| Managed Services | Infrastructure, security, and support run for you under SLA | Monthly, from $1,500 |
How to pick #
A useful shortcut: if you can describe the end state in a sentence ("we are off the legacy vendor", "the portal is live"), it is a project. If the work is a roadmap that keeps moving, it is a dedicated team. If the sentence contains the word "run" — keeping systems up, patched, and monitored — it is managed services.
Models combine freely and most long-term clients use two: a project to build the thing, managed services to run it. Dedicated-team clients often carve compliance programs out as fixed-price projects alongside.
Switching between models #
Transitions are routine and contractual, not renegotiations. Project → managed services is a one-page addendum. Dedicated teams scale up or down with 30 days notice. Nothing auto-renews silently; everything is reviewed at the quarterly business review.
Combining models: three real patterns #
- Build → run: a fixed-price project delivers the platform, then managed services runs it under SLA. The most common path — HelioPay and Meridian Freight both work this way.
- Team + compliance sprints: a dedicated team ships the roadmap while SOC 2 or PCI work is carved out as parallel fixed-price projects with their own deadline. Arcflow’s pattern.
- Run → modernize: managed services stabilizes an inherited estate first; modernization projects launch from that calm, with real information instead of urgency.
Pricing stays clean when models combine: each model is its own line item with its own terms. You can end any one of them without touching the others.
Maintained by the delivery team · updated quarterly