Software Development Engagement Models

An engagement model is the way you and your development partner share control, risk and payment. It decides who leads the work, what is fixed in advance (the scope, the budget or the team) and how changes are handled.

Every model at Intobi starts the same way: a short call, then a scoped estimate broken down by phase, so you can approve the first phase before committing to the rest. Before work starts, we sign two documents: an NDA that protects your data and a software development agreement that sets the team, timeline, budget and other terms. You own the code and everything the team creates, whichever model you choose.

Need one or two engineers to join your in-house team for a short period? That is IT staff augmentation.

With a fixed price, we agree on the scope in writing first: the features, screens and integrations. You get one price and a timeline for that scope, so you know the total budget before development starts.

Best for: an MVP or a small product with a clearly defined scope, a project with a strict budget, or a well-described part of a larger system. See our MVP development services.

Keep in mind: anything outside the agreed scope goes through a change request with its own estimate. A fixed price also includes a buffer for risk, so if you expect the scope to change, time & material usually costs less.

With time & material, we build in short sprints and you pay for the hours actually spent, at the agreed hourly rate. You set the priorities for each sprint and can change them as you learn from users and the market.

Best for: products whose scope is still evolving, work after an MVP launch, and projects where the speed of change matters more than a fixed total.

Keep in mind: the total budget is not fixed in advance. We estimate the work phase by phase, so you approve each budget before it is spent. Hourly rates start at $15 for a strong junior developer, about $30 on average for a strong middle developer and from $35 for a senior developer; see our pricing.

A dedicated team works full time on your product, inside your processes and tools. You interview every developer before they join, talk to them directly and treat them as your own team. One developer works with one client at a time.

Best for: long-term products, changing roadmaps and companies that want more engineering capacity without hiring in-house.

How you pay: once a month, either a fixed monthly price or the hours worked at the agreed rate. The minimum is one developer for two months, and work starts within two weeks of signing. If a developer does not fit, we replace them at our own cost. Read more about our dedicated development team.

Many products combine models: a fixed-price MVP first, then time & material or a dedicated team once the roadmap is clear.