Pricing
Pay for the work.
Nothing more.
A fair hourly rate, billed for the time the work actually takes. Written quotes for projects, and no monthly plan unless the work calls for one.
C$150/hour
Our standard rate. It is negotiable based on how long the engagement runs, and long-term work usually gets better pricing.
No minimum.
Booked ahead, a 15-minute change is billed as 15 minutes. Rush work is subject to availability and billed as a full hour.
No surprises.
Projects get a written quote before any work starts. If something would change the price, we tell you first.
Not too low.
Not too high.
Our rate sits around the middle of what agencies typically charge, backed by over a decade of running enterprise systems.
A higher price does not mean better work. But very cheap work is usually cheap for a reason, and some providers charge premium rates for work that does not hold up. We aim for a fair price for work that lasts.
Why I work
this way.
In my previous roles, I worked with a lot of vendors. Most of the time, they disappointed me: requests that went unanswered, service level agreements (SLAs) that were broken, and work that did not hold up.
One agency charged $250 an hour to build a WordPress plugin. Inside it, a whole set of data was hardcoded instead of being dynamic, so nobody could change it on the fly. Every update meant going back to them.
To me, that is planned obsolescence. It keeps clients reliant on the agency. We do not work that way. We are transparent about the outcome, and we give honest takes, making decisions as if your business were our own.
SSI LABS and
the usual agency.
| Topic | What often goes wrong | How we work |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | You meet a senior person, then the work goes to juniors or subcontractors you never talk to. | The person you talk to is the person doing the work. |
| Communication | A ticket portal or a shared inbox, slow replies, missed SLAs, and silence when something goes wrong. | You get a direct number to call, not just a ticket queue or an inbox. We reply, keep you updated, and tell you early if something will take longer. |
| How it is built | Content and data hardcoded into the site, so every small change means another invoice. | Content you can edit on the fly when the budget allows, and a clear trade-off up front when it does not. The code and documentation are yours. |
| Billing | Fixed monthly packages, minimum charges, and a cut of your ad spend. | Actual time and written quotes. No percentage of ad spend, markups, or vendor commissions. |
| Results | Promised rankings, followers, or leads. | No promises we cannot keep. We show you what changed and what the numbers say. |
| Leaving | Accounts, code, or files held by the agency. | You own the accounts, source code, designs, and documentation, so another provider could take over. |
What an hour
gets you.
Real jobs we have done, with client names left out for their privacy, next to what the same work commonly takes elsewhere. There are many more we have lost count of. We work fast and keep it reasonable.
| The job | SSI LABS | Typical agency | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moved a website from dynamic to static hosting so a client going through a slow stretch could stop paying annual hosting fees. They accepted that changes would no longer happen on the fly. | 1 hour C$150 | 8 hours C$1,200 | C$1,050 |
| Moved a client away from a difficult vendor: domain, DNS, and the website. | 1 hour C$150 | 6 hours C$900 | C$750 |
| Migrated a client’s email to Microsoft 365 (Office 365). | 30 min C$75 | 4 hours C$600 | C$525 |
| Patched a platform against a HEIF image vulnerability (CVE), then tested and deployed the fix. | 1 hour C$150 | 4 hours C$600 | C$450 |
| Fixed a payment gateway that was not posting payment statuses properly through its API and webhooks. | 30 min C$75 | 3 hours C$450 | C$375 |
| In a nutshell | 4 hours C$600 | 25 hours C$3,750 | C$3,150 |
Many agencies bill a fixed number of hours for each task, however long it actually takes. A job an outsourced worker finishes in an hour can still be billed to you as a full day at a Canadian rate. The agency times above are our estimates, priced at the same C$150/hour for a fair comparison.
Four ways
to pay.
Pick what fits how often you need us. Prices are in Canadian dollars, and the examples come from real work.
- 01
As needed
Most clients start here. Ask when you need something and pay for the time it took. No subscription and no commitment.
- 02
Project quote
For a website, a software build, or an infrastructure design, you get a written quote before we start. Most websites are a one-time investment, with no monthly plan afterwards unless you want one.
A 10-page small-business website with logo design and full brand guidelines From C$1,500, depending on the design
- 03
Prepaid hours
Buy a block of hours in advance, for example for the year, and draw it down as work comes up. You can always see what is left.
- 04
Monthly retainer
Only for steady, ongoing work, and it costs less than paying by the hour. If your needs are occasional, we will not suggest one.
Keeping a software platform patched against known vulnerabilities (CVEs), with someone watching its health status About C$1,300 a month
Any size.
Just talk to us.
From a new shop to an enterprise, we do not turn anyone away for being small or having a tight budget. Small businesses get better deals, and if the budget does not cover everything, we will tell you what it can.
Communication is the key. Tell us what you need, what you can spend, and what worries you, and we will be just as open with you.
Tell us what
isn’t working.
The system you work around. The project that stalled. The decision nobody has time to make.
Bring it to us. We’ll tell you honestly whether we’re the right people for it.
Let’s talk about it