You know what needs building. We'll design it, price it, and build it.
Codefully Engine is one custom AI system, scoped properly and delivered for a fixed price. No open-ended day rates, no discovery that runs for a quarter, no proposal built on guesses. We design the workflow and the architecture first, then commit to a number and a date — and you can stop between phases if we don't earn the next one.
Starts with an AI Workflow & Architecture Sprint — paid, and credited in full against the build
You know what you want. Getting a straight price for it is the hard part.
"Every quote we get is a day rate and a shrug."
You can't plan around a number that moves every time someone looks at it again.
"We've paid for a build that didn't survive contact with our actual systems."
It worked in the demo. It fell apart the week it met your real data.
"It's half-built. The person who wrote it has gone."
Nobody left knows how it works, and nobody new will touch it.
All three come from the same root: the work was priced before anyone understood it. We fix the sequence — design first, price second, build third.
Two ways in. The same engineering team.
Either way, you're working with the engineers who build this for a living.
One build. One price. Phased so you can stop.
Engine is a custom AI system built for your business — the automations, integrations and internal tools that only make sense in your operation, running inside the stack you already have.
It's fixed-price, not time-and-materials. That's only possible because we design before we quote: the Sprint produces the workflow design, the architecture and the phased scope, and the price comes out of that rather than out of an estimate. You get acceptance criteria for every phase, and the option to stop between them.
When it ships, it's yours. Every line of code and all the IP transfers to you on payment, and it runs on your systems, not ours.
What the Sprint actually is.
Most fixed prices for custom software are guesses with a margin bolted on. Ours isn't, because we don't quote until we've designed the thing.
The Sprint is ten working days with our Senior AI Lead inside your process — workshops with the people who do the work, a look at your real data and systems, then design. You come out with a workflow design, a target architecture, a phased scope with acceptance criteria, and a fixed price with the risks named. It's paid, and credited in full against the build.
It's worth having whether or not you build with us. You could take the output to anyone.
- 01Designed target workflow
- 02Target architecture & integrations
- 03Phased scope with acceptance criteria
- 04Fixed price, timeline, named risks
The Sprint turns a problem you can describe into a build you can sign off.
The deliverables behind a fixed price.
Concrete outputs, not a proposal with assumptions in the footnotes.
Current-state map
How the process runs today, who touches it, where it fails, and what the status quo costs — in your numbers, not ours.
Designed target workflow
The process as it should run, designed with the people who do it. This is the artefact that makes the build predictable.
Target architecture & integration map
What gets built, what gets bought, how it connects to your stack, and what has to be true for it to work.
Phased scope, fixed price and named risks
The build broken into phases with acceptance criteria for each, a fixed price, a timeline, and the risks written down rather than discovered later.
From "this process is killing us" to working software you own.
Design first, price second, build third. Most projects fail because that order gets reversed.
Triage call
Fifteen minutes. What the process is, what it costs you, what's driving the timing. We'll tell you on the call whether this is Engine-shaped or whether you want something else — and if it's something else, we'll say so.
Discovery
A proper session with you and our Senior AI Lead. We quantify the cost of doing nothing, agree who needs to sign off, and get to a shared view of scope. For larger builds we add a technical discovery with your systems people before anything is priced.
AI Workflow & Architecture Sprint
The design engagement above. Paid, credited in full against the build, and delivered live to your whole stakeholder group rather than emailed as a PDF.
- Days 1–3Process workshops, system access, data review
- Days 4–6Workflow design, architecture, integration map, build vs buy
- Days 7–8Phased scope, effort and cost
- Days 9–10Write, review, live readout
Larger builds add a week for technical spikes and security or procurement review.
The build
Fixed price, phased delivery, acceptance criteria on every phase, and the option to stop between them. IP transfers to you on payment.
- Triage
- Free
- Discovery
- 45–60 min
- Sprint
- 10 days
- Build
- Phased
- Result
- It's yours
Designed properly, then built.
Engineers who price what they've designed.
We design before we quote.
The fixed price comes out of a completed design, not an estimate. That's the whole reason we can hold it.
The Sprint is worth having on its own.
You leave with a workflow design, an architecture and a price you could take to anyone. That's deliberate.
You can stop between phases.
Acceptance criteria on every phase, and no obligation to start the next one. The commitment is staged, not all at once.
Built by the people who designed it.
The Senior AI Lead who runs your Sprint owns the build. Nothing is handed over to a delivery team who weren't in the room.
It runs in your stack.
Inside the tools your team already uses. Nothing new to learn, nothing to migrate.
Everything is yours.
All code and IP transfers to you on payment, in your repositories, on your systems.
We'll tell you when not to build.
If the numbers don't hold up, we say so. Some Sprints end with a recommendation not to proceed, and that's a good outcome.
Where Codefully Engine fits.
The right move when you know what needs solving and you want it built properly, once.
| What you need | Codefully Engine One fixed-price build | Time & materials | Build it in-house |
|---|---|---|---|
| A price before you commit | Fixed, after the Sprint | Estimated, then revised | Unknown until it's done |
| Start date | Weeks | Weeks | After you've hired |
| Who designs it | Our Senior AI Lead, with your team | Usually you | You |
| Ability to stop | Between any phase | Any time, but you keep the part-built thing | Sunk cost |
| Best for | A defined build worth doing properly | Exploratory work with no fixed shape | Permanent core capability |
| Ongoing capacity afterwards | Add Embed if you want it | Continues billing | Yours |
| Who owns the IP | You, on payment | Check the contract | You |
Get it designed. Then decide.
A fifteen-minute triage call — no pitch, no deck. Tell us the process that's costing you and we'll give you a straight answer on whether Engine is the right shape for it, or whether you want the fractional route, an embedded engineer, or nothing from us at all.
Before you book.
From the people who build it.
Practical writing on AI agents, automation and how production software actually gets built. Written by the engineers doing the work, not a marketing team.
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