For agencies
Your client only ever sees you.
We are the engineering team behind agencies that sell web and mobile work they cannot staff. You keep the client, the contract and the margin. We deliver under your brand and stay off the call.
Three versions of the same problem.
You turn down work you already won
The client asks for an app. You either pass on the project or hand it to someone who ends up owning the relationship. Both cost you the account.
Freelancers are a coin flip
One good one is worth keeping. The other four go quiet in week six, and it's your name on the delay, not theirs.
Subcontracting eats the margin
Retail rates from a dev shop leave you a coordination fee. You carry the risk and the client relationship for almost nothing.
White-label is not always the answer.
If one of the other two columns fits your situation better, we will say so on the call. Selling you the wrong engagement costs us more than the deal is worth.
| White-label | Co-branded | Staff augmentation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client relationship | Yours entirely | Shared, disclosed | Yours entirely |
| Brand on deliverables | Yours | Both | Yours |
| We join client calls | Never, unless agreed in writing | Yes, as a named partner | Only internally |
| Who manages delivery | We do, reporting to you | Jointly | You do |
| Pricing | Subcontract rate, monthly | Partner rate, monthly | Subcontract rate, monthly |
| Best when | You sell the work and own the account | Your client values the technical partner | You have a team and need capacity |
| Wrong when | Your client requires named subcontractors | You need to stay the sole vendor | You have nobody to manage engineers |
How pricing works.
Two shapes, depending on whether you are buying capacity or a finished thing. The rate card goes out with the first reply.
- A team, billed monthly
- Dedicated senior engineers, invoiced per engineer per month. Simplest when the work is ongoing and the scope keeps moving, which is most of the time.
- A project, estimated hour by hour
- Discovery and architecture first, then a breakdown at the hour level with the risk buffer written into it rather than arriving later as a change order. You approve it before anything is scheduled.
- Rates on request
- The full rate card goes out with the first reply, together with a sample master agreement and a mutual NDA. We do not publish it, because your client can read this page too.
Boundaries
What we will not do.
Every line here is in the master agreement, not only on this page. If one of them is a problem for your situation, the call will be short and neither of us will have wasted a month.
- 01
Meet your client. Not at kickoff, not at launch, unless you ask us to appear as your team and we have agreed it in writing.
- 02
Take work that breaks your contract with them. Send us the relevant clauses and we will read them.
- 03
Publish anything about the engagement. No case study, no logo, no mention in a pitch, without your written permission.
- 04
Approach your clients or your staff. The no-solicit runs both directions and it is in the agreement, not just on this page.
- 05
Ship without your review. Your QA sign-off gates every release, even when it slows us down.
- 06
Work without a named technical contact on your side. Someone has to answer questions, or the estimate is fiction.
- 07
Quote a price on a rescue before reading the code. Anyone who does has not read the code.
The ones that actually decide it.
What if my client asks who built it?
You answer. Our agreement says we are not there, so there is nothing to disclose from our side. If your client contractually requires named subcontractors, tell us early, that is a co-branded engagement, not a white-label one, and we would rather set it up correctly than break your contract.
Can your engineers use my email domain?
Yes, where your security policy allows it. Most partners give us an account on their Slack or Google Workspace and treat us as staff for the duration. We follow whatever access rules you set, including hardware and MFA requirements.
Who owns the code?
You do. Full IP assignment on payment, written into the master agreement. Not a licence, not a shared right. That flows straight through to your client under your own contract with them.
What if we want to hire the engineer directly?
It happens, and we would rather be asked than discover it. After twelve months of continuous engagement there is a buyout fee set in the agreement. Before that, we will talk about it, but the answer is usually no, the person is on other work.
What happens if we pause?
Thirty days' notice on a rolling retainer. We hand over runbooks and decision records at the end of any engagement, not just a successful one. Restarting later with the same engineers depends on their availability, and we will tell you honestly what it is.
Why estimate hour by hour rather than quote a lump sum?
Because a lump sum hides where the risk sits, and it reappears later as a change order. An hour level breakdown puts the buffer in the open, where you can argue with it before anything is scheduled. You approve the breakdown, then the work starts.
Start here
Sign an NDA, then tell us about the client.
Mutual NDA first, so you can describe the actual project rather than talking around it. Thirty minutes, and you leave with a team shape, a timeline and a number, whether or not we work together.
Or write to hello@warmbench.dev