Why we charge this way
Day rates pay for hours. AI compresses hours. The saving should land on your side.
By 2026, AI does sixty per cent of the work in a typical software project at ten per cent of the cost. Day-rate billing was calibrated in a pre-AI world. Charging $1,800 a day for work an AI produced in two hours passes the saving to the vendor, not the client.
Outcome and milestone models align us both on the result. When AI compresses the hours, the saving flows to you. The variable component on an outcome contract pays only when the EffektAI quality checks confirm we beat your benchmark.
$0
scoping or discovery fee
3
published models, ranges shown
2
buyer-controlled kill-gates
Three models. Pick the one that fits the work.
Published ranges. No scoping call required to see a number.
No model charges for discovery, scoping, or the benchmark of your last project. The variable component and kill-gates are in the contract — not invented on the day you sign.
Which model fits
A 60-second decision guide.
Question 01
Do you have a published baseline — a prior quote, invoice, or project cost you can name?
Yes → Outcome-priced. The variable component pays when we beat the baseline.
No → Milestone-gated. Fixed cap, buyer-controlled kill-gates, no baseline required.
Question 02
Is the deliverable a working system — or a permanent capability your team holds?
System → Outcome or Milestone (for-you delivery).
Capability → Retainer (with-you delivery). Your team ships AI at exit — that is the deliverable.
Question 03
Are you replacing a Big-4 or incumbent vendor mid-engagement?
Mid-engagement → Milestone-gated, with a 2-week parallel-run audit phase.
Pre-engagement → Outcome-priced against the quote you have on file.
Question 04
Is procurement comparing you against a day-rate vendor?
Yes → Send the day-rate quote. We structure an Outcome contract where the variable component equals the margin the day-rate firm would have kept.
No → Whichever model fits the engagement shape from questions 01–03.
How we compare
Effektiv vs day-rate vs Big-4 fixed-price.
Day-rate ranges and fixed-price premiums sourced from our 25-firm 2026 AU market scan and AU procurement panel research.
| Dimension | Effektiv | Day-rate consultancy | Big-4 fixed-price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing on the website | Published — ranges on this page | Hidden behind scoping call | Hidden behind scoping call |
| Variable component | 25–40% of fee · pays on outcome | None | None |
| Free Diagnose / discovery | Yes (Tier 2 — week one free) | Billed at day-rate | Scoping fee |
| Kill-gates the buyer controls | Two (Design sign-off & eval pass-rate) | None | None |
| AI saving flows to | Client — outcome and milestone models | Vendor — day-rate unchanged | Vendor — fixed price unchanged |
| EffektAI quality checks at exit | Yours, source code, in writing | Not produced | Vendor retains |
| Authorship trace database | Yours, queryable, in writing | Not produced | Not produced |
| Change-of-scope protocol | 3-day, recalibrated forward | Hourly add-on | Variation order |
| Day rate per senior engineer | Not applicable | $1,400–$2,500/day | $1,800–$3,500/day |
| Typical 12-week project total | $160k–$420k all-in | $280k–$540k | $420k–$1.1M |
What we don't bill for
No fee before the work starts.
None of the following carry a fee. None sit behind a paywall or a scoping call requirement.
- Discovery calls and initial conversations
- Scoping calls — no paywall before seeing a number
- The benchmark of your last project (Tier 1)
- The first week of Diagnose on a Milestone engagement (Tier 2)
- Eval-method readouts and capability assessments
- Switching from an existing vendor — parallel-run audit included
Co-funding pathways
AU government funding can offset a significant share.
We design the engagement to fit whichever lever your finance team prefers. The full live map is on the funding page.
R&D Tax Incentive
Returns 43.5% of qualifying spend to SMEs under $20M turnover. Applies to Diagnose, quality checks development, and build phases.
Industry Growth Program
Grants of $50K to $5M against AI projects in NRF priority sectors. Application support included in engagement scoping.
State programmes
$20K to $1.5M in matched funding depending on engagement shape and state. VIC, NSW, and QLD programmes active in 2026.
Buyer questions
What procurement asks most.
What is an outcome contract?
A contract where part of the fee pays only when a measurable outcome is hit. Effektiv structures every engagement with a fixed component plus a variable component sized at 25–40%. The variable component pays against the EffektAI quality checks the engagement specifies — both parties initial the rig output at production sign-off.
What is the EffektAI quality checks?
A multi-gate evaluation pipeline that runs on every AI-authored output before it merges or ships. Five gates almost always appear: schema match, regression delta, false-positive rate, runtime budget, and authorship trace integrity. The rig source code ships to your repo at exit — it is not retained by Effektiv.
How is human-in-the-loop different from human-as-fallback?
Human-in-the-loop reviews every output before it reaches a customer or a record of truth. Human-as-fallback reviews only low-confidence outputs, with autonomous handling for the rest. We deploy both, named explicitly in the contract — so there is no ambiguity about what a human approved.
Why no day rates at all?
Day rates pay for hours. AI compresses hours. A day-rate firm is penalised for compressing and rewarded for taking longer. Outcome and milestone models align the firm and the buyer on the result. When AI cuts the hours, the saving flows to the client, not to us.
Can you replace my Big-4 vendor mid-engagement?
Yes, on a 2-week parallel-run protocol. Diagnose maps the existing engagement, the EffektAI quality checks benchmarks current quality, and Design proposes a switch-over that preserves continuity. We have completed this on prior engagements; reference cases available under NDA.
What documents does a Statement of Work contain?
Four documents, two to four pages each, signed together: the Statement of Work (scope and team); the Outcome Schedule (metric, baseline, floor, variable component, threshold); the EffektAI Quality Checks Specification (gates, thresholds, measurement protocol); and the Change-of-Scope Protocol (3-day timeline, recalibration rules).
Is there a minimum engagement size?
The Milestone-gated model starts from $50k with a free first-week Diagnose. The Outcome model starts from $80k. The Retainer model starts from $25k per month with a 3-month minimum. There is no minimum for an initial conversation or a benchmark of your last project.
No scoping fee. No discovery paywall.
Show us a quote. We'll benchmark it. Free.
Send us a project that ran, a quote you've received, or a scope you're working through. We price the same work on all three models and reply within one working day from a named principal.