Home / Process
The engagement

Four phases. Clear exits at every one.

From first conversation to delivered system. Each phase has a defined scope, a concrete deliverable, and a real off-ramp if either side isn't a fit. No open-ended retainers, no surprises.

30min
Free first call
1
Written audit report
0
Lines of code before you approve
1
Shipped, maintained system
01Consult

We meet.

A 30-minute call. You describe the business, your current software, and where the friction is. We map the moving parts and the systems that don't talk to each other. The first conversation is free and ends with a clear decision: keep building, or no fit.

Discovery callStack walkthroughGoal mappingFriction inventory
You leave with

An honest read on whether the problem is worth solving, a rough shape of the work, and zero obligation.

02Audit

We scan your stack.

Every site, store, app, and workflow — crawled, measured, and scored. No guesswork. You receive a written audit listing what's working, what's broken, where data is duplicated, and what a rebuild scope would actually look like. This is where every engagement either earns the next phase or stops cleanly.

Property crawlArchitecture mapScored reportRebuild scope
You leave with

A scored map of your stack and a written plan to unify it — yours to keep whether or not you build with us.

03Demo

We build a working prototype.

Before you commit a dollar to production, you see it. We ship a clickable prototype of the unified system — the real interface, the real flow, the real output. A working prototype, not a slide deck. You review it, click through it, and tell us what's wrong. We iterate until it's right.

Clickable prototypeReal flowsIterate to approvalSign-off
You leave with

A prototype you can actually use, and the confidence that what gets built is what you signed off on.

04Production

We ship it — and keep it shipped.

You approve, we build. Design system, integrations, payments, auth, deploy pipeline — the whole system, in production. Then we maintain it: an ongoing retainer covers improvements, platform updates, and the inevitable changes a living system needs. The system you bought stays current.

Full buildIntegrations + paymentsDeploy pipelineOngoing maintenance
You leave with

One deployed system, a single source of truth, and a team that keeps it alive — owned by you, maintainable without us.

Common questions

The off-ramps, explained.

Nothing. The 30-minute consult is free and carries no obligation. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you on the call and point you somewhere better.
No. The written audit is yours to keep. Plenty of teams take the scored map and plan to an internal team or another vendor. That's a fine outcome — the audit stands on its own.
That's exactly what the demo phase is for. You iterate on a working prototype before any production code exists. If it never converges, you walk away having spent far less than a full build.
Yes. Everything we build is yours, built on standard tooling and designed to be maintained without us if you ever choose to bring it in-house.
Any. The four-phase process is industry-agnostic — the shape of the problem (scattered tools, no single source of truth, a vision ahead of the team) is the same whether you sell software, services, or physical goods.
It depends entirely on scope — which is exactly what the audit defines. Most builds run in focused phases with concrete milestones rather than open-ended retainers, so you always know what's shipping next and when.
“Most studios sell hours. We sell finished work, on a defined timeline, with a clear exit.
The Clearcrest approach
Start with a free audit