How we charge — and why it works differently

Engage

Three models, all published. No scoping call required to see a number. The floor, the variable component, and the kill-gates are shown below — not held back until we are in a room together.

25 out of 25 AU AI services firms surveyed in 2026 hide pricing behind a scoping call. Effektiv is the published exception.

See the models Get a benchmark →

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 eval rig confirms we beat your benchmark.

Day rates pay for hours. AI compresses hours. The day-rate firm is penalised for compressing and paid for taking longer. We refuse the model. Outcome and milestone pricing align our team and yours on the result.

Andrew Stebbing

Partner & Head of Client · Effektiv

scoping or discovery fee

published models, ranges shown

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.

Tier 01 · Outcome

Outcome-priced

For-you delivery

from $80k

Modernisation $150k–$650k · Build $80k–$300k

Floor covers Effektiv's cost — paid in four milestones
Variable component 25–40% of contract value — pays only when we beat your benchmark
Outcome metric a single named measure, baselined in Diagnose
EffektAI eval rig source code yours at exit — the shared measure both parties initial
Change-of-scope 3-day protocol; recalibration applies forward, not backward
No fee for Diagnose · no scoping fee · benchmark of your last project is free

Fits when You have a published baseline — a previous quote, invoice, or project cost you can name.

Get an outcome quote →

Most selected

Tier 02 · Milestone-gated

Milestone-gated

For-you delivery

from $50k

Typical $50k–$400k all-in

Week one free Diagnose — you walk with a written plan if you stop here
Kill-gate at Design either side can stop, no fee for the Design phase
Kill-gate at eval pass-rate before deploy budget commits — buyer controlled
Fixed price cap the price agreed at Design is the price on the invoice
EffektAI eval rig source code yours at exit
No scoping fee · no discovery fee · no surprises at invoice

Fits when You want pricing certainty and buyer-controlled kill-gates without needing to produce a prior baseline.

Get a milestone proposal →

Tier 03 · Retainer

Retainer

With-you delivery

from $25k/mo

Monthly $25k–$80k · 3-month minimum

Embedded delivery Effektiv engineers in your standups, your repo, your review cycles
Capability transfer measured — each engineer signs off three independent agent ships
Exit gate your team ships an AI feature without us on the call — this is the deliverable
Patterns library eval rig templates, prompt rules, runbooks — all yours at exit
Notice period 30 days either way after the 3-month minimum
No lock-in beyond the minimum · EffektAI eval rig and runbooks transfer at exit

Fits when You want to build permanent in-house AI capability — not buy ongoing delivery from us.

Get a retainer scoped →

The contract artefact

A real Outcome Schedule — the document procurement signs.

Most firms describe outcome pricing in marketing copy. We publish the contract structure. Four documents ship with every Statement of Work. The Outcome Schedule below names the metric and the variable component.

Outcome Schedule · v1.0 Sample · ASX-200 modernisation Illustrative · not a live document

Engagement

NetSuite to Salesforce migration · 11-week build · 2-week Design · 1-week Diagnose

Outcome metric

Production cut-over completed against the baseline cost-and-time of the prior Big-4 quote ($1.4M / 14 months)

Baseline

$1.4M total contract value · 14 months elapsed · 100% manual data migration

Threshold

Effektiv delivers cut-over at ≤60% of baseline cost AND ≤60% of baseline elapsed time

Floor

$420,000 — covers Effektiv build cost · paid in 4 milestones

Variable component

$140,000 — pays only if both threshold conditions are met at production sign-off

Total at threshold

$560,000 (40% of baseline) · Buyer saves $840,000 vs the prior quote

Measurement

EffektAI eval rig source code (yours at exit) · threshold checked against rig output at production sign-off · both parties initial

Change-of-scope

3 working days from change-trigger to revised baseline · both parties sign · recalibration applies forward only

Four documents ship together: Statement of Work · Outcome Schedule · EffektAI Eval Rig Specification · Change-of-Scope Protocol · Two to four pages each · Signed together

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 eval rig 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, eval rig 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.

See the full funding map →

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 eval rig the engagement specifies — both parties initial the rig output at production sign-off.

What is the EffektAI eval rig?

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 eval rig 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 Eval Rig 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.

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