---
title: "How we work | B&C Associates"
description: "The engagement model, week by week: a scoping call, a written scope with a fixed price, a working release in weeks, and code you own from the first commit."
language: "en"
canonical: "https://bcass.net/approach"
---

# How an engagement runs

This page exists because the most useful thing a supplier can publish is what the first month looks like. If any of it does not suit you, that is worth knowing before a call rather than after three.

## Week by week

1. **The first call** (45 minutes, free)
   You describe the problem. We ask what the process looks like today, who touches it, how often it goes wrong and what the failure costs. By the end of the call we either have a shape for the work or we have told you that we are not the right people.
   You get: A yes or a no, on the call.

2. **Written scope and price** (Within 3 working days)
   A document that states what will be built in the first phase, what it will not include, what we need from you, when it is due and what it costs. One number, not a range, and it does not move unless the scope does.
   You get: A fixed scope, a fixed price and a date.

3. **Access and setup** (Days 1 to 3 of phase one)
   Repository, hosting and any third-party accounts are created in your name and we are added to them. This is deliberate. Whatever happens later, you are never locked out of your own system.
   You get: Infrastructure owned by you, with our access granted by you.

4. **Build, in the open** (Weeks 1 to 6 typically)
   Work goes to a staging environment you can open at any hour. There is a short written update each week: what shipped, what is next, anything that has become a risk. No status meeting unless you want one.
   You get: A staging URL from the first week, and a weekly written update.

5. **Release** (End of the phase)
   The phase goes live with your team using it on real data. We stay close for two weeks afterwards to fix what real use exposes, at no extra cost, because that is part of shipping rather than a new phase.
   You get: A production system and two weeks of included stabilisation.

6. **What happens next** (Your decision)
   Either a second phase with its own scope and price, a monthly maintenance arrangement, or a handover to your own developers with documentation and a walkthrough. All three are normal endings and none of them costs you an exit fee.
   You get: A scoped second phase, a maintenance agreement, or a clean handover.

## The honest comparison

You are not choosing between us and a global consultancy. You are choosing between four ways of getting the work done, and three of them are reasonable.

|  | Freelance marketplace | Western European agency | Hiring in-house | B&C Associates |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Time to a working release | Fast, if you find the right person | Two to four months, after discovery | Three to six months, including the hiring | Two to six weeks |
| Day rate | Lowest | Highest | Salary, plus recruitment and management | Between the two agency figures |
| Who carries the risk if it goes wrong | You do | Shared, slowly, through a change process | You do | We do, inside the fixed phase scope |
| Continuity after launch | Depends on their next contract | Contractual, expensive | Yours, until they resign | Monthly agreement or a documented handover |
| Marketing handled by the same team | No | Sometimes, by a different department | No | Yes |
| Who owns the code | Usually you, check the contract | You, sometimes after a final payment | You | You, from the first commit |

## The commercial terms, stated plainly

- **Fixed price per phase**: Each phase carries one number agreed before work starts. We absorb the cost of our own estimation mistakes. If you change the scope, we reprice the phase and you approve it before anything is built.
- **Payment in two parts**: Half at the start of a phase, half on release. For work longer than six weeks, monthly instead. We invoice from Romania with a valid EU VAT number, so the reverse charge applies for EU-registered businesses.
- **No exit fee and no lock-in**: Everything is in your accounts already. Ending an engagement costs you nothing beyond the phase in progress, and we hand over documentation whether the ending is happy or not.
- **Your data stays yours**: We sign a data processing agreement before touching production data, we work under GDPR as a processor, and we do not use your data to train anything.
- **Languages**: We work in English, Italian and Romanian. The written scope arrives in whichever of the three you prefer.

## The first call costs an hour

Bring the process that is not working. You will leave with either a shape for the project or a clear reason why it is not one.

[Book the first call](/contact)