What We Actually Charge For (And What We Used to Give Away Free)
Our pricing looked nothing like this two years ago. Here's the honest version of how it evolved — what moved from free consultation to billable scope, and the lesson behind each change.
Our pricing looked nothing like this two years ago. We gave away a lot for free that we now charge for, and the shift wasn't about greed — it was about recognizing what actually cost us something and pricing accordingly.
Here's the honest version, including what changed and why.
What Used to Be Free: The Discovery Call
Early on, every prospective client got an open-ended discovery call — sometimes 60-90 minutes, sometimes multiple sessions, where we'd dig into their problem, sketch rough architecture, and effectively do free consulting before any contract existed.
We stopped this because we noticed a pattern: the clients who valued this the least were the ones who used it the most. People shopping for free strategic advice from multiple vendors would burn an hour of our time and take the ideas to whoever quoted lowest. The clients who actually became good engagements didn't need an hour of free consulting to know they wanted to work with us — they needed a clear scope and a fair price.
We now do a 20-minute qualification call (is this a fit, roughly what's the scope) and charge for anything beyond that — a paid discovery sprint if the problem genuinely needs exploration before a fixed quote makes sense. This filters for clients who value the work, and it stopped us from doing unpaid strategy work for people who were never going to hire us.
What Used to Be Free: Revisions
Our early contracts didn't specify a revision limit, because we assumed reasonable people would ask for reasonable changes. Most did. But "reasonable" is subjective, and a small number of projects turned into open-ended revision cycles that ate margin we hadn't priced in.
We now specify a fixed number of revision rounds in every contract, with additional rounds billed at an hourly rate. This isn't about nickel-and-diming clients — it's about making the cost of scope creep visible at the moment it happens, instead of absorbing it silently and resenting it later. Clients respond well to this because it's transparent, not because they enjoy paying more; the alternative (unclear boundaries) was worse for everyone.
What Used to Be Free: Post-Launch Support
We used to include a vague "we'll help if anything breaks" commitment with every project, with no defined timeframe or scope. This felt generous at the time. In practice, it created an expectation of indefinite free support that some clients took advantage of and others assumed didn't apply to them — inconsistent in a way that was worse than either extreme.
We now sell a defined support retainer, separate from the build contract, with explicit scope (bug fixes vs. new features, response time commitments, what's included vs. billable). Clients who need ongoing support get something real and priced fairly. Clients who don't need it aren't paying for a vague promise baked into their build cost.
What Stayed Free: Genuine Expertise Sharing
Not everything moved to billable. We still answer quick technical questions from past clients without invoicing for 15 minutes of advice. We still write posts like this one, sharing real lessons without gating them. The distinction we landed on: if something takes real time and represents deliverable value, it's billable. If it's a quick answer that costs us little and builds goodwill, it stays free.
The Actual Lesson
The pattern across every change: we started charging for things that had a real cost to us but weren't visible as a cost because they were bundled into "just how we do business." Once we made the cost visible — as a line item, a defined scope, a specific hour count — both we and our clients had a clearer, fairer relationship.
If you're running a studio or freelancing and something keeps quietly eating your margin, it's worth asking whether it's actually free or just unpriced.