Pricing

Hourly (T&M) — 90–160 PLN net per hour. Choose it when the scope will evolve or you do not yet know how big the problem is; you pay for time actually worked, with a monthly hours report. Fixed price — a set price for a closed scope, paid at milestones. Choose it when requirements are known and firm: a website, a store, an MVP, a single integration. Retainer — a fixed monthly amount for an hours package. Choose it after launch, when the application is live and needs continuous development without renegotiating scope each time.

Unusual business logic — custom discount rules, approval workflows, multi-level permissions. Integrations with systems that lack a good API — then an intermediate layer has to be built. Data migration from a legacy system, especially when the data is inconsistent. Multilingual and multi-currency setups. Legal requirements beyond the standard — extensive WCAG accessibility, specific information duties. Time pressure — work outside the queue and shortened deadlines. Project history — taking over code without documentation or tests always starts with an audit, not with development.

A proven ready-made template instead of custom design. Narrowing the scope to a single sales channel. Delivering complete content and images before work starts — the most common source of delay, and therefore of higher cost. Reusing existing integrations instead of building from scratch. Hidden costs worth planning for up front: hosting and domain, commercial modules (200–2,000 PLN one-off), SaaS subscriptions, product photography (2,000–10,000 PLN), team training and technical care after launch.

Check whether the scope is closed or described vaguely — “store implementation” without a feature list always ends in surcharges. Check whether payments, shipping, legal content, technical SEO and training are included or billed separately. Check who owns the code and whether you get repository access from day one. Check what happens after launch — whether there is a support period and on what terms. The cheapest quote without these points usually turns out to be the most expensive in year two.

The client-side running costs: hosting (100–400 PLN/month for a store), domain, commercial modules and any platform SaaS subscriptions. I do not hide them — quite the opposite, I always list them separately in a quote so you know the full cost of running the project, not just the cost of building it.