The logic, without a figure.
We publish how the fee is decided. We do not publish the fee, because a number without a diagnosis is a guess, and we do not sell guesses.
You state the condition.
Seven questions. They end in a named condition, a named engagement, and a file reference. If the work is not ours, we say so here and it costs you nothing.
No chargeWe diagnose.
The first engagement is a paid diagnostic. It names the problem, establishes the constraints, and states whether we are the right party. It is a deliverable in its own right — yours to keep, and yours to take elsewhere if you choose.
Paid — fixed before it startsThe conclusion is priced once.
One number, revealed with the solution, never negotiated before it. It does not move afterwards. There is no hourly rate to inflate and no change order to sign.
Fixed — stated on the coverTry to move it.
These are the levers a client usually reaches for. Press any of them.
It was fixed against the condition, not against your urgency.
That is our error, not your invoice. A scope we read wrongly is a diagnosis we performed badly, and you do not pay twice for one diagnosis.
If a materially new condition appears — not more of the same work, but a different problem — the file reopens at gate one. We say so in writing, and you decide whether to proceed.