- An email address you can check today, for the verification link
- The problem in plain language — what is slow, manual, or broken now
- Who will use the thing, and roughly how many of them
- A budget band, even a rough one, so we scope against something real
- A target date, or 'flexible' if there genuinely is not one
How to start
From first message
to a working build.
There is no cart and no checkout here. You describe the problem, we agree the scope and one fixed price on a call, and the invoice comes after that. Below is the whole path, in order, with the point where money enters marked clearly.
The short version
Four moves, in this order.
Two of them are yours and take minutes. The other two are ours. You are not charged for anything until the third one, and you can stop before it without owing us a thing.
01 · Describe
Pick the size band that fits, then send a short brief. Two required fields, no spec needed.
02 · Scope
A call within 24 hours. Deliverables and one fixed price are agreed there, not before.
03 · Invoice
We raise a Stripe invoice for the agreed amount. It is emailed to you and due in 14 days.
04 · Build
Progress, messages, review and handoff all run through your project portal.
Step by step
The same path, in full.
Each step says what you do, what happens on our side, and what it costs at that moment. Steps one to four take about ten minutes of your time in total.
01 · Pick a size
On the Engagements page there are three sizes: Starter ($1,000 – $10,000), Growth ($10,000 – $100,000), and Custom. Pick the band the work looks like it falls in. If Starter and Growth both seem plausible, pick the lower one — the band does not set the bill, and we move it on the call if the scope says so.
Custom is not a button. It is an email, because that work is scoped before there is anything to file.
You payNothing
02 · Create an account
The button on a size opens the brief form if you are signed in, and the signup page if you are not. Signup takes an email and a password; the name is optional. No card, no payment details.
Already have an account from an earlier project? Sign in first and the size button goes straight to the brief.
TakesAbout 2 minutes
03 · Verify your email, then sign in
We email a verification link the moment you sign up. The link has to be clicked before the account can sign in — an unverified account is refused at the login screen with that exact reason, and the login screen can resend the email.
After verifying, sign in and return to Engagements to pick your size. The account carries over; you only do this once.
CheckYour inbox
04 · Send your project brief
Five fields, two of them required: a project name and what you are building. Key features, target customers and a deadline are optional and help us come to the call already useful. Submitting files the project to your portal — it does not charge anything and it does not commit you to the build.
No spec yet? Email a plain-language brief instead and we will place it against a size ourselves.
You payNothing
05 · Scoping call
We review the brief and come back within 24 hours with a meeting link, which appears on your project in the portal. On that call we agree what is being delivered and one fixed price for it. If we are the wrong people for the work, we say so on that call rather than quoting for it.
Everything up to here is free and reversible. Nothing has been invoiced.
ReplyWithin 24 hours
06 · Invoice and payment
After the call we raise a Stripe invoice for the agreed amount. Stripe emails it to your account address and hosts the payment page, so card details are entered with Stripe and never with us. The same invoice is reachable from your project in the portal at any time.
Payment terms are 14 days. Cancel before work starts and there is no charge — if the invoice is already paid, it is refunded.
Due14 days
07 · Build, review, handoff
Work starts and the project moves through its stages in the portal: development, review, delivered. Work sessions are logged there and the message thread reaches the engineers directly. At review you either accept the delivery or send back changes from the same screen.
You own all source files, assets and documentation at handoff. No retainer, no lock-in.
Source codeYours
Money
One invoice, one point in the path.
The most common question about this process is when the charge happens. It happens once, after the scoping call, for a number you have already agreed to.
Free, always
- Creating an account
- Submitting a project brief
- The scoping call itself
- A scope we decline, or one you walk away from
- Cancelling before work starts
What you pay for
- One invoice, for the fixed price agreed on the scoping call
- Raised after that call, never before it
- Paid through Stripe's hosted page, due within 14 days
- Additional work only after it is agreed and invoiced the same way
Before you start
Five things, none of them a document.
You do not need a specification, a wireframe, or a decision about technology. Have these five to hand and the brief takes minutes rather than an afternoon.
Bring
Sticking points
The questions people actually hit.
Where is the buy button?
There is not one, on purpose. The two numbers on the sizes are ranges, so there is no single amount a card could be charged. The price becomes a number on the scoping call, and the invoice follows it.
Do I need an account before I can send a brief?
Yes. The brief becomes a project in your portal, which is where the meeting link, the invoice, the messages and the delivery all land afterwards. Signup takes no payment details.
I signed up from a size button. Where do I go after verifying my email?
Sign in, then go back to Engagements and pick your size again — the brief form opens directly this time. Nothing is lost; the account is what needed creating.
How do I actually pay?
Stripe emails the invoice to your account address and hosts the payment page. You can also open the same invoice from your project in the portal.
Can I change my mind?
Cancel from your project any time before work starts and you are not charged. If the invoice was already paid, the cancel refunds it.
None of the three sizes fit. Then what?
Email support@thesingularx.com with a short brief. Enterprise builds, long engagements and unusual scopes are handled as Custom, which is scoped with us directly before anything is filed.
Step one
Pick the size that looks closest.
It is a starting point, not a commitment. We move it on the call if the work says so, and nothing is invoiced until that call has happened.