How do you charge?
Fixed price per project, agreed before we start. You know the total up front. I do not bill hourly — hourly billing punishes you for my learning curve and punishes me for your scope changes.
What does a project usually cost?
Automation scripts start around $400. Data pipelines start around $600. LLM features start around $1,200. Anything with real integration risk gets a written estimate after a short call. Things that raise the price: multiple systems to integrate, unclear success criteria, or a deadline inside two weeks.
How long does it take?
The clock starts when I have access to what I need, not when we sign. Scripts are 3–5 business days, pipelines 1–2 weeks, LLM features 2–3 weeks. I take one project at a time, so the dates I quote are dates I can hold.
How do we communicate, and in what timezone?
Async by default — a shared channel and a short written update every working day. I am in UTC+8, which overlaps with Europe in my afternoon and with US mornings if we schedule ahead. Written English is fine; I do calls on request.
Are you a team? Do you outsource?
One person, no outsourcing. What you get is what I wrote. If a project needs skills I do not have, I will say so before you pay rather than quietly sub-contracting it.
What do you not take on?
Anything that needs me to bypass a site’s terms of service, CAPTCHAs, or rate limits. Crypto and gambling projects. Ongoing on-call support. Full product builds end to end — I am a good fit for one well-defined problem, not a whole platform.
My project is very small, or much bigger than these packages
Small is fine — a one-day script is a real project. For something bigger, the usual answer is to cut the first slice and ship that: one feature, one pipeline, one workflow. If that goes well, we scope the next slice. I do not take large fixed-price engagements up front.
What if I am not happy with the result?
Every package includes a revision round after you have run it on real data. If the first week’s prototype is clearly not going to work, we stop there and you pay only for that week. Beyond that: half up front, half on delivery, and the final half is not due until the acceptance criteria we wrote down are met.
Who owns the code, and who maintains it afterwards?
You own everything — code, prompts, documentation, accounts. It lives in your repository from day one, not in mine. 30 days of bug fixes are included. After that, maintenance is a separate small engagement if you want it; there is no lock-in if you would rather not.
How do I pay you?
For overseas clients: Wise, or the platform escrow if we met through Upwork or Fiverr. For China-based clients: 对公转账 or 支付宝. I can sign an NDA before the first call, and I invoice properly either way.