Flexible Engineering
Hourly Services — £95 for the first hour, then £23.75 per 15 minutes.
Flexible Engineering is charged as Hourly Services. It covers electronic and software prototypes, embedded firmware, investigations and evolving development tasks using test setups or development copies. It is a straightforward process: you tell me about the task, I set out a short email Work Brief and a spending cap, carry out the authorised work, and you receive the findings or deliverables and an invoice.
Terms for Flexible Engineering
Flexible Engineering is provided under my Terms & Conditions for Hourly Services (v1.6, PDF), together with the Work Brief agreed for your task.
I send you the applicable terms and Work Brief before you accept a booking. You accept the written booking offer by email, and I confirm the agreed work and contract date.
The information below summarises the standard arrangements. Any changes must be expressly agreed in writing, with your legal rights and the consumer protections in the terms preserved.
What I can help with
- Investigating software or firmware faults.
- Reviewing schematics or existing designs.
- Assessing a development copy or isolated test system.
- Developing a prototype feature.
- Advising on practical next steps.
At a glance
Rate
£95 for the first hour, then £23.75 for each additional 15 minutes, or part of one. No VAT is currently charged; prices include any applicable taxes.
Up to eight hours per brief
Each Work Brief authorises a maximum of eight billable hours — a maximum labour budget of £760 at the current rate. Eight hours is the ceiling, not the standard booking size.
One hour minimum per brief
The one-hour minimum and 15-minute rounding apply once across the whole brief. Calls, sessions, pauses and resumptions do not each create another minimum. Cancellation and early-ending provisions can reduce the usual minimum and rounding.
Spending cap
Agreed before paid work starts. Work stops before any chargeable increment or expense would exceed the cap.
Invoicing
I send an invoice when the agreed work is finished, the spending cap is reached, or the work ends early. It includes a breakdown of time, charges, approved expenses and any payments already made. Payment is due within 14 calendar days of the invoice date.
How it works
- 1.Get in touch and tell me about the task, including a free introductory or scoping discussion where one is offered.
- 2.Before you commit, I send the Hourly Services terms and a short email Work Brief identifying the Engagement and task, expected outputs, rate, spending cap, scheduling and approved expenses.
- 3.You accept the written booking offer by email.
- 4.I confirm the booking and start at the agreed time, subject to any applicable consumer early-start requirements.
- 5.You receive the findings or deliverables, a time summary and an invoice when work on that brief ends.
The Work Brief can be the email itself. A separately signed services contract is not normally required — the accepted brief and the terms form the agreement.
Before sharing sensitive information, please review the NDA & Confidentiality Guidelines.
Normally the undisputed balance of earlier invoices is paid before I issue a booking offer for a subsequent brief, unless you and I agree otherwise in writing. This does not shorten the payment period or allow me to pause work I have already agreed to do. You can withhold a reasonably disputed amount while it is investigated, and pay the undisputed balance when it is due.
Spending caps and further work
- I agree a monetary cap with you before paid work starts. It includes the minimum, rounding, applicable taxes and expenses, unless a separately approved expense budget is expressly identified.
- £760 is the maximum labour budget; it is not necessarily the maximum total invoice where you approve expenses.
- Work stops before any chargeable increment or expense would exceed the relevant cap.
- Additional scope, a material increase to an estimate or a higher cap needs your written approval first, and an increase within the same brief must still stay within the eight-hour ceiling.
- Further work beyond that ceiling needs a separately agreed brief for a defined further task or phase, with its outputs, cap and scheduling confirmed before it starts. Renaming or resuming the same brief does not create another minimum.
Worked example: a brief totalling 1 hour 20 minutes is normally charged as 1 hour 30 minutes — £142.50 at the current rate. The cap is a maximum authorisation, not an automatic charge for its full amount, and cancellation or early ending can reduce the normal minimum and rounding.
Before you decide whether to continue, you receive the findings, completed outputs, remaining work and the options available.
What is billable
Chargeable time is the work needed to understand and address your problem, such as:
- Relevant repository, project or environment setup.
- Reviews of schematics, designs or development copies of existing systems.
- Documentation research and reproducing faults.
- Advice, development and testing.
- Task-specific calls and agreed documentation.
Not charged:
- Payment and invoice administration.
- Idle time.
- Correcting my own failure to meet the agreement.
An investigation can give you useful findings and recommended next steps even when a fix is not achievable, and I will identify the agreed output up front. Any obligation I expressly take on, and your legal rights, still apply.
A free introductory or scoping discussion is not charged unless I first explain that further work is paid and you approve it. Expenses need written approval in advance and are billed at cost.
Corrections and consumer information
- If my work fails to meet the agreement or the standard of reasonable care and skill, I correct it at no extra charge.
- I also correct attributable defects in my supplied work in the agreed environment, reported within 30 calendar days of delivery, free of charge. Additional paid diagnosis needs prior agreement. That period is not a deadline for your longer-lasting contractual or statutory rights.
- Corrections I am responsible for do not consume your spending cap or the eight-hour billable limit.
If you are a consumer booking by email, cooling-off rights normally let you cancel until the end of 14 calendar days after the day a services-only contract is made.
- To start during that period you need a distinct express request and the relevant acknowledgement. You can include this separately in your acceptance email; signing an optional appendix is not compulsory. Accepting the brief or paying alone is not an early-start request.
- If you cancel during the period, any permitted charge is proportionate to the services actually supplied. Reaching the cap alone does not mean the service is fully performed or that your cancellation rights have ended.
- If you voluntarily end work, actual minutes worked are charged, without an unworked minimum or rounding up.
- Where it applies, consent to early electronic supply of digital content is separate from permission to start services.
Full details are in the Terms & Conditions for Hourly Services (v1.6, PDF). These terms are governed by the law of Northern Ireland and preserve your consumer rights where applicable.
Fixed price or hourly?
Clearly defined projects can use an agreed fixed price and a Statement of Work under Fixed-Price Projects. Longer hourly projects can run in separately agreed phases.
A paid investigation is an option, not a compulsory prerequisite for a fixed-price quotation.
Quick answers
Can you start with something small?
Yes. Eight hours is the ceiling, not the standard booking size, so I can agree a smaller cap that fits the task.
Do I need to sign a services contract?
A separate signed services contract is not normally needed for hourly work. You accept the email Work Brief and applicable terms to book the work. A separate NDA may need signing, and I provide a signed transfer of rights in your paid-for bespoke work.