Development Retainer
Ongoing senior engineering capacity on tap — for the roadmap items that never quite fit a fixed-scope project.
Senior engineers only, no subcontractors
A fixed-scope project ends. The work running your commerce platform doesn’t — patches, small features, performance tuning, the backlog that accumulates the moment a build goes live. A retainer is senior engineering capacity for exactly that, on tap.
What this covers
Not a support ticket queue — allocated senior engineering time, used how your roadmap actually needs it that month.
Reactive
- Security patches — applied on staging, regression-tested, then rolled to production without waiting for a new SOW.
- Incident response — a checkout bug or broken integration gets a senior engineer immediately, not a ticket in a queue.
Proactive
- Performance tuning — Core Web Vitals and page speed monitored and improved continuously, not audited once a year.
- Small feature delivery — the backlog items too small to justify a new project, too important to leave undone.
Where this fits
Most useful right after a new build or migration — the point where a project officially “ends” but the platform’s real life is just starting, and where a Development Retainer picks up.
Retainer clients get the same senior engineers as every other project, on standby — not a rotating support queue. Ongoing capacity, not a one-off engagement.
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A process built around your outcomes, not our convenience.
Discovery
We learn your business, tech stack, and goals before writing a single line of code.
Architecture
We design the right technical approach — platform, integrations, data model.
Build
Iterative delivery with regular client-facing reviews. No black-box sprints.
Launch
Controlled go-live with performance baselining, monitoring, and a clear support plan.
Retain & Optimise
Ongoing retainer support, technical leadership, and iterative improvements.