Start with the outcome and the people it needs.
A four-person Vibe Haus team includes two engineers, a hands-on delivery lead, and a designer who codes. A six-person team adds two engineers. Leadership and design remain real work: a four-person team is not four people writing application code all day.
Describe the next product milestone, the existing system, and the decisions still unresolved. A known interface change and an unproven integration can require different kinds of work even when the finished screens look similar. Ask the proposal to explain those differences.
Ask what is included and what is separate.
Use the same scope when comparing quotes. Confirm the allocation, time period, and responsibility behind each line. Do not assume that a lower staffing rate includes design, engineering management, or ongoing support.
Scroll sideways to compare every column.
| Cost or commitment | What to confirm |
|---|---|
| Team allocation | People, roles, availability, working hours, and how specialist responsibilities use their time. |
| Discovery and R&D | Question to investigate, experiment budget, expected evidence, and the decision it should support. |
| AI and development tools | Approved vendors, account ownership, usage limits, subscriptions, and who pays. |
| Infrastructure and third parties | Hosting, data services, integrations, licenses, and any variable usage charges. |
| Quality and release | Included checks, specialist reviews, deployment authority, and handover requirements. |
| Support and continuity | Response hours, incident responsibilities, maintenance scope, leave, and changes to staffing. |
Include the time your organization still contributes.
A managed team organizes engineering execution. Your product owner still sets priorities, answers business questions, and accepts the work. Your existing engineers may also need to review architecture, grant access, or coordinate releases.
Compare the total commitment: the provider fee, external costs, and the time you spend managing dependencies and acceptance. An hourly rate alone cannot show whether two proposals cover the same responsibilities.
Budget an experiment before promising a build.
When feasibility is unclear, agree a bounded investigation. Specify the question, inputs, stopping point, and evidence needed to make a decision. The result may support building, changing approach, or stopping.
For example, an integration spike could establish whether an external service exposes the events a proposed onboarding flow needs. That finding is useful even if it rules out the original design. This is an illustrative scope, not a price or delivery estimate.
Compare proposals with five questions.
Send each provider the same brief. Ask for assumptions and exclusions in writing so you can distinguish a genuine scope difference from a price difference.
- What deliverable or milestone will we evaluate, and what counts as acceptance?
- Who manages engineering, design, review, and communication?
- Which fees are recurring, which are usage-based, and which require separate approval?
- What happens if research changes the scope or an external dependency blocks progress?
- What ownership, documentation, access, and transition work are included when the engagement ends?
Bring enough context to make a quote useful.
Prepare a short description of your product, who uses it, the next outcome, and the main constraint. Include an existing roadmap or prototype if you have one. Note any required technologies, data restrictions, coordination needs within the New York working day, and support expectations.
The first proposal should establish the team, scope, allocation, fees, assumptions, and responsibilities. Vibe Haus does not publish an automatic start date or a guaranteed AI productivity multiplier. Availability and terms need agreement for your engagement.