How We Work
Fixed-price, direct invoice, no retainer.
Most agencies price hourly and push monthly retainers because that's how they justify their overhead. We don't have that overhead, so we don't need that pricing. Here's what working with Four Thirteen Studios actually looks like.
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01
Kickoff call
A 30-minute video call — free, no sales pitch. You describe what you want to build; we ask the questions we need to write a meaningful quote. If we're not a fit, we say so and recommend someone who is.
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02
Fixed-price quote
Within two business days you get a written quote: scope, deliverables, timeline, and a single fixed number. If we've missed something, we say so explicitly — we don't quote blind. Once you accept, the number doesn't move unless you change the scope.
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03
Invoice & kickoff
We send an invoice directly — card or ACH, your choice. Half up front, half on delivery. No third-party billing platform, no payment-processor markup. When it clears, we start.
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04
Weekly builds
We ship against the scope in weekly increments. You get a shared review link and a written update every Friday: what moved, what's next, any decisions we need from you. No status-meeting theater.
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05
Launch & handoff
When the scope is complete and you sign off, we ship. You own the code, the domain, the analytics, the accounts — everything. We include a written handoff document so nothing lives only in our heads.
What we don't do
- Monthly retainers. If you need ongoing work, come back with a new project. No auto-renewals to fight.
- Vendor lock-in. We use platforms you can migrate off of (Next.js, standard payment processors, standard hosts). Your accounts, your code, from day one.
- Surprise invoices. The number on the quote is the number on the invoice. If the scope changes, we write a new mini-quote first.
- Agency markup on tools.You pay your payment processor, hosting, and domain bills directly. We don't mark them up and resell them to you.