What to look for in an AI agent development partner, and why a direct, fixed-monthly engagement beats an agency layer for most first builds.
- Scope
- Build
- Evaluate
monthly retainer
Who this is for
You are comparing options for who actually builds your AI agent: a large agency, a marketplace freelancer, or a single senior engineer working directly with you. This page is the honest version of that comparison, written by the person who would be doing the work, not a sales team selling a package.
The pain today
- Agency proposals route through account managers who are not the ones writing the code
- Freelance marketplaces make it hard to verify who is actually senior enough for agent work
- Pricing from agencies often hides scope behind hourly estimates that grow mid-project
- A team hand-off means the person who understood the first month's decisions is gone by month three
- No way to see real delivered work before committing a budget
The outcome you get
- Direct access to the one person actually building the system, every day
- A single published monthly price, not an hourly estimate that grows
- Case studies with named metrics you can check, not vague claims
- 17 years of engineering experience across 250+ delivered projects
- A 14-day money-back guarantee instead of a non-refundable deposit
What actually differs between an agency and one senior engineer
An agency sells a team: a project manager, an account lead, and one or more engineers who may change over the course of the engagement. That structure adds coordination overhead and a layer between you and the actual work. Working directly with one senior engineer removes that layer. The person who scopes the work is the person who writes it and the person you talk to when something needs to change.
The tradeoff is real and worth stating plainly. A larger agency has more people to throw at a deadline; a solo practice has continuity and lower overhead instead. Which one is the right call depends on what you actually need, and I will tell you honestly if a larger team is the better fit for your situation.
Direct access to the one person actually building the system, every day
What to check before you commit a budget
Three things matter more than a polished pitch deck. First, can the person show delivered work with real, checkable metrics, not vague phrases like 'significant improvement.' Second, is the price a single published number or an hourly estimate that can grow once work starts. Third, is there a way out if the first weeks do not go well, or is the deposit non-refundable regardless.
I publish pricing on the site rather than quoting it privately. The AI Development retainer is $3,999 a month, one tier, no hidden scope tiers negotiated behind closed doors.
30+: Active users.
Delivered work, not claims
17 years of engineering experience since 2009, across 250+ delivered projects. The most relevant recent one for this kind of work: the CRM behind Norte Web Digital's lead pipeline, using Claude AI to process and route inbound leads through WhatsApp automatically, growing the lead base by over 500% with 250 new leads a day. Instill, a self-initiated AI product launched in the first quarter of 2026, now serves 30+ active users with 1,000+ skills saved across 45+ projects, built on the Model Context Protocol. Both are checkable, not a claim on a slide.
How the engagement actually runs
Work lands in cycles of two to four days, not a single delivery at the end of a long build. Communication is daily and async, with a response inside 24 hours, so you are never waiting a week to find out where things stand. Everything built, the code, the infrastructure setup, and the documentation, is yours under Work Made for Hire terms from the day you pay, not held back pending a final invoice.
Pricing and how to start
The AI Development retainer is a single tier at $3,999 a month. There is a 14-day money-back guarantee: if it is not working for you in the first two weeks, you get a full refund. After that you can cancel anytime, with no long-term contract holding you in. Availability runs one customer at a time by design, with new customers joining a waitlist for the next quarterly slot.
Recent proof
A comparable engagement, delivered and documented.
An AI knowledge base your whole team uses via MCP
A personal library for Skills, Agents, and Rules, built once, used across Claude, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible AI tool.
Read the case studyRelated services
The same work, framed for a different situation.
Frequently asked questions
The questions prospects ask before they book.
Direct access to the person actually building the system, no account-manager layer, and continuity across the whole engagement. The tradeoff is that a solo practice has one set of hands, not a bench of many. For most first agent builds, that tradeoff favors direct access.
Check the delivered case studies with real numbers: the Norte Web Digital CRM pipeline, growth over 500% in the lead base with 250 new leads a day; Instill, a self-initiated AI product with 30+ active users and 1,000+ skills saved. These are checkable, not marketing copy.
A single published price: $3,999 a month under the AI Development retainer. No hourly estimate, no hidden scope tiers negotiated behind closed doors.
There is a 14-day money-back guarantee. If it is not working for you in the first two weeks, you get a full refund. After that, you can cancel anytime with no long-term contract.
One customer at a time, by design. New customers join a waitlist for the next quarterly slot, which keeps the direct-access model honest instead of overcommitted.
You do, in full, from the day you pay. Work Made for Hire terms cover the code, the infrastructure setup, and the documentation. Nothing stays with me after the engagement ends.