How working with us is priced, without the guessing
We do not publish a rate card because every serious project is different, and a number on a website is either misleading or padded. Instead: five engagement models, exactly what each includes, what drives cost, and a fixed quote in writing within two business days of a scoping call.
Five ways to work with us
Pick the model that matches the problem
Every model below can lead to another one. Most clients start small and grow into a retainer or dedicated engineers once the first project proves the fit.
Fixed-scope project
Best for
A single product or feature with a brief you can write down: an MVP, a customer portal, an integration, or a defined AI agent.
What is included
- Scope, architecture and milestones agreed in writing before we start
- Weekly demos so you see progress, not a status email
- A named lead engineer for the length of the project
- Handover with documentation, access and source code on completion
How it is billed
Milestone-based. Each milestone ties to a working deliverable you can see and test, not a date on a calendar.
How to end it
It ends at handover. There is no retainer to cancel and no ongoing charge, and you own the code, the infrastructure and the accounts from day one.
AI Agent Pilot
Best for
Proving one automation works on your own data, with your own systems, before you commit to more.
What is included
- One agent on one workflow: support, lead qualification, documents or reporting
- Connected to your systems through MCP or APIs, with guardrails and logging
- A human hand-off for anything outside the agent’s lane
- A measured before-and-after report against a baseline agreed in week one
How it is billed
Fixed price for the four-week pilot, agreed before we start and confirmed in writing.
How to end it
It ends with the measured report. You move to a larger engagement only if the numbers justify it, on your call, not ours.
Fractional CTO retainer
Best for
A founder or operations head who needs senior technical judgement on tap, without hiring a full-time CTO.
What is included
- Technology strategy and an architecture roadmap
- Vendor and build-versus-buy decisions
- Hiring support and technical team reviews
- Board and investor reporting you can actually hand over
How it is billed
Monthly, invoiced in advance, bundled with delivery capacity rather than sold as advice alone.
How to end it
Thirty days notice, either side. No annual lock-in and no exit fee.
Dedicated engineers monthly
Best for
Ongoing delivery capacity: a senior engineer who works inside your team and your tools for the long run.
What is included
- CV and interview within five business days
- A Dubai-based delivery manager who checks the work, not just the invoice
- The engineer working in your stack, your tickets and your standups
- Start within two weeks of agreeing the role
How it is billed
Monthly per engineer, invoiced in advance.
How to end it
Thirty days notice to replace or scale down. You are never stuck with a seat that stopped fitting.
Managed operations
Best for
A system or agent already live in production that needs steady monitoring, fixes and small improvements, not a rebuild.
What is included
- Monitoring and incident response for what you already run
- A monthly release of fixes and small improvements
- A named engineer who already knows the system, so nothing starts from zero
- A short monthly report you can read in five minutes
How it is billed
Monthly, scoped to the size and criticality of what you are running.
How to end it
Thirty days notice. You keep the code, the infrastructure and the access, so nothing stops working the day you leave.
No rate card, and here is why
What drives cost
These are the factors that move a quote up or down, on every model above.
- Scope clarity: a fuzzy brief costs more to build than one worked out in advance, because the exploring happens on the clock either way.
- Integrations: every ERP, CRM, payment gateway or government system you connect adds design, testing and error handling.
- Arabic: full Arabic and right-to-left support is more than translation. It means mirrored layouts, native review and testing in both directions.
- Compliance evidence: access controls, audit logs and the paperwork an auditor will ask for under UAE PDPL or Saudi rules.
- In-region hosting: keeping data in UAE or KSA cloud regions, sometimes with a second environment for disaster recovery.
- On-site days: time you need us in the room in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Riyadh rather than working remotely.
- Timeline compression: the same scope delivered faster needs more engineers working in parallel, which costs more than one team working in sequence.
We do not publish our own rates, but you do not have to walk into a scoping call blind either. Our project cost estimator shows the published market ranges for apps, AI agents and chatbots in Dubai and Riyadh, each with a named source, and our guide on what it costs to build an app in Dubai walks through what moves those figures. Read either before your scoping call, then ask us for the number that applies to your project specifically.
How quoting works
From scoping call to start date
Day 0
Scoping call
Thirty to forty five minutes on a call or WhatsApp video. We ask about the workflow, the systems involved and the outcome you need, and you ask us anything.
Within 24 hours
NDA
Once you want to share specifics, sensitive documents or system access, we sign an NDA within 24 hours so you can talk freely before any commercial conversation starts.
Within 2 business days
Written quote
Fixed quote within 2 business days: scope, milestones, payment terms and a proposed start date, all in writing. No verbal ballpark to decode later.
On approval
Start date
You approve the quote and we confirm a start date, usually within one to two weeks depending on the model you picked and our current capacity.
Why it is safe to start
What you get before you pay anything big
Reply within one business hour
On WhatsApp, Sunday to Friday, 09:00 to 18:00 Gulf time, and within 24 hours otherwise. From an engineer, never a bot.
NDA within 24 hours
Send your brief under NDA before you tell us anything sensitive. Fixed quote within 2 business days.
You own everything
Code, infrastructure, accounts and IP are yours from day one. No lock-in, no retained access.
Data stays in the region
UAE or KSA cloud regions when you need them (AWS me-central-1, Azure UAE North, Google me-central2, Oracle Riyadh and Jeddah). Built for UAE PDPL and Saudi PDPL.
Dubai-registered, Dubai-managed
QuantumBlock Solutions L.L.C-FZ, Meydan Free Zone licence 2424573.01. A licensed company you can meet, not a reseller.
Fixed scope first
Every engagement starts with a fixed-scope, fixed-timeline first project so you can judge us on delivery before committing further.
Questions founders ask about how we price and bill
Why does QuantumBlock not publish prices?
Because a single number on a website is either misleading for a complex project or padded to cover the complex ones. Scope, integrations, Arabic support, compliance and hosting all move the real figure, so we give a fixed quote after a short scoping call instead of a guess up front.
Do you charge for the scoping call?
No. The scoping call is free, with no obligation to continue afterward. It exists so both sides can tell, in thirty minutes, whether the work is a fit before anyone talks numbers.
Can we start with something small?
Yes. Most engagements start as a fixed-scope first project or a four-week AI Agent Pilot so you can judge us on delivery before committing to anything larger, including a retainer or dedicated engineers.
Do you do time and materials?
Not as a default. Fixed-scope and fixed-price pilots protect you from scope creep on your bill, and our monthly models (fractional CTO, dedicated engineers, managed operations) are billed monthly rather than by the hour, so the invoice never surprises you.
Which currency do you invoice in?
AED, USD or SAR, whichever matches your business and your bank. We confirm the currency in the written quote before any work begins.
What are your payment terms?
Milestone-based. The milestones and the split between them are written into your fixed-scope quote, and the invoice currency is AED, USD or SAR. Confirmed in writing before any work begins.
Tell us what you are trying to build
We reply on WhatsApp within one business hour (Sunday to Friday, 09:00 to 18:00 Gulf time) and within 24 hours otherwise.
Speak with us directly during business hours.
Prefer email. Tell us the brief and we reply with next steps.