Greenfield
Build this thing for me
A defined product or system that has to exist, with no one inside who can own it end to end. I take it from nothing to running in production: architecture, code, the unglamorous parts, the launch.
Build
The thing actually gets
built and shipped.
Sometimes the read is done and the plan is clear; what you need now is someone who can do the work. Two decades of senior, staff, and principal engineering, on the keyboard, getting it over the line. Greenfield builds I take from nothing to in-production, or a senior seat I fill in your team while you hire.
The problem
You know what to build, not who builds it.
The hard part is no longer the strategy. It’s that the work in front of you needs a level of experience your team does not have and you cannot hire on the timeline you’re stuck with. The new thing has to be built and there’s nobody free to build it; or there’s a senior seat empty and a six-month search ahead of you while the roadmap waits. That’s the gap I fill.
The gap
A seat you can’t fill fast enough
A senior, staff, or principal role you need filled now, not after a hiring cycle. I drop into the team and do the job while you run the search, so the roadmap doesn’t stall waiting on a req.
How it works
Two modes, same hands.
Mode one
External contractor
You hand me the thing to build and I build it. I own the architecture, write the code, and ship to production, working against a fixed scope agreed up front. You get the result without taking on a permanent hire or stretching the team you have.
Mode two
Embedded in your team
I join the team and do the work alongside your engineers: in the codebase, in code review, in the standups. A senior pair of hands that lifts the people around it, not a black box that hands back a deliverable and disappears.
Either way it starts with a Diagnostic: a short read of the product and the codebase that produces a prioritised plan. From there we both know exactly what the build is before anyone commits.
Examples
Things I’ve taken all the way to shipped.
E-mobility · Firmware
Librescoot
Free and open-source replacement firmware for a connected European electric scooter platform. Embedded Linux, real-time CAN, BLE, cellular telematics, OTA delta updates. Shipped and running on real vehicles in the field.
Public sector · Search
Quellenportal
A search platform for the Bundesarchiv, the German federal archive, on Rails 8 and Meilisearch, for historians, journalists, and the public. Greenfield, from nothing to in production.
SaaS · Boards
Bretto
A Trello-style boards-and-cards tool: lists, cards, and labels behind a GraphQL API, with a Go backend and a CLI on top. Built and run end to end.
What it costs
Scoped from a read, fixed fee or retainer.
A build is scoped straight from the Diagnostic, so the price reflects the actual work rather than a guess. From there it’s a fixed-fee project or a retainer, whichever fits the shape of the work.
The on-ramp
A Diagnostic, one to two weeks, that produces the plan the build is scoped against.
from €6,000
Indicative, scoped per engagement.
The build
A greenfield build runs as a fixed-fee project scoped from the Diagnostic. Filling a senior seat in your team runs as an Embedded retainer, hands on the work two days a week and up.
from €14,000/mo
Embedded retainer, or a fixed-fee project quoted from the Diagnostic.
All figures are starting points, net of VAT. Retainers run a 90-day minimum, then month to month. See the full engagement model →
Have something that needs building?
Tell me what it is and where it’s stuck. If a Diagnostic is the right first step, I’ll say so. If it’s not, I’ll say that too.