If the question isn't here, email info@darkforgeai.com — most reach a reply inside a day.
Most builds land between $4,500 and $18,000 depending on scope. A conversion-first marketing site is on the low end. A full autonomous agent with RAG, human handoff, and CRM hooks is on the high end. We quote a flat number after the first call, and we don't move off it.
Two to three weeks, measured from the kickoff call to production launch. We don't pad timelines. If we can't finish in three weeks, we tell you on the first call.
You do, day one. Repo access, credentials, domain, hosting, DNS — your name on every line. We do not hold accounts hostage. If you fire us tomorrow, every asset keeps working without us.
No. One flat price per build, paid 50% up front and 50% on launch. We don't invoice for coffee chats or kickoff calls or "strategy sessions" — every hour should show up as a line in the diff.
Python, TypeScript, Postgres, Supabase, Cloudflare, Anthropic. Boring on purpose. Everything we ship runs on tools you can hire for, host anywhere, and swap out without a rewrite. No vendor lock-in, no "licensed forever" clauses, no SaaS rental on code you already paid for.
We kill it. You get a partial refund and the WIP code. We'd rather eat the loss than ship something half-built. In four years, this has happened twice — both times the client came back six months later for a rebuild.
We don't sell retainers. What we do sell, if it's needed: a paid quarterly check-in where we audit the build, patch anything drifting, and leave a written punch list. Billed only when we actually do the work.
Small stuff (a page, a tweak, a new hook) gets absorbed without a change order. Real scope changes (a second language, a net-new feature, a different platform) get a separate quote — same flat-price rules apply.
No. Four operators, decade-plus of production software each. Nobody on the team is learning the craft on your budget. If the person writing your code isn't a senior, the build isn't happening.
Orange County, California. We work with clients anywhere in North America. Most work happens async with a weekly Loom. Kickoff and launch calls on Zoom.
Yes, mutual NDA is standard. We sign yours or send ours — either works. Not a bottleneck.
Send the brief (the long form or email info@darkforgeai.com). Within 48 hours we either book a kickoff call or tell you why we aren't the right shop. No sales funnel, no auto-sequence.