Architect - Price Card¶
The concise view; detail and evidence live in productisation.md and the effort model. All prices + VAT. Composed Discovery prices (Clarify + Architect) are at the foot.
Architect Baseline - £4,000 · the Non-Removable Minimum¶
The Architect phase minimum for S builds. Not sold separately, never removed - a priced line on every S project (M and larger builds start at Focused Architect); no MAJOR build proceeds unspecified. It carries the Cornerstone, which is why it prices above the Clarify Baseline.
- Light information architecture from the proposal and existing estate
- Three-state scope - in scope, future planning, out of scope - confirmed with the Decider
- Technical definition: platform decision recorded, plan selection with its upgrade trigger, integration map
- Two visual concepts with one round of refinement, and the visual direction recorded against existing brand guidelines
- The Cornerstone - the project specification, confirmed in writing; UAT validates against it
Focused - £5,700 · 2–3 Weeks¶
Everything in the Baseline, plus:
- Conceptual content model and information architecture (up to ~50 nodes), with key journeys per audience
- Scope trade-offs made with the Decider in a working session
- Reasoned platform recommendation (ADR), integration map, and migration approach
- Two visual concepts, one round of refinement, with their own playback - landing the Design ambition band. A third concept is a stated +£1,000 upgrade
- The Cornerstone assembled in full: 60-minute playback, written confirmation that fixes price, scope, and time
Not included: CMS comparison matrix, business-system integrations, multiple concepts - each is the upgrade into Core.
Core - £12,500 · 3–5 Weeks¶
Everything in Focused, plus:
- Structured/relational content model and IA at 50–100 nodes; journeys per audience including content editors
- CMS comparison matrix - options considered, editorial and development experience, migration effort, total cost of ownership
- Business-system integration mapping (CRM etc.); migration tiers, redirect matrix, and migration SEO risk
- Three visual concepts, two rounds, Expressive ambition, with a dedicated concepts playback
- 90-minute Cornerstone playback; progress pulse
Full - from £20,000, typically £20k–£35k · 5–8 Weeks¶
Everything in Core, plus - scoped per engagement:
- 100+ node, highly relational architecture; multi-audience and multi-region structures
- Volatile or custom API mapping; enterprise governance and workflow
- Content migration at volume, with QA approach
- Three visual concepts, two rounds, Premium ambition
- Staged playback built for governance
Composed Discovery Prices¶
| Discovery | Price | Elapsed |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline floor (Clarify Baseline + Architect Baseline) | £6,000 | inside the opening weeks of build |
| Focused (Focused Clarify + Focused Architect) | £9,995 (£4,295 + £5,700) | 4–7 weeks |
| Core (Core Clarify + Core Architect) | £26,000 | 7–13 weeks |
| Full | From £45,000 | 13+ weeks |
Tiers mix where the context demands it (research depth and site size are separate axes); mixed engagements price as the sum of the two halves, and the higher tier names the engagement.