Key takeaways: The two structural problems with typical agency engagements are time-and-materials billing (misaligned incentives) and senior-sells-junior-builds staffing. Before signing with any agency, ask who writes the code, who owns it, and what happens when a milestone slips.
Start With the Billing Mechanism
The clearest difference between Notchip and a typical agency is one mechanism: if a milestone isn't delivered and approved, we don't get paid. Most of what follows in this comparison is a consequence of that single fact — and the most useful part of this page is the list of questions to ask any agency, including us.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Traditional agency | Notchip | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Time & materials — the meter runs either way | Milestone-based — pay per approved delivery |
| Who builds | Sold by seniors, executed by juniors | Senior engineers from day one |
| Communication | Weekly status calls, PM layers | Direct access to the people building, async-first |
| Code ownership | Yours "in theory", often locked in | 100% yours from day one — repos, designs, credentials |
| Stack | Whatever their bench knows | React Native + Next.js, chosen deliberately |
| Overruns | Your problem | We absorb them before you do |
Pricing Model
Traditional agency: Time and materials. The meter runs whether things are going well or not. Overruns are your problem.
Notchip: Milestone-based. You approve each phase before paying for the next. If a milestone isn't delivered and approved, we don't get paid. This is the same model we describe in our MVP development process.
Who Does Your Work
Traditional agency: Your project is sold by a senior team and executed by juniors. The people you met in the pitch room often aren't the ones writing code.
Notchip: Senior engineers from day one. Small team, direct access, no handoff chains. The people who built FieldDojo and Wageasy are the people who answer your messages — and the commit history behind [expo-panoramic-stitcher](https://github.com/notchip/expo-panoramic-stitcher) is public if you want to check the level of work rather than take the word "senior" on faith.
Communication
Traditional agency: Weekly status calls, project management overhead, multiple points of contact.
Notchip: Direct access to the people building your product. Async-first communication. You're in the loop without being buried in process.
Code Ownership
Traditional agency: You often own the code in theory, but it's locked into proprietary systems or requires expensive migrations to leave.
Notchip: You own 100% of the code from day one. All repositories, design files, and credentials are yours. If we part ways, you take everything with you.
Technology
Traditional agency: Often locked to a particular stack because that's what their team knows.
Notchip: React Native for mobile, Next.js for web. We chose these because they're the right tools — performant, maintainable, and widely supported.
Questions to Ask Any Agency Before You Sign
Whoever you end up hiring, these questions separate solid shops from sales machines:
- Who exactly will write the code, and can I speak to them before signing?
- What happens to the timeline and cost if a milestone slips — who absorbs it?
- Do I own the repositories from day one, or after final payment?
- Can I see a shipped product and talk to that client?
- What's the smallest first milestone we could start with?
- How do change requests get priced and approved?
- What does handoff look like if I bring development in-house later?
- Which parts of my project would you say no to, and why?
An agency that answers all eight directly is worth shortlisting. Evasive answers on 2, 3, or 6 are the expensive ones.
When a Traditional Agency Might Be the Right Choice
We'll be straight with you: if you're a large enterprise that needs a 50-person team and deep legacy system integration, a large agency is probably the right fit.
Notchip is best for:
- Startups building their first product
- Businesses that want a dedicated, accountable team
- Projects where speed to market matters
- Clients who want to understand what's being built, not just receive a bill
How We Handle Overruns
If something takes longer than we scoped, we absorb the overrun before you do — an unapproved milestone doesn't get invoiced, so the cost of our estimation mistakes lands on us, not on your budget. The full mechanics, including the two places this model genuinely costs us, are in why we price by milestone, not by hour.
If that sounds like the working relationship you're after, start a conversation and we'll figure out if it's a fit.