Isn't a scoping engagement just a sales pitch dressed up as research?

Not if it is done right, and it is a fair thing to worry about. The test is simple: does the recommendation ever come back "don't build this"? Ours does - the Women's POWER Pickleball League case ended in a build estimate she chose not to fund with us. The Spec is fixed price whether the answer is build or don't, so there is no incentive to inflate the recommendation.

Razoyo | Scope a Software Project Before You Commit Budget

Q: What does a build cost after the Spec?

That depends entirely on what the Spec finds. As a rough shape, a working MVP starts around $5,000 and a full production build starts around $10,000, but the Spec turns that range into a real number for your specific project.

Budget Approval · Fixed-Price Scoping · You Own the Outcome

Your Team Believes In This Project. Now You Have To Prove It To Everyone Who Doesn't.

An idea is not a budget line. Somewhere between "we should build this" and a signed-off number, someone has to produce a real estimate, a real recommendation, and something concrete enough to survive a room full of people who were not in the original conversation. Razoyo built the System Spec specifically for that step.

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Leadership wants a real estimate before they will sign off on anything.

We do not want to commission a full build just to find out if this is worth doing.

Nobody internally can put a credible number on this.

We need something we can actually take to the board.

Short Answer: Yes, and We Built a Step Specifically For This.

If you need to win internal budget approval before a software project can start, the System Spec is that step. It is a fixed-price, time-boxed engagement that produces a product brief, a PRD, a senior-engineer build estimate, and a plain build-or-don't-build recommendation. The document is yours whether or not you go ahead with Razoyo, which is the point: it is built to survive being handed to someone else in the room.

What actually happens when you skip scoping

Why "Just Send Us a Quote" Is the Wrong Ask This Early.

Asking a vendor for a full project quote before anything has been scoped puts both sides in a bad position.

A guess dressed as a quote does not survive scrutiny

The first hard question from finance kills it.

You cannot compare vendors on unscoped numbers

Every quote is really a different guess about a different set of assumptions.

The cost of finding out should be small

Not the cost of a full build.

A vendor who has not scoped either pads or lowballs

Padding covers their risk; lowballing wins the deal and finds the real scope later. Neither number is defensible internally.

A scoped plan with a real number is the only thing that survives a room full of people who were not in the original conversation.

What "done" looks like

What a Scoping Engagement Actually Has to Produce.

Not a shape. A finished, portable document.

What a finished Spec includes

A product brief a non-technical stakeholder can read and use
A senior-engineer estimate with a real range, not a placeholder
A documented build-or-don't-build recommendation, stated plainly
Something portable, take it to any team, including one that isn't Razoyo

Signs the timing is right

You have to defend a number to someone who was not in the room
You do not have a working prototype yet
You would rather spend $2,500 to find out than spend far more the hard way
You can commit two or three working sessions

Already past this step? If an AI tool got you to a working prototype and the question is whether it survives real users, see how Razoyo hardens an AI-built prototype for production instead.

The Proof, Named

Women's POWER Pickleball League

A franchising pickleball league needed to know what a new membership platform would cost before committing. Three working sessions over seventeen days produced a complete product brief, a full requirements document, epics and a senior-engineer build estimate. The number came back larger than she had in mind, we did not shave it to make it easier to sign. She took the finished Spec to a development partner who could fund the build against a specification that was already done.

See Case Study

See All Our Work

How the work actually runs

You Approve the Effort Before Anyone Writes Code.

The reason projects overrun is almost never a surprise in the code. It is that nobody agreed what a piece of work was worth before it started.

How the Work Actually Runs

Every item gets an estimate first

A business analyst puts a level of effort and a budget on each piece of work, and we get your confirmation before touching it.

You watch the same board we do

Access to our project management system. Re-order it whenever you want, or tell us to stop.

The budget stops itself

We work to the monthly number and tell you when we hit it.

Three layers of testing on every change

Code, acceptance and regression testing, then again after it goes live.

You approve it on staging first

Every change lands on a private environment before it touches production.

Something breaks at 2am

There is an emergency line and a published rate for it.

Retainers run month to month. Thirty days notice to stop, fifteen to change the budget.

A fixed-price System Spec, yours to keep

Define it properly first

That Is Where Projects Are Won or Lost.

Most software projects do not fail because the code does not work. They fail because the product was poorly thought out. So reduce the ask from "commission a project" to "find out."

System Spec

Start here

$2,500 fixed · yours to keep

Time-boxed

Two or three working sessions produce a product brief, a PRD, a senior-engineer estimate, and a documented build / don't-build call.

A product brief and PRD you own outright
A senior-engineer build estimate
A documented build / don't-build call
Yours to keep, even if you build with someone else

Book a System Spec

Free Consultation

Free 1 hour · no obligation

Not sure a System Spec is the right first step? Find out whether it is, before you spend a dollar.

A senior person, not a sales rep
A straight answer on whether scoping is the right next move
A scoped next step and what it costs

Schedule Free Consultation

The System Spec is yours outright, take it to any team. You own the code, the repo, and the infrastructure, always.

Questions We Get Before the Call

Not if it is done right, and it is a fair thing to worry about. The test is simple: does the recommendation ever come back "don't build this"? Ours does, the Women's POWER Pickleball League case above ended in a build estimate she chose not to fund with us. The Spec is fixed price whether the answer is build or don't, so there is no incentive on our side to inflate the recommendation.

Then you have spent $2,500 to avoid spending far more, and you keep the brief and the reasoning either way. That is a good outcome, not a failed engagement.

Yes. Once the Spec is delivered, the product brief and PRD are yours, regardless of what you decide next.

A free consultation tells you whether it is worth scoping at all. The System Spec is the actual scoping: a real product brief, a real estimate range from a senior engineer, and a documented recommendation, not a conversation.

That depends entirely on what the Spec finds, which is why we do it first rather than guess. As a rough shape, a working MVP starts around $5,000 and a full production build starts around $10,000, but the Spec turns that range into a real number for your specific project.

Pick your next step

Start With a Conversation. It Costs Nothing.

Every engagement begins the same way, with a free consultation. You will leave it with an honest recommendation, including the recommendation not to build.

1 Free

Free consultation

A working session with a senior person, not a sales rep. Always the first step.

Schedule Free Consultation

2 $2,500

Fixed-price System Spec

If it is worth doing, the Spec defines the product and returns a real build estimate. Fixed at $2,500.

Start a System Spec

3 No email required

Read the proof first

Not ready to talk? See what we have actually shipped.

Read the POWER Pickleball Story

Scope a Software Project Before You Commit Budget | Razoyo