--- title: "Why we stopped charging by the hour | Fluff Software" description: "Scott Gulliver on what AI changed about building software, why hourly retainers stopped working, and what clients pay for now." url: https://www.fluff.software/guides/why-we-stopped-charging-by-the-hour/ updated: 2026-10-23 publisher: Fluff Software --- # Why we stopped charging by the hour. Scott Gulliver on what AI tools changed about building software, why hourly retainers and fixed-price MVPs stopped making sense, and what clients pay for now. By **Scott Gulliver**, founder of Fluff Software Published 23 October 2026 _Image: A team discussing plans around a table with laptops_ ## Short answer AI tools made the build itself fast and cheap. Changes that took hours now take minutes, so hourly pricing undersold what clients got, and fixed-price MVPs looked expensive next to things knocked up overnight in an app builder. Our value moved to judgment, UX and production quality, so we now charge one flat monthly fee for continuous, senior output. We’ve been building software for clients since 2019. For most of that time we sold it two ways: fixed-price projects, and retainers measured in hours. Both made sense when building was slow. Over the last year or so, neither did. ## The retainers got harder to fill Changes that used to take an afternoon now take twenty minutes with the tools we use. That’s good for clients, but it broke the retainer. We’d end up looking for an hour or two of work a client needed each month, and the hours on the invoice undersold what they were actually getting: someone who knew their product inside out and made good calls about it. ## Fixed-price MVPs started to look expensive It’s hard to justify £40,000 for a first version when someone has seen something similar knocked up overnight in an AI app builder. It doesn’t matter that turning a demo into software that survives real users is a different job. The comparison is in their head before the conversation starts. ## So what are clients paying for now? The layer on top of the code. Deciding what’s worth building and what isn’t. Designing something people understand the first time they use it. Catching the edge case that takes production down at 2am. Being accountable when something goes wrong. None of that got faster with AI. If anything it got more important, because it’s now very easy to build the wrong thing quickly. ## What we changed We now charge one flat monthly fee. Clients add as much as they like to a queue, we work through it one task at a time per track, and every release gets a senior review. We use the latest AI tools openly, and that speed goes into shipping more for the client, not into a smaller invoice for the same hours. [How it works in detail](https://www.fluff.software/how-it-works/). ## What it means for clients No scoping documents for every change. No change orders. No haggling over whether something was a two-hour job. Just a steady flow of finished work and someone senior thinking about the product. We think it’s a better deal for both sides, and it’s how we’d want to buy software ourselves. The tools are brilliant. But speed without judgment gets you to the wrong place faster. ## Questions Do you still do fixed-price projects? Yes, for projects that need a fixed budget up front. It’s called a System Build, and it usually follows a Discovery Sprint. What happens to existing retainer clients? Nothing changes unless they want it to. The subscription is built for new clients, and existing arrangements carry on as they are. ## Keep reading [Subscription, retainer or fixed price? The three common ways to pay for software development compared: what each is good for, where each breaks down, and how AI tools have changed the maths in 2026.](https://www.fluff.software/guides/subscription-vs-retainer-vs-fixed-price/) [What is a software development subscription? How flat-fee software development subscriptions work, what ‘unlimited requests’ really means, what they cost in the UK in 2026, and who they suit.](https://www.fluff.software/guides/what-is-a-development-subscription/) [Is AI-written code safe? AI coding tools are fast and capable, and their output still needs review. What goes wrong with AI-generated code, what a senior review checks, and what to ask any supplier.](https://www.fluff.software/guides/is-ai-written-code-safe/) --- Fluff Software, a senior product team embedded in your business. Book a call: https://www.fluff.software/contact/ or email contact@fluff.software. Agents: see https://www.fluff.software/llms.txt and https://www.fluff.software/AGENTS.md.