Pricing, scope, ownership, terms
Questions that apply to every engagement. Questions about a specific engagement are answered on that engagement’s own page.
How does pricing work?
Every package carries a published floor. The floor is a starting point, not a quote — it tells you the shape and scale of the engagement so you can decide in ninety seconds whether this is worth a conversation.
Final pricing is fixed in writing at the end of Discovery & Scoping, once the estate has actually been looked at. Engagements are then quoted as a fixed fee. Day rates apply only to work beyond an agreed scope.
Why publish prices at all?
So you can disqualify quickly. Most consultancies make you sit through a call to find out whether you are in the right range, which costs you an hour and costs them a pipeline full of people who were never going to buy.
The number and the exclusions being visible is the point. It is also the reason the exclusions are printed on the card rather than buried in a statement of work.
Our estate is much larger than your examples. Does the floor still apply?
No. Floors describe typical engagements. Larger, regulated, or multi-region estates cost more, and Discovery is where that gets determined.
The floor tells you the shape of the engagement, not its final price. If your estate is well above the typical case, expect the quote to reflect it — and expect to see the reasoning, broken down by workstream, rather than a single larger number.
We only need part of a package. Can you scope it down?
Yes. Discovery produces a scope built around what you actually need, which is sometimes narrower than a published package. The price moves with it.
Packages exist because most buyers want a known shape at a known price, not because the boundaries are fixed.
Who does the work?
Sumeet Chaurasia, directly. No bench, no handoff to a junior after the sales call, and no subcontracting without written agreement in advance.
This is the constraint that sets the ceiling on how many engagements run at once, and it is the reason lead times are real.
How many engagements do you take at once?
A limited number, scheduled in advance. Ask early if you have a fixed date — a data centre lease expiry or an audit deadline is not something to discover a lead time against.
Do you do staff augmentation or long-term contracting?
No. Engagements are fixed-scope with defined deliverables.
The fractional Cloud & Platform Architect retainer at $7,500/month, roughly six hours a week, is the closest option for ongoing advisory work.
Who owns the deliverables?
You do. Terraform modules, runbooks, findings reports, and architecture documents are yours on final payment.
Generic patterns and pre-existing modules remain reusable on other engagements. That is true of every consultancy; it is stated here rather than left in the small print.
Do you sign NDAs and client MSAs?
Yes, as a matter of course, before any estate access.
Where are you based, and does that matter?
Sumech Technologies Inc. is a Canadian company working with clients across North America. Engagements are delivered remotely, with overlap into North American business hours.
On-site attendance is available where the work needs it and is quoted separately rather than folded into the engagement fee.
What are your payment terms?
Discovery is payable up front. Packaged engagements are milestone-based, with terms set in the statement of work.
What if we don’t proceed after Discovery?
You keep the scope document, the gap analysis, and the fixed quote. They are yours whether or not you engage further.
Something not covered here? Ask directly. Questions about a particular engagement live on its page — the engagement index links all eight.
Still the same first step
$4,500 fixed, 3–5 days, and you leave with a written scope and a fixed quote whether or not you proceed.