FAQ topic
Ten questions on how long DesignKey engagements take, what each phase looks like, how change orders work, and how much of your time we expect.
Last updated: May 2026 · 8 min read
Standard engagement: 1-2 weeks discovery, 2-4 weeks design, 10-14 weeks MVP build, 2-4 weeks launch support. Total 4-6 months to live product. Your time commitment averages 6-12 hours per week during active phases. We work Eastern Time, async outside hours, transparent on change orders.
A focused MVP with one core workflow, auth, basic admin, and Stripe billing: 10-14 weeks from kickoff to live. A multi-tenant SaaS MVP with org switching, role-based access, and admin tooling: 14-20 weeks. Add AI integration: plus 4-8 weeks. Add regulatory work (PCI-DSS, HIPAA, COPPA): plus 2-6 weeks. Mobile apps add 4-8 weeks beyond web equivalents.
Five phases: (1) Discovery, 1-2 weeks; (2) Design, 2-4 weeks; (3) MVP build, 8-14 weeks; (4) Launch support, 2-4 weeks; (5) Iteration, 3-6 months on retainer OR clean handoff to your internal team. Full detail on each phase is documented at /how-we-work.
Sometimes. Two ways: (a) cut scope - if you accept a smaller v1, we can ship in fewer weeks; (b) add team - we can sometimes parallel-track work with a larger team, though coordination overhead means doubling team rarely halves time. What we will NOT do is skip discovery, skip design review, or staff junior engineers to "go faster" - those choices buy speed now at the cost of quality and rework later.
We tell you in the next weekly status review, not at the end. If scope expanded mid-engagement (the most common cause), we propose a change order with new timeline and cost. If we underestimated the work in discovery, we eat the timeline impact - that risk is on us. If you delayed a decision or input that gated our progress, we may pause the engagement clock briefly. All of this is transparent in weekly reports.
Standard discovery runs 1-2 weeks with 3-4 working sessions of 90 minutes each. Faster (1 week) when the brief is clear, the customer evidence is documented, and the technical surface is well-bounded. Slower (3-4 weeks) when we are still helping you scope the problem, when regulatory paths need legal review, or when you are validating customer demand alongside discovery.
Standard design phase is 2-4 weeks. Single-screen-flow products (a chat app, a calculator, an internal tool): 2 weeks. Standard SaaS MVP with 6-12 primary screens: 3 weeks. Complex products with multiple stakeholder surfaces (patient + provider, marketplace 3-sided, multi-tenant admin): 4 weeks. Design system creation as a standalone scope: 4-6 weeks.
About 6-12 hours per week during active phases (discovery, design, build). 3-5 hours per week during launch support. Less during iteration retainer (varies). The biggest time commitments are the recurring sessions (weekly status reviews, demo Fridays) plus async decisions in Slack/Linear during the week. We design our cadence to respect founder time; we will not pull you into 5 daily standups.
Eastern Time, standard US business hours (9am-6pm ET). Real-time chat in Slack during those hours. Async responses outside hours with no SLA expectation. For genuine launch-week emergencies we are reachable 24/7 by phone; for normal feature work, async is fine. We do not work weekends as a standard practice; we work weekends for production-down emergencies only.
When scope shifts mid-project, we produce a change order: what changed, new timeline impact, new cost (if any). You approve or reject before we start the changed work. Most projects have 1-3 change orders; they're a healthy sign that you're learning and adjusting. We avoid surprise change orders - if we see scope creeping unintentionally, we flag it in the next status review.
Three paths: (1) Clean handoff: we transfer the codebase, documentation, runbooks, and credentials to your internal team. Optional 2-4 weeks of paired sessions with your first engineer. Most clients do this after retainer. (2) Retainer continuation: we stay on at reduced capacity (typically 10-30 hours per week) for ongoing feature work. (3) Hybrid: handoff to your team plus quarterly retainer for strategy and emergency support. About 30 percent of our engagements end at launch, 60 percent continue 3-6 months on retainer, 10 percent become longer-term partnerships.
A 30-minute discovery call where we walk through your project shape and give you a realistic timeline range based on what you actually need to ship.
Schedule a discovery call