Frequently asked questions

Because the same projects usually need both. A launch needs a fast, reliable site and the photography, video, and brand work that make it land. Treating those as two vendors is where things get lost. We cover both, so the story and the system get built to fit each other. The engineering practice is the core of the business. The creative work is a real capability, not an add-on. If your project only needs one side, that’s fine too.

Most work is remote, which keeps engagements flexible and affordable. On-site work is available where it’s practical. Photo and video shoots, some IT and networking setups, in-person workshops.

From startups and small businesses to established engineering teams. Fractional leadership and packaged audits suit smaller teams and those between hires. Larger teams bring us in for a specific problem or a senior second opinion.

We’re industry-agnostic. The work draws on production experience across media, real estate, and high-traffic consumer products. The fundamentals of speed, reliability, and cost apply wherever you operate.

Yes, and at a reduced rate. There’s a funding angle worth knowing. If your grants carry Section 508 or WCAG obligations, that work can often be written into the grant as a budgeted line. It comes out of the grant, not your operating budget. We can help you scope it. Separately: plenty of small organizations pay $20, $40, even $60 a month for hosting that costs about $15 a year. If that’s you, ask. See nonprofits, websites and pricing.

Book a 20-minute intro call or send a message describing what’s slow, fragile, or on your mind. You’ll leave with a clear next step, whether or not we end up working together.

It depends on current commitments. The fastest way to find out is a quick intro call; we’ll be straight with you about timing rather than overbook.

Enough context and access to understand the problem, and a point of contact on your side. We keep the ask minimal and scope it with you before anything starts.

Fair question, and the honest answer is yes, mostly. Hitchpost is a senior practice, not an agency. That’s the point. You get the person who has done this work for fifteen years, doing the work. Where that’s a risk, we manage it rather than pretend it away. Nothing we build depends on us being at a desk. You own the code, the accounts, and the documentation from day one. Systems get safe defaults and written runbooks. When work needs more hands, we bring in trusted specialists we’ve worked with and vouch for. If a deadline needs cover we can’t give, we say so before you sign, not after.

Sometimes you should. An agency is the right call when you need many people on many workstreams at once, or a capability we don’t have. What you’re paying for there is coordination, and a chunk of the budget goes to it. We’re the right call when the problem is deep rather than wide: something is slow, fragile, expensive, or nobody can say why it broke. That work rewards one experienced person who owns the outcome far more than it rewards a team structure.

Most of our clients do. We come in alongside a team, not instead of one. Usually for the thing nobody has had time or specialist depth to do. Find why the site is slow. Build the reliability practice. Get the cloud bill down. Give a senior second opinion on a decision that’s hard to reverse. The deliverable is something your team can act on and keep using. We’d rather leave your engineers better equipped than make you dependent on us.

That’s common, and it doesn’t disqualify you. Plenty of our clients are the person who signs off on software without being able to check it. We work in plain language, write findings for the people who have to act on them rather than for other engineers, and we do the hands-on work ourselves when there’s nobody to hand it to. You’ll never be told what’s wrong and left to arrange the fix alone.

We tell you before we exceed the estimate, not after. Fixed-scope engagements are quoted as a number and agreed in writing before anything starts. A change in scope is a conversation and a written change order. Not a surprise line on an invoice. If we get an estimate wrong by our own error, that’s ours to absorb.

Code, configuration, infrastructure, accounts, documentation, and runbooks are yours. They stay in your control as we go, not handed over at the end as a bargaining chip. We don’t hold credentials hostage and there’s nothing to unwind. Ownership transfers once the engagement is paid. Two things we do keep. The right to reuse general knowledge and our own internal tooling. And the right to show finished work in our portfolio. If a project is sensitive or under embargo, tell us and we’ll keep it out. A handover call for your team is included either way.