> Pick how you want to work with me
Four engagement models. Every one of them is me, directly.
No contracts. No surprise invoices. No bullsh#$t.
Engineering Instruction
1:1 · Hourly · Your real codebase
Work on your actual application with me and learn to engineer it. Not a course.
- 60 or 90 minute sessions ($150 / 60 min · $200 / 90 min)
- Architecture, data, auth, infrastructure, security, testing, deployment
- Using Claude, Codex, and coding agents without losing the plot
- Reading and validating what AI-generated code actually does
- Screen share, pair programming, live debugging
- Post-session summary and action items
- —No subscription, no community tier
Discovery Call
Assessment · 60 min · With me
One hour to assess your project, your AI plan, or your codebase, and decide what's next.
- Honest assessment and a clear next step
- Architecture, AI feasibility, or code review
- Recommend instruction, a project, or nothing at all
- Fee credited toward any engagement you book
- —Not the hourly instruction rate
Engineering Projects
Rescue · Build · AI · Fixed scope
Fixed scope, fixed price. Rescue what's broken, build what's missing, or ship a custom LLM solution.
- Starts with the $99 discovery call
- Scope and price agreed before work begins
- Project room: milestones, updates, code via PR
- Code rescue and architecture fixes from $500
- Complete builds from $2,500
- AI and custom LLM solutions from $1,500
Advisory & Retainer
Ongoing · Fractional CTO
Keep me on call. Dedicated hours every month, priority response, architecture guidance.
- 10 / 20 / 40 hour tiers
- Priority response (4–24 hours)
- Direct channel to me
- Proactive code and architecture reviews
- Fractional CTO and technical advisory
- Month-to-month, rollover unused hours
Complete Build
I build it. I launch it.
Full site or app, designed, built, deployed. You describe it, I scope it and ship it.
- Landing pages to full-stack apps
- Auth, databases, integrations
- Responsive design (mobile + desktop)
- CI/CD and hosting setup
- Scoping call to nail down requirements
- Code delivered via PR
Security & Incident Response
Audit · Respond · Teach
Proactive audits or incident response, from someone who led U.S. Navy Cyber Protection Teams. I fix it and teach you why it happened.
- Full codebase security audit
- Incident response and forensics
- Threat remediation and hardening
- Post-incident coaching included
- Vulnerability report with roadmap
- Active-incident response via retainer
AI & Custom LLM Solutions
Strategy · Build · Production
Find where AI actually pays off, design it, build it, and know what it costs to run.
- AI feasibility and opportunity assessment
- Custom LLM apps, RAG, agents, integrations
- Private and locally hosted AI systems
- Model, hardware, and operating-cost evaluation
- Proof-of-concept through production
- Team training and playbooks
$99 Discovery Call
One hour with me. Bring the codebase, the idea, or the AI question. I'll assess where you are, tell you what I'd do, and give you a clear next step, whether that's instruction, a scoped project, or nothing at all.
- 60 minutes, video call, with me directly
- Honest assessment, no upsell script
- Fee credited toward any engagement you book
> Compare engagements
All prices are starting-at figures. View full service details for complete breakdowns.
> Frequently asked
What's the difference between the discovery call and engineering instruction?
The $99 discovery call is a one-hour assessment: I look at your situation and tell you what I'd do next. Engineering instruction is ongoing, hourly, one-on-one work on your real application where I teach you to engineer it. Instruction is booked per session ($150 / 60 min · $200 / 90 min). The discovery fee is not the hourly rate.
Who actually does the work?
I do. SoloNerds is run by me, David. There is no roster, no bidding, and no handoff. If a narrow piece of work ever needs a specialist, it happens with your agreement and you'll know exactly who is doing what.
Is instruction a course or a membership?
Neither. There's no curriculum, no cohort, no Discord, and no subscription. We work on your actual codebase, in your stack, on the problems you're hitting, and I teach the engineering behind them as we go.
How fast can I get help?
Discovery calls and instruction: book the next available slot, often same-day. Emergency sessions ($350) for production-down situations: I drop everything. Projects: scoped in the discovery call and scheduled from there.
What if my project needs more than one session?
Then it's probably a scoped project. You get a fixed scope and price, a project room with milestones and updates, and code delivered via PR. The $99 discovery fee is credited toward it.
What technologies do you work in?
Modern web stacks: Next.js, React, TypeScript, Node.js, AWS, Vercel, Postgres, MongoDB, Prisma. On the AI side: Claude, OpenAI, and open models, RAG and vector search, agents, and private or locally hosted LLM systems. If your stack is different, ask. I've probably debugged something stranger.
Can you build my entire app from scratch?
Yes. Complete builds run from landing pages ($2,500) to full-stack apps ($5,000+) to complex systems with custom infrastructure ($10,000+). Every build starts with a scoping call and a written scope.
How do you help a business with AI?
I start by finding the problems where AI actually pays off, and I'll tell you when it doesn't. Then feasibility and architecture, a proof of concept, and production: custom LLM applications, retrieval over your own knowledge, agents and automation, private or locally hosted models, and a realistic read on hardware, infrastructure, and operating cost. Advisory and fractional CTO engagements are available for companies that want that on an ongoing basis.
My site was hacked. Can you help?
Yes. Incident response covers emergency triage, forensic analysis, threat removal, and infrastructure hardening. Post-incident coaching is included, so you understand exactly how the compromise happened and how to prevent the next one.
What if I'm not satisfied?
For sessions and projects, if I can't solve your problem, I'll refund you. Retainers are month-to-month with no long-term contracts.