How We Work With You: Engagement Models
Every BigData Boutique engagement starts the same way: a short call to understand the problem, a meeting with the engineer who will do the work, and a written plan you approve before any hour is billed. What changes is the shape of the engagement. This page explains the four models we offer, what sets the rate, and how to start small.
We work with Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, ClickHouse, Kafka, Flink, Spark, Databricks, Iceberg, PostgreSQL, and the AI systems built on top of them. The models below apply to all of our consulting services.
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Four Ways to Engage Our Consultants
Pick the model that matches the problem. Most clients start with a fixed-scope assessment and move to a retainer or support plan once the platform is stable. Switching models later is normal and does not require starting over.
1. Fixed-scope project
Fits: a health assessment, a migration, a performance-tuning sprint, a new pipeline or search feature, anything with a deliverable you can describe in a sentence.
You get: a written scope, milestones, named engineers, and a fixed quote. Changes in scope are agreed in writing before they are billed.
How it starts: a scoping call, often followed by a one- to two-week assessment that produces the plan for the larger project.
2. Hours bank / retainer
Fits: teams that want senior engineers on call for architecture reviews, upgrades, incident help, and continuous optimization without a fixed project.
You get: a pre-paid block of hours or a monthly retainer, a shared channel with our engineers, a monthly hours log, and the same people over time.
How it starts: choose a block size that matches the expected load. Unused hours in a block roll over within the agreed period.
3. Enterprise and production support
Fits: production clusters where downtime has a cost and you want a guaranteed response time, not a best effort.
You get: an annual subscription with an SLA, 24/7 or business-hours coverage, proactive reviews, and direct access to the engineers who run these systems for a living. See enterprise support for Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, and ClickHouse tiers.
How it starts: an onboarding review of your environment, then coverage begins on the agreed date.
4. Embedded engineer
Fits: a roadmap that needs one or two more senior engineers for a quarter or longer, without a hiring cycle or a long-term headcount commitment.
You get: a named senior engineer working part-time or full-time inside your team, your repositories, and your processes, backed by the rest of our team when a specialist is needed.
How it starts: you interview the engineer, agree on allocation and duration, and they join your stand-ups the following week.
Compare the Models
| Fixed-scope project | Hours bank / retainer | Production support | Embedded engineer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commitment | Per project | Per block or month | Annual | Quarterly and up |
| Billing | Fixed quote, by milestone | Pre-paid hours, logged monthly | Subscription | Monthly, by allocation |
| Response time | Per plan | Business hours | SLA, up to 24/7 | Your team's hours |
| Best first step | Health assessment | Small block | Onboarding review | Interview the engineer |
| Can switch to | Retainer or support | Support or project | Add a project or retainer | Retainer |
What Sets the Rate
We do not publish list prices because the same hour of work can mean very different things. Four factors determine the quote you receive.
Scope and risk
A read-only review of a development cluster is priced differently from a zero-downtime migration of a system that bills your customers. Risk, data volume, and compliance requirements all count.
Seniority and specialty
Work led by an Elasticsearch or OpenSearch committer, a ClickHouse specialist, or a principal data architect is priced for that expertise. Most engagements mix a lead with hands-on engineers.
Response time and coverage
Business-hours advice costs less than a 24/7 SLA with a one-hour response. You choose the coverage that matches what downtime costs you.
Duration and volume
Larger hours banks, annual support plans, and multi-quarter placements carry lower effective rates than one-off work.
What Happens After You Contact Us
A 30-minute call
We listen to the problem, ask about your stack and constraints, and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. No pitch deck.
Meet the engineer, see the plan
The engineer who will lead the work joins a second call. You receive a written plan with scope, milestones, people, and a quote.
Start small
Most engagements begin with an assessment or a small block of hours. You decide whether to continue after seeing the first results.
What Our Clients Say
Pricing and Engagement FAQ
Do you publish your consulting rates?
No. The rate depends on scope, risk, the seniority of the engineers involved, the response time you need, and the duration of the engagement. After a scoping call you receive a written quote with the rate or fixed price, the people assigned, and the milestones, before any work is billed.
Is there a minimum commitment?
There is no long-term commitment. The smallest engagements are a short health assessment or a small hours bank. Production support plans are annual because they reserve on-call capacity, but consulting projects and retainers can be as short as a few weeks.
Should we choose a fixed-scope project or an hours bank?
Choose a fixed-scope project when you can describe the deliverable in a sentence: a migration, an assessment, a tuning sprint. Choose an hours bank when the work is ongoing or hard to predict: architecture questions, upgrades, incident help. Many clients run both, with a project for the big change and a retainer for everything around it.
Can we start with something small before committing to a larger project?
Yes, and we recommend it. A one- to two-week health assessment of your Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, ClickHouse, or data platform produces a prioritized findings report and a plan. You can act on the report yourself or use it as the scope for the next phase.
How does billing and the hours log work?
Fixed-scope projects are invoiced by milestone. Hours banks are pre-paid and you receive a monthly log showing who worked on what and the remaining balance. Support plans are invoiced annually. Embedded engineers are invoiced monthly by allocation. All invoices are in USD unless agreed otherwise.
Can we switch engagement models later?
Yes. The most common path is an assessment, then a project, then a retainer or support plan once the system is stable. Switching keeps the same engineers and context; it only changes how the work is scheduled and billed.
Do we get to choose or meet the engineers before starting?
Yes. The engineer leading the work joins the scoping call, and for embedded placements you interview the candidate before agreeing on the engagement. You will know who is on your project before the first invoice.
Which services can be bought under these models?
All of them: Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, ClickHouse, Kafka, Flink, Spark, Databricks, Iceberg, PostgreSQL, data engineering, DevOps, and AI consulting including RAG and agent development. Enterprise support plans with SLAs are available for Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, and ClickHouse.
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