For years, I billed my development and advisory work on fixed-price quotes. It was simple, readable, predictable. But the arrival of generative AI in my daily workflow — Claude Code, specifically — broke that balance. I now move three to five times faster on certain tasks. Continuing with fixed quotes would mean either profiting on my clients’ backs, or under-pricing genuinely complex work and absorbing the difference in cash flow and personal time. From 1 June 2026, Ezohiko moves to a three-tier pricing structure that is more transparent, more fair, and that finally aligns my interests with my clients’. Here’s why — and how it works.
AT A GLANCE
- Tier A — Fractional IT Management retainer: all-inclusive monthly fee covering partner clients’ daily IT (support, governance, operations, monitoring). No hourly rate, no meter running. The retainer is sized to the complexity of your information system
- Tier B — Partner rate at €120/hr (ex. VAT): for special projects requested by partner clients (migrations, audits, custom development, structural initiatives). Minimum 30 minutes, billed in 15-minute increments thereafter
- Tier C — One-off engagement at €360/hr (ex. VAT): for clients without a partnership contract who reach out for an isolated request. Minimum 30 minutes, billed in 15-minute increments thereafter
- Systematic time tracking with detailed monthly reporting, task by task, for tiers B and C
- Effective date: 1 June 2026 for all new engagements
- Existing contracts, retainers and fixed-price quotes remain honoured through their term, under the originally agreed conditions
The trigger: a CRM built in a few weeks with Claude Code
In early 2026, I had a concrete problem. Ezohiko uses an accounting platform for bookkeeping, but it does not cover the CRM layer I need: a quote pipeline, deal-level margin tracking, re-invoicing of cloud purchases and subscriptions to the right end clients, reconciliation between end-of-month distributor invoices (ALSO, TD SYNNEX) and our actual sales. No vendor offered exactly what a company my size requires. So I decided to build it myself, with AI as a co-pilot.
The result, after a few weeks of effective work spread across two months: a CRM running in production that synchronises more than 6,000 purchase lines with my accounting platform, a five-column kanban quote pipeline, a deal-level margin module, a re-invoicing system precise to the licence-quarter, PDF parsers for distributor invoices, and a unified commercial pipeline tracking follow-ups and re-invoicing. Not a proof of concept: this is the tool I now rely on every day to run Ezohiko.
KEY FIGURE
Using a classical approach (FastAPI + Next.js + PostgreSQL + third-party API integration, fully tested and deployed), this CRM would have required 3 to 6 months of development for a senior freelancer, and somewhere between €40,000 and €80,000 in fees. With Claude Code, I built it for myself in parallel with my regular business, in a few weeks of effective work.
That experience forced me to face a reality I could no longer ignore: the productivity of a senior independent consultant who masters the right AI tools is in a different league from what it was two years ago. And that reality makes the old fixed-price model unsustainable — either economically for me, or fairly for my clients.
Why fixed pricing no longer holds in the AI-augmented era
Fixed pricing has long been the reassuring promise: “you know what you pay, I know what I earn”. That balance assumed that the time spent on any given task would remain relatively stable and predictable. That stability no longer exists.
On tasks that accelerate
If I bill a fixed fee calibrated on the old pace, and I now finish in two days what used to take ten, I am profiting on your back. The fixed fee turns into an unjustified rent compared to the real work performed.
On tasks that resist
Conversely, a genuinely complex topic (architecture, deep debugging, regulatory work) remains long. I always finish the work properly, regardless of cost — that is my signature. But the gap between the fixed fee and the actual time gets absorbed in my cash flow and my personal time. That is neither sustainable nor healthy for our relationship.
Either way, the balance breaks: either you pay for thin air, or I bear the cost of a poorly scoped engagement alone — which always ends up affecting the relationship. The coherent answer to this new reality is a three-tier structure, each tier matching a type of client relationship.
Three tiers for three types of relationships
From 1 June 2026, all new engagements entrusted to Ezohiko — development, consulting, audits, advisory, expertise — fall under one of these three tiers. Which one applies depends on the nature of our relationship.
Tier A — Fractional IT Management retainer (all-inclusive daily IT)
For my clients under a Fractional IT Management contract, the daily IT work is fully covered by a monthly retainer. No hourly rate, no meter, no end-of-month surprises. The retainer includes:
- End-user support and resolution of routine incidents
- IT governance and management: vendor relationships, contract reviews, IT roadmap, planning
- Operational maintenance: patching, backups, monitoring, continuous optimisation
- Technical and regulatory watch: GDPR, NIS2, cybersecurity posture, suggested evolutions, alignment with DPC and NCSC Ireland guidance
- Day-to-day user advisory: practical advice, methodologies, best practices
The retainer amount is sized to the complexity of your IT estate (number of workstations, servers, virtual machines, business applications, remote sites, network equipment). The larger your infrastructure, the larger the retainer — and the more available and proactive the accompaniment you receive. Tiers, terms and the precise scope of the Fractional IT Management programme are shared during a one-on-one onboarding discussion.
Tier B — Partner rate at €120/hr ex. VAT (special projects)
For special projects requested by my clients under a Fractional IT contract — anything that goes beyond the all-inclusive daily work — I apply a preferential rate of €120 ex. VAT per hour. Examples include:
- A major migration or redesign (mail platform change, cloud migration, network re-architecture)
- An in-depth audit (cybersecurity, BC/DR, GDPR/NIS2 compliance)
- A custom development (bespoke integration, business automation, website rebuild)
- A structural project that exceeds the scope of operational maintenance
Terms: 30-minute minimum per intervention, 15-minute increments thereafter. Larger projects may also be quoted as a fixed-price engagement after scoping — you choose between the predictability of a global price and the flexibility of hourly billing.
Tier C — One-off engagement at €360/hr ex. VAT (non-contract)
For clients who reach out to Ezohiko without a recurring partnership contract, for an isolated request or an ad-hoc intervention, the rate is €360 ex. VAT per hour. 30-minute minimum, 15-minute increments thereafter.
This rate reflects the true cost of an isolated intervention: rebuilding the context from scratch for every request, fitting into a calendar that already prioritises partner commitments, no shared overheads, and temporary unavailability for other clients during the engagement. If you are new to Ezohiko, or if you have an occasional need without any appetite for a recurring arrangement, this is the tier that applies.
IMPORTANT
Existing maintenance contracts, retainers and fixed-price quotes are honoured through their full term, at the conditions originally agreed. Projects already scoped on a fixed-price basis remain on that basis through delivery. The new structure applies only to engagements started from 1 June 2026 onwards, and every account is reviewed individually with its main contact.
Why a 3x gap between €120 and €360 per hour?
The 3x gap between the partner rate (€120/hr) and the one-off rate (€360/hr) is not a punishment for non-contract clients. It is the economic translation of an operational reality: an hour of work for a partner client does not cost the same to produce as an hour for a one-off client.
The context is already loaded
For a Fractional IT partner, I already know your IT estate, your constraints, your end users, your history. I can intervene quickly and accurately, with no context to rebuild. For a one-off client, every request starts from zero.
Partners come first
My Fractional IT clients have calendar priority. Accepting a one-off request means rescheduling or disrupting their slots. The rate reflects that reorganisation cost and the availability commitment I make to those who signed.
No shared overheads
For a partner, technical watch, tools, subscriptions and backups are mutualised across the year. For a one-off engagement, every intervention has to carry its share of those fixed costs. Hence the mechanical difference in hourly rate.
In short: €360/hr is the “true price” of an isolated intervention, with no mutualisation. €120/hr is what I can offer to partners who have already funded the context and the operational setup through their Fractional IT retainer. And the retainer itself is what lets me tell them: “about your daily IT — don’t think about it; it’s covered”.
How to move into partner mode
If you are currently a one-off client and this structure speaks to you, the path to becoming a Fractional IT partner goes through a scoping of your IT estate and your recurring needs. Concretely:
- Initial audit: together we map your infrastructure (workstations, servers, business apps, remote sites) and your recurring needs
- Fractional IT proposal calibrated to your IT estate, with a clearly defined scope for the all-inclusive daily work
- Optional security baseline (RG System + MailinBlack) offered as a separate line for those who want a complete dispositive
- Gradual transition, with in-flight projects re-onboarded in the way that suits you best
The aim is never to push you into signing if it is not the right fit. Some organisations simply do not need a Fractional IT arrangement, and that is perfectly legitimate — Tier C remains fully available for occasional needs, with complete transparency on pricing.
The Ezohiko commitment: transparency, both ways
This new structure comes with clear commitments from my side, which matter as much as the rates themselves:
- No “hidden” billing: short exchanges (a few-line emails, quick questions, replies under 5 minutes) are not counted. Only effective working time is billed in tiers B and C
- Scoping before pricing: for any request beyond a short intervention, I give you a time estimate before starting
- Mid-course alerts: if I realise an engagement will take significantly more time than estimated, I tell you immediately — you decide whether to continue or not
- Detailed reporting: task, date, duration, status. Everything is consultable and exportable for tiers B and C
- Fixed-price quotes still available on well-scoped engagements, as an alternative to hourly billing. The fixed-price model has not disappeared — it has simply become one tool among others
- Fractional IT partners do not pay hourly for daily IT: that is the very point of the all-inclusive retainer
BEHIND THE SCENES
“This three-tier structure is my response to an imbalance only I was seeing: between a fixed-price model that AI is making unstable, and a single hourly rate that does not reflect the reality of the relationship. My Fractional IT partners get a daily IT with no surprises and a preferential rate on their projects. One-off clients know exactly what to expect, with no arbitrary feel. And I can give every engagement the care it deserves, without having to choose between rigour and margin. Simpler, fairer, more sustainable.” — Sylvain Favre, CEO at Ezohiko
Frequently asked questions
Why a 3x gap between the partner rate and the one-off rate?
Because the production conditions for one hour of work are fundamentally different. For a Fractional IT partner, the context is already mastered, the calendar is aligned, watch and tooling are mutualised across the year, and the relationship is built over time. For a one-off client, every engagement requires rebuilding the context, disrupting a schedule already committed to others, and carrying alone the fixed costs that are usually shared. €360/hr is the real cost of an isolated intervention; €120/hr is the preferential rate I can offer partners who have already funded the context through their Fractional IT retainer.
How do I know whether I’m a “partner” or a “one-off” client?
Partner status is opened by signing a Fractional IT Management contract (monthly retainer sized to your IT estate, covering the all-inclusive daily work). If you do not have that contract today, you fall into the one-off tier — there is nothing pejorative about it, it is simply the current nature of our relationship. Moving into partner mode is done through a one-on-one scoping: we look at your IT estate, your recurring needs and the retainer that would suit your situation. You then decide whether to make the switch.
My current WordPress maintenance contract — where does it fit?
A WordPress maintenance contract covers a specific application brick (the website), which makes it a manageable component within a Fractional IT Management arrangement, but not a global equivalent. If you currently have a WordPress maintenance contract with Ezohiko and you reach out for a wider IT topic (mail, workstations, network, security), we will look together at whether extending into Fractional IT makes sense, or whether a one-off engagement is better suited to the need. No decision is taken without an individual conversation.
For a quick 10-minute question by email, am I billed 30 minutes?
No. Short exchanges (a few-line emails, micro-questions, replies fitting in under 5 minutes) are not billed — they are part of the client relationship. The 30-minute minimum applies to actual interventions: opening the project, understanding the context, doing the work, testing, closing out. Even a change that looks quick rarely takes less than 30 minutes once everything is accounted for. For Fractional IT partners, the overwhelming majority of routine micro-requests is covered by the retainer anyway, with no calculation involved.
For a special project, should I go for a fixed-price quote or hourly billing?
It depends on your preference and on the nature of the project. A well-scoped project with a clear deliverable and a closed perimeter (a website rebuild with a precise brief, a documented migration) lends itself well to a fixed-price quote: you know exactly what you pay. An exploratory, evolving or iterative project (an audit whose direction may shift with findings, a custom development with mid-course decisions) is better served by hourly billing at €120/hr for partners (€360/hr for non-contract clients), with detailed reporting and the option to set a cap. On every request, I tell you which approach seems fairest for both sides.
Does generative AI raise confidentiality concerns?
That is a legitimate question and I have taken it seriously. The generative AI I rely on day-to-day (Claude Code) is configured not to reuse the content I process for training purposes, within the framework of Anthropic’s professional terms of use. I never send credentials, secrets or raw personal data to the AI without careful handling. For highly sensitive matters (health data, raw client information, production access), I work either without AI or in “neutralised prompt” mode. If you want a formal commitment on this point for your file — aligned with GDPR and DPC guidance — I can provide a written one.
What if this new structure doesn’t suit me?
Nothing irreversible. Your current engagements are honoured through their term. For new engagements, we talk. If you are a one-off client and €360/hr feels high, moving into a Fractional IT partnership mechanically reduces your costs as soon as there is a recurring volume. And if none of these tiers suits you, I won’t take it badly: this change is a posture, not a captive setup.
In short: three tiers, one shared logic — fairness
This new three-tier structure — all-inclusive Fractional IT retainer for daily work, €120/hr for partners’ special projects, €360/hr for one-off engagements from non-contract clients — is neither a hidden price rise nor a fashion statement. It is a coherent response to two realities: AI changing the productivity of a senior independent consultant, and the genuine economic difference between an isolated engagement and a long-term partner relationship. Everyone gains in clarity; only the fog loses.
If you have any questions about what this means concretely for your current or upcoming engagement, do reach out. We talk, we scope, we price — and only then, we work.
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