For years, I billed my development and advisory work as a fixed package. It was simple, readable, predictable. But the arrival of generative AI in my daily work — specifically, Claude Code — broke that balance. I now move three to five times faster on certain tasks. Continuing to bill at a fixed package would either let me enrich myself at my clients’ expense, or under-price the truly complex projects — and I’d absorb the cost, in cash flow and personal time. From 1 June 2026, Ezohiko adopts a three-tier pricing structure: more readable, more fair, and that finally aligns my interests with my clients’. Here is why, and how it works.
AT A GLANCE
- Tier A — Fractional IT Manager flat fee: all-inclusive for partners’ day-to-day (support, steering, operational maintenance, watch). No hourly rate, no meter. Monthly fee weighted by the complexity of your IT
- Tier B — Partner time & materials at €120 ex. VAT/h: for exceptional projects requested by clients on a Fractional IT Manager contract (overhaul, migration, in-depth audit, custom development). 30-minute minimum, billed in quarter-hour increments beyond
- Tier C — One-off engagement at €360 ex. VAT/h: for clients without a partner contract who reach out to Ezohiko for an isolated request. 30-minute minimum, billed in quarter-hour increments beyond
- 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, subscriptions and packages are honoured through to their term under their original conditions
The trigger: a CRM built in a few weeks with Claude Code
In early 2026, I had a concrete problem. Ezohiko uses Pennylane for accounting, but the tool doesn’t cover the CRM layer I need: quote pipeline, margin tracking per deal, rebilling cloud purchases and subscriptions to the right clients, reconciling end-of-month vendor invoices (ALSO, TD SYNNEX) with that month’s sales. No vendor offered exactly that for a structure my size. I decided to build it myself, with AI as a co-pilot.
The result, after a few weeks of effective work spread over two months: a CRM in production handling more than 6,000 lines of purchases synced with Pennylane, a 5-column kanban quote pipeline, a margin-per-deal module, a rebilling system to the quarter-hour of licence, PDF parsers for distributor invoices, and tracking of follow-ups and rebillings in a single sales pipeline. Not a proof of concept: it’s the tool I use every day to run Ezohiko.
KEY NUMBER
Built the classical way (FastAPI + Next.js + PostgreSQL + third-party API integration, fully tested and deployed), this CRM would have taken 3 to 6 months of development by a senior freelancer, and probably between €40,000 and €80,000 in fees. With Claude Code, I built it for myself alongside my day-to-day work, in a few weeks of effective time.
This experience confronted me with a reality I could no longer ignore: the productivity of a senior freelancer who masters the right AI tools is in a different league from two years ago. And this reality makes the fixed package model either unprofitable, or non-transparent, depending which side of the contract you sit on.
Why fixed packages no longer hold in the AI-augmented era
The fixed package has long been the reassuring promise: “you know what you’re paying, I know what I’m earning”. That balance assumed the time spent was reasonably stable and predictable. That stability no longer exists.
On tasks that accelerate
If I bill you a fixed package calibrated to the old pace, and I finish in two days what used to take ten, I’m enriching myself at your expense. The package becomes an unjustified rent compared to the actual work.
On tasks that resist
Conversely, a genuinely complex subject (architecture, deep debug, regulatory file) remains long. I finish the work properly no matter what — that’s my signature. But the gap between the package and the real time is absorbed by my cash flow and my personal time. Neither sustainable, nor healthy for the relationship.
In both cases, the balance is broken: either you pay for thin air, or I carry alone the cost of poor scoping — which always ends up affecting the relationship. The coherent answer to this new reality is a three-tier grid, each tier matched to a type of client relationship.
Three tiers for three types of relationships
From 1 June 2026, all new engagements with Ezohiko — development, advisory, audits, ongoing support, expertise — fall under one of these three tiers. The choice depends on the nature of our relationship.
Tier A — Fractional IT Manager flat fee (all-inclusive day-to-day)
For my clients under a Fractional IT Manager contract, day-to-day work is fully covered by a monthly flat fee. No hourly rate, no meter, no nasty surprises. The flat fee includes:
- User support and resolution of everyday incidents
- Steering of the information system: governance, contract follow-up, vendor management, planning
- Operational maintenance: updates, backups, monitoring, ongoing optimisation
- Technical and regulatory watch: GDPR, NIS2, IT health, proposals for evolution
- Continuous user support: advice, methods, best practices
The flat fee amount is weighted by the complexity of your IT (number of workstations, servers, virtual machines, business applications, remote sites, network devices). The larger your infrastructure, the larger the fee — and the more available and proactive your support. Tiers, terms and the detailed scope of the Fractional IT Manager contract are communicated during an individual scoping session.
Tier B — Partner time & materials €120 ex. VAT/h (exceptional projects)
For exceptional projects requested by clients on a Fractional IT Manager contract — those that fall outside the all-inclusive day-to-day — I apply a preferential hourly rate of €120 ex. VAT/hour. Examples include:
- A major overhaul or migration (email platform change, move to the cloud, network architecture rebuild)
- An in-depth audit (cybersecurity, DR/BC plan, GDPR/NIS2 compliance)
- Custom development (bespoke integration, business automation, website overhaul)
- A structuring project beyond the scope of operational maintenance
Terms: 30-minute minimum per intervention, billed in quarter-hour increments beyond. Major projects can also be priced as a fixed project package after scoping — you choose between the predictability of a global price and the flexibility of hourly billing.
Tier C — One-off engagement €360 ex. VAT/h (no contract)
For clients who reach out to Ezohiko without an ongoing partner contract, on an isolated request or an ad hoc intervention, the rate is €360 ex. VAT/hour. 30-minute minimum, billed in quarter-hour increments beyond.
This rate reflects the real cost of an isolated intervention: rebuilding context on every request, slotting it into a schedule that already prioritises partner commitments, no pooling, and temporary unavailability for other clients during the work. If you’re discovering Ezohiko or have a one-off need without commitment, this tier applies.
IMPORTANT POINT
Existing maintenance contracts, subscriptions and packages are honoured through to their term under the conditions originally agreed. Projects already priced as fixed packages remain on a fixed package until delivery. The new pricing applies only to engagements started from 1 June 2026 onwards, and each file is reviewed individually with its point of contact.
Why the gap between €120 and €360 per hour?
The 3x gap between partner time & materials (€120/h) and a one-off engagement (€360/h) isn’t a punishment for clients without a contract. It’s the economic translation of an operational reality: an hour of work for a Fractional IT Manager partner doesn’t cost the same to produce as an hour for a one-off client.
The context is already loaded
For a partner, I already know your IT, your constraints, your users, your history. I can step in fast and precisely, with no rebuild time. For a one-off client, every request starts from scratch.
Partners come first
My Fractional IT Manager clients have schedule priority. Taking on a one-off request means delaying or disrupting their slots. The rate reflects this reorganisation cost and the availability commitment to those who signed.
No pooling
For a partner, monitoring, tools, subscriptions and backups are pooled over the year. For a one-off, every intervention has to carry its share of these fixed costs. Hence the mechanical difference in hourly rate.
In other words: €360/h is the “true price” of an isolated intervention, with no pooling at all. €120/h is what I can offer partners who have already funded the context and organisation through their Fractional IT Manager fee. And the Fractional IT Manager fee itself is what lets me tell them: “on your day-to-day, stop thinking about it — it’s covered”.
How to move to partner status
If you’re currently a one-off client and this pricing catches your attention, the path to shifting into partner status goes through a scoping of your IT and your ongoing support needs. Concretely:
- Initial audit: together we map your infrastructure (workstations, servers, applications, remote sites) and your recurring needs
- Fractional IT Manager flat-fee proposal calibrated to your IT, with a detailed scope of the all-inclusive day-to-day
- Optional security baseline (RG System + MailinBlack) offered as a second layer, for those who want a complete setup
- Progressive rollout, with handover of ongoing work on terms that suit you
The goal isn’t to push you into signing if it doesn’t fit your situation. Some organisations don’t need a Fractional IT Manager and that’s perfectly legitimate — in that case, Tier C remains available for one-off interventions, with full transparency on the rate.
The Ezohiko commitment: transparency in both directions
This new pricing comes with clear commitments on my side, which matter as much as the rate itself:
- No “hidden” billing: short exchanges (a few lines of email, micro-questions, replies under 5 minutes) are not counted. Only effective work is billed under Tiers B and C
- Scoping before pricing: for any request beyond a short intervention, I give you an estimate before starting
- Heads-up along the way: if I realise something will take significantly longer than expected, I tell you immediately — you decide whether to continue or not
- Detailed reporting: task, date, duration, status. All viewable and exportable for Tiers B and C
- Fixed-price quotes possible on well-scoped projects, as an alternative to hourly billing. Fixed packages haven’t disappeared — they’ve become one tool among others
- For Fractional IT Manager partners, you don’t pay by the hour for what’s part of day-to-day: that’s exactly what the all-inclusive flat fee is for
BEHIND THE SCENES
“I set up this three-tier grid to address an imbalance I was the only one to see: between a fixed package that AI destabilises and a single hourly rate that doesn’t reflect the reality of relationships. My Fractional IT Manager partners get a day-to-day without surprises and a preferential rate on their exceptional projects. One-off clients know exactly what to expect, without bearing the brunt of arbitrariness. And I can give every file the care it deserves without choosing between rigour and margin. It’s simpler, fairer, more sustainable.” — Sylvain Favre, founder of Ezohiko
Frequently asked questions
Why a 3x gap between partner time & materials and one-off engagements?
Because the conditions for producing an hour of work are fundamentally different. For a Fractional IT Manager partner, the context is already mastered, the schedule is set, monitoring and tools are pooled over the year, and the relationship is long term. For a one-off client, every intervention requires rebuilding the context, disrupting a schedule already committed to others, and carrying alone the fixed costs that are usually pooled. €360/h is the real cost price of an isolated intervention; €120/h is the preferential rate I can offer partners who have already funded the context through their Fractional IT Manager fee.
How do I know if I’m a “partner” or a “one-off” client?
Partner status is established by signing a Fractional IT Manager contract (monthly flat fee weighted by the complexity of your IT, covering the all-inclusive day-to-day). If you don’t have that contract today, you’re on the one-off tier — which is not pejorative: it’s simply the current nature of our relationship. Moving to partner status involves an individual scoping: together we assess your IT, your recurring needs, and the fee that fits your situation. You then decide whether to switch or not.
And my current WordPress maintenance contract — where does it sit?
A WordPress maintenance contract covers a specific application layer (the website), which makes it a component of your IT that can be managed within a Fractional IT Manager contract, but not a global equivalent. If you currently have WP maintenance with Ezohiko and you reach out on a broader IT topic (email, workstations, network, security), we’ll look together at whether extending into a Fractional IT Manager contract is appropriate, or whether a one-off intervention is more suited to your need. No decision is made without an individual conversation.
For a quick 10-minute question by email, am I billed 30 minutes?
No. Short exchanges (a few lines of email, micro-questions, replies under 5 minutes) are not billed — they’re part of the client relationship. The 30-minute minimum applies to actual interventions: opening the project, understanding the context, working, testing, closing. Even a “quick-looking” change rarely takes less than 30 minutes in practice once everything is accounted for. For Fractional IT Manager partners, the overwhelming majority of everyday micro-requests is covered by the flat fee anyway, with no calculation needed.
For an exceptional project, fixed-price quote or hourly billing?
It depends on your preference and the nature of the project. A well-scoped project, with a clear deliverable and a fixed perimeter (website overhaul with a precise brief, documented migration), suits a fixed-price quote: you know exactly what you’re paying. An exploratory, evolving or iterative project (an audit that may drift depending on what we find, custom development with trade-offs along the way) is better suited to hourly billing at €120/h for partners (€360/h without contract), with detailed reporting and the ability to set a checkpoint. On every request, I tell you which approach seems fairest for both sides.
Doesn’t using generative AI raise a confidentiality risk?
It’s a legitimate question I asked myself seriously. The generative AI I use day-to-day (Claude Code) is configured not to reuse the content I process for training purposes, under Anthropic’s professional terms of use. I never send credentials, secrets or raw personal data to the AI without precautions. On highly sensitive files (health data, plain-text client information, production access), I continue to work without AI or in “neutralised prompts” mode. If you want a formal commitment on this point for your file, I can provide it in writing.
If I don’t like this new pricing, what happens?
Nothing irreversible. Your current commitments are honoured through to their term. For new engagements, we talk. If you’re a one-off client and €360/h feels high, moving to partner status is open and mechanically reduces your costs as soon as there’s recurring volume. And if none of these tiers suits you, I won’t take it personally: this change is a posture, not a trap.
In summary: three tiers, one common logic — fairness
This new three-tier pricing — all-inclusive Fractional IT Manager flat fee for day-to-day, €120 ex. VAT/h for partners’ exceptional projects, €360 ex. VAT/h for one-off engagements outside a contract — is neither a hidden price hike nor a fashion. It’s a coherent response to two realities: AI changing the productivity of a senior freelancer, and the real economic difference between an isolated intervention and a long-term partner relationship. Everyone gains in clarity, except fog.
If you have questions about what this means concretely for your current or upcoming file, feel free to write. We talk, we scope, we price — and only then, we work.