FOUNDATION PARTNERSHIP

~20 hours/month of senior engineering capacity

Reliable senior engineering support for professional services firms. We learn your systems, respond within 48 hours, and keep things running — so technology stops being a source of anxiety and starts being something you don't have to think about.

Reliable support, not freelancer rouletteContext that accumulates over timePredictable costs, no surprisesSenior engineers — every engagement, every time
See how it works
THE SUPPORT GAP

Too small for a tech team. Too established to wing it.

Professional services firms between 5 and 30 people occupy an awkward middle ground. Too sophisticated to run on spreadsheets and duct tape. Too lean to justify a full-time engineer. The result: technology that works until it doesn't, and no one to call when it breaks.

$150K+Full-Time Cost

Annual fully-loaded cost of a senior software engineer — salary, benefits, management overhead, tooling. For 15-20 hours of actual need per month.

Glassdoor / BLS, 2024
68%Freelancer Dissatisfaction

of professional services firms report inconsistent quality or availability from freelance technical contractors

Clutch.co Small Business Survey, 2024
3-5 daysContext Rebuild

Average time to bring a new contractor up to speed on existing systems — repeated every engagement, every time

Industry average, 2024
47%Deferred Maintenance

of small professional services firms report critical software updates deferred 6+ months due to lack of technical resources

SMB Technology Report, 2024

The in-between problem

You can't justify $150K/year for a full-time engineer when your needs are 15-20 hours a month. But freelancers are unreliable and every engagement starts from zero. The market has a hole in it: reliable, affordable, ongoing technical support with context that builds over time. That's what Foundation fills.

5-10xcost of emergency contractor vs. retained support when something breaks at the worst time

Context is the real asset

The most expensive part of any technical engagement is not the code. It's the context transfer — explaining your business, your systems, your quirks, your history. With one-off contractors, you pay that cost every single time. With Foundation, context accumulates. Month 1 is onboarding. Month 6, we know your systems better than you do. That efficiency compounds.

60%reduction in time-to-resolution by month 6 as context eliminates ramp-up overhead
SOUND FAMILIAR?

What the support gap actually feels like

Four moments that every firm without reliable technical support recognizes. The frustration is real, specific, and expensive.

Monday 8:45amManaging Partner

Opens email to find the client portal has been down since Friday evening. Three clients have already called the office. The managing partner's first call of the week is to the freelancer who built the portal six months ago — who doesn't answer. His second call is to another freelancer found on Upwork, who says he can “probably take a look by Wednesday.”

“This is the third time this year something has broken and I've had nobody to call. I spent two hours on Saturday trying to fix it myself. I'm a lawyer, not an engineer. How is this my job?”

Hidden cost: $3,200+ in partner time per incident — finding help, explaining the problem, managing the fix — plus client relationship damage from 60+ hours of downtime

Tuesday 3:15pmOperations Manager

The CRM hasn't synced with the billing system in two weeks. Nobody noticed until a client called about a duplicate invoice. Now there are 47 records that don't match between the two systems. The operations manager is manually reconciling them one by one in a spreadsheet, comparing screens side by side.

“This sync used to work. Something changed and nobody knows what. The contractor who set it up used our free trial of Zapier and his personal email to configure it. He's been gone for four months. I don't even have login credentials.”

Hidden cost: 12+ hours of manual reconciliation plus the hidden cost of data you can't trust — decisions made on wrong numbers, invoices that erode client confidence

Wednesday 11:00amPractice Group Leader

A prospective client asks if you can provide real-time project status updates through a portal. Your competitor can — they showed a demo during their pitch last week. Your honest answer is that status updates go out via email when someone remembers to write them. You say “we're exploring options” and change the subject.

“We lost the Henderson engagement last quarter to a firm half our size because they had a client portal and we didn't. I've been asking about this for a year. The answer is always the same: “we don't have anyone to build it.””

Hidden cost: $50K-200K in lost engagements per year from firms that can't match the client experience expectations set by competitors who invested in technology

Thursday 6:30pmFounding Partner

Annual renewal notice arrives for three SaaS tools the firm signed up for over the past two years. Total: $14,400/year. One tool was used for a month and abandoned. Another overlaps 80% with a tool they already had. The third works, but nobody is sure if it's configured correctly. Canceling any of them requires understanding what they do — and nobody does.

“We're paying $14,000 a year for tools I can't even name. When I asked the team, nobody could tell me what two of them do. But nobody wants to cancel them because “what if something breaks?” We're afraid of our own software stack.”

Hidden cost: $10K-25K/year in redundant or misconfigured tools — the technology tax firms pay when nobody has the technical oversight to evaluate, consolidate, and optimize

THE DIAGNOSIS

Where it hurts

Six patterns we see in every professional services firm without reliable technical support. The specifics differ. The structural problems are the same.

THE SCALEWERK DIFFERENCE

Engineering support that actually works.

Foundation is built on a simple premise: professional services firms need reliable technical support, not a technology vendor. We become the engineering capability you've been missing — without the overhead of building one.

We learn your systems once

The first week is orientation. We document everything — what you have, how it's configured, where the risks are, what the previous contractor built. By week two, we know your stack. By month three, we know it better than anyone at your firm.

You drive priorities. We execute.

Foundation is not strategic consulting. We don't tell you what to build. You bring us work — maintenance, fixes, improvements, questions — and we deliver it well. Clear scope, clear communication, clear results.

Context accumulates, efficiency compounds

Month 1: learning your systems. Month 3: handling requests in half the time. Month 6: anticipating issues before you notice them. Month 12: we're the institutional memory for your technology stack.

Your firm owns everything

Full documentation. Full access. If we disappeared tomorrow, your systems keep running and the next person can pick up where we left off. No proprietary dependencies. No lock-in.

What we don't do

What we do instead

Finding a new freelancer every time something breaks

One team that already knows your systems, available within 48 hours

Paying emergency rates because you have no standing support

Predictable monthly investment that covers maintenance and improvements

Re-explaining your business from scratch every engagement

Context that accumulates — by month 3, a sentence replaces an hour of explanation

Systems nobody understands because the builder left

Complete documentation that survives any personnel change

WHAT WE HANDLE

The work that keeps your technology running

Four categories of work that Foundation covers. Specific, tangible services — not vague consulting promises. Each tailored to YOUR systems, YOUR tools, YOUR way of working.

The preventive work that keeps systems healthy. Software updates, security patches, performance monitoring, backup verification. The unsexy work that prevents expensive emergencies.

Software Updates

CMS updates, plugin patches, framework upgrades — done safely with testing, not “click update and pray”

Monthly or as needed2-4 hrs/month

Security Patches

Vulnerability remediation, dependency updates, SSL certificate renewals — the work that prevents breaches

As released1-2 hrs/month

Performance Monitoring

Uptime monitoring, load testing, database optimization — catching slowdowns before your clients notice

Continuous1-2 hrs/month

Backup Verification

Testing that backups actually work — not just that they run, but that they restore correctly

Monthly1 hr/month

Typical Month

Month 4: WordPress core update, 3 plugin updates, SSL renewal, database optimization, backup test. 6 hours total. Zero downtime.

EXAMPLE SCENARIOS

What reliable support looks like in practice

Example scenarios illustrating what Foundation partnerships are designed to deliver. These represent the types of outcomes our model enables.

Three years of deferred maintenance cleared in 90 days. Zero downtime during the process.

12 professionals · Boutique consulting firm · Example scenario
THE CHALLENGE

The firm had accumulated three years of deferred maintenance across 6 systems — WordPress site two major versions behind, CRM integrations broken, client portal partially functional, and a constellation of workarounds that the team navigated daily without questioning. The managing partner estimated she spent 4-5 hours per week on technical issues personally — finding freelancers, explaining problems, approving invoices, and verifying fixes that often introduced new problems.

3 years → 0

Maintenance backlog

5 hrs/week

Partner time recovered

6 of 6

Systems documented

$38K

Annual savings

THE OUTCOME

Within 90 days, every system was updated, documented, and stable. The WordPress site was migrated to a modern hosting environment with automated backups and monitoring. CRM integrations were rebuilt with proper error handling. The client portal was finished and launched. The managing partner's technical firefighting dropped to near zero — a Slack message every few days, handled within 24 hours. Annual savings: $38K in eliminated freelancer costs, recovered partner time, and reduced SaaS spend from tool consolidation.

“The best part isn't the money we saved. It's the Sunday nights. I used to spend Sunday nights worrying about what would break Monday morning. I don't do that anymore.”

Client satisfaction scores jumped 34 points after a portal that took 6 weeks to build — and cost less than the annual SaaS tool it replaced.

22 professionals · Financial advisory practice · Example scenario
THE CHALLENGE

The firm was paying $9,600/year for a SaaS client portal that didn't match their workflow. Documents were uploaded manually. Clients called to check status because the portal didn't show it. The team had built a parallel system of email updates because the tool was too rigid to adapt. They had looked at 4 other SaaS options — none fit their specific compliance requirements and client communication cadence.

+34 points

NPS improvement

$9,600/year

SaaS cost eliminated

6 weeks

Build time

60%

Support calls reduced

THE OUTCOME

Built a custom client portal during month 2-3 of the Foundation partnership, using roughly 15 hours/month of the retainer. The portal matched their exact workflow: document upload with specific metadata fields for their compliance requirements, real-time status tracking tied to their project management tool, and automated notifications matching their client communication cadence. Client satisfaction scores increased 34 points on the next quarterly survey. The $9,600/year SaaS subscription was cancelled. Support calls from clients asking about status dropped 60%.

“Four vendors told us their platform could be “configured” to fit our needs. None of them could. Scalewerk didn't try to sell us a platform. They built exactly what we described.”

Technical co-founder left. Firm didn't skip a beat. Zero disruption to operations or client delivery.

8 professionals · Legal technology consulting firm · Example scenario
THE CHALLENGE

The firm's technical co-founder announced he was leaving to pursue another opportunity. He had built and maintained every technical system the firm used — CRM configuration, website, client deliverable templates, reporting automation, and several custom scripts that nobody else understood. The remaining partners had 4 weeks before his departure and zero technical capability between them.

4 weeks

Transition time

11

Systems documented

Zero

Client disruption

100%

Knowledge transferred

THE OUTCOME

Onboarded with the departing co-founder during his final 4 weeks. Documented all 11 systems, mapped every integration, captured every custom script with comments and context. By the time he left, we had a complete inventory of the firm's technical infrastructure and had already started handling routine maintenance. The remaining partners experienced zero disruption. No client noticed the transition. Nine months later, we've improved 4 of the 11 systems beyond what the co-founder had built, because we brought engineering expertise he didn't have.

“When my co-founder told me he was leaving, my first thought was “the firm is going to break.” It didn't. Not even a little. Scalewerk was on a call with him the next day.”
WHAT WE BUILD

Solutions built for how YOUR firm works

Four examples of what Foundation partnerships produce. Each started as a specific pain point. Each was built around the client's actual processes — not a template.

The Problem

Every technical issue is an emergency project. Find a contractor, explain the problem, explain your systems, wait for availability, hope for quality, manage the engagement. 8-12 hours of overhead per incident.

The Solution

A standing support channel — Slack or email — where you describe the issue in one sentence and it gets handled. No finding. No explaining. No onboarding. Context already established. 48-hour response, usually faster.

Before

8-12 hrs

Per incident: finding help, explaining context, managing the engagement, verifying the work. Every time.

After

1 message

Describe the issue. We already know your systems. Work starts within 48 hours. Usually same day.

85% improvement
“Designed so you send a message and it gets handled. No finding contractors. No negotiating. Just resolution.”

Preview

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THE EXPERIENCE

What working with us actually looks like

No mysteries. No surprises. Here's exactly what happens when you start a Foundation partnership — and what the ongoing rhythm feels like.

Week 1: Orientation & Audit

Days 1-2

Orientation

We get access to your systems and start learning. What tools do you use? How are they configured? Where's the documentation? (Usually: nowhere.) We're not writing code yet — we're building the understanding that makes everything after this faster.

SupportTicketMock
Days 3-4

System Audit

We document what we find. Current state of every system, configuration details, integration maps, potential risks, maintenance that's overdue. No judgment — just clear, honest assessment. This becomes your technical inventory.

SystemHealthMock
Day 5

Kickoff Call

30 minutes. We share what we found, you tell us what matters most, and we agree on priorities for month one. Not a presentation — a conversation. By the end, everyone knows what happens next.

MaintenanceLogMock

Ongoing Rhythm

Sync Calls

Monthly (30-45 min)

Review what was completed, discuss what's coming up, address any concerns. Quick alignment, not status theater.

Async Communication

Anytime via Slack or email

Send us a request, ask a question, flag an issue. We respond within 48 hours — usually faster. Most work starts same-day for straightforward requests.

Documentation

Monthly summary

What we did, how many hours were spent, what we noticed, what we recommend. Clear, concise, no fluff.

Maintenance

Ongoing

Updates, patches, monitoring — the preventive work that happens in the background without you having to think about it.

How We Work Together

01

You drive priorities — tell us what matters, we execute

02

We handle the technical work — you focus on your practice

03

We ask clarifying questions — better to understand upfront than build the wrong thing

04

We flag issues proactively — security risks, maintenance needs, optimization opportunities

05

We document everything — your firm owns the knowledge, not just the code

THE JOURNEY

How the partnership evolves

Month 1

Establish the Rhythm

  • All systems documented and inventoried
  • First requests completed — demonstrating quality and responsiveness
  • Communication rhythm established — you know how to reach us and what to expect
  • Quick wins delivered — that thing that's been broken for 6 months? Fixed.

Relief. “I can actually get this stuff done now.” The maintenance item that sat on your list for six months — handled in the first week.

Months 2-3

Build Momentum

  • Maintenance backlog cleared — years of deferred work addressed systematically
  • Turnaround times improve as our context deepens
  • You start requesting improvements, not just fixes
  • We flag issues proactively — before you know they're there

Confidence. The low-level anxiety about technology fades. You have someone to call. And they already know your systems.

Months 4-6

Deepen the Partnership

  • Requests handled in hours, not days — context eliminates ramp-up
  • Documentation accumulates — institutional knowledge captured in systems
  • First improvement project completed — something that makes your team's life measurably better
  • Technical capacity becomes a quiet competitive advantage

Stability. Technology just works. It's not a thing you worry about anymore. Requests get handled. Systems stay current. You focus on your practice.

Month 7+

Steady State

  • Systems well-maintained, documented, and stable
  • Issues caught and resolved before they become emergencies
  • Continuous small improvements compound into meaningful efficiency gains
  • Trusted technical resource for questions, evaluations, and decisions

Peace of mind. You have an engineering team without the overhead of building one. When someone asks “who handles your technology?” — you have an answer.

WHAT CHANGES

What changes

Technical needs stop being emergencies. You have reliable support, predictable costs, and the confidence that things will get handled.

For the Owner / Managing Partner

Problems get solved

Before:Technical issues sit on a list, getting worse
After:Issues get addressed within days, not months

That integration that's been broken for three months? Fixed in the first week. That report nobody trusts? Working correctly now.

Predictable costs

Before:Unknown expenses when something breaks
After:Fixed monthly investment, no surprises

Budget a predictable monthly amount for technical support. That's it. No emergency invoices, no scope creep, no negotiating rates under pressure.

Someone to call

Before:Scrambling to find help when issues arise
After:A known partner who responds within 48 hours

When a client requests something technical, you don't panic. You forward it to us and it gets handled.

Technical confidence

Before:Uncertainty about systems, decisions, capabilities
After:A resource for technical questions and opinions

Evaluating a new tool? Ask us. Wondering if something is possible? We'll tell you. No more guessing.

Maintenance actually happens

Before:Updates deferred, security patches ignored
After:Systems kept current and healthy

Software updates, security patches, routine maintenance — the stuff that prevents bigger problems — actually gets done.

Context that builds

Before:Re-explaining your business every engagement
After:A partner who knows your systems and history

Six months in, we know your quirks, your preferences, your history. Requests take minutes to scope, not hours.

For Your Team

Technical issues resolved

Before:Working around broken systems
After:Systems that actually work

That tool everyone complains about? Fixed. That process that required manual workarounds? Automated.

Requests get handled

Before:“We can't do that, it's technical”
After:“Let me check with our engineering partner”

When clients or colleagues ask for something technical, there's a path to getting it done.

Less firefighting

Before:Scrambling when things break
After:Issues addressed before they become crises

Proactive maintenance means fewer emergencies. When something does go wrong, it gets fixed quickly.

Focus on core work

Before:Distracted by technical problems
After:Systems support the work, not obstruct it

Your team does what they're good at. Technical stuff is handled.

THE MATH

Does Foundation pay for itself?

Adjust the inputs to match your firm. The math speaks for itself.

Your Numbers

4 incidents

Times something breaks or needs urgent technical attention

$3,000

Contractor fees + your time finding/managing help + downtime

5 hrs

Time you spend finding help, managing tech issues, worrying

$300/hr

What your time is worth to your firm (billing rate or opportunity cost)

$66,000

Current annual cost of ad-hoc support

$60,000

Foundation annual investment

-$3,900

Net annual savings

0.9x

ROI multiple

THE INVESTMENT

What's included. No surprises.

Foundation is a predictable monthly partnership. Here's exactly what that means, what it includes, and how it compares. Pricing is discussed during our initial conversation.

Foundation Partnership

Investment discussed during consultation

  • ~20 hours of senior engineering capacity
  • 1 active workstream at a time
  • 48-hour response time (business hours)
  • Monthly sync call (30-45 minutes)
  • Shared Slack channel or email, 48-hour response
  • Complete documentation of all work and systems
  • Enough capacity for ongoing maintenance plus one meaningful improvement each month
  • Enough access to have reliable support without constant coordination overhead
  • Enough continuity to build context and get faster over time
  • NOT enough for multiple parallel projects (that's Growth tier)
  • NOT enough for strategic involvement or co-ownership (that's Growth or Strategic)
  • NOT same-day response for urgent needs (that's Strategic tier)

Part-time contractor

Variable cost, variable availability

Pros: Hourly capacity when they have availability

Cons: Reliability, context continuity, accountability. You're managing them and competing for their time.

Freelancer platforms

Pay-per-project, no continuity

Pros: Specific skills, pay-per-use

Cons: Quality consistency, availability, business context. Every engagement starts from scratch.

Full-time hire

Significant overhead for sporadic needs

Pros: Dedicated capacity, full-time focus

Cons: You don't need 160 hours/month. You're paying for capacity you won't use, plus management overhead.

Foundation Partnership

Predictable monthly investment

Pros: Reliable senior engineering support with context that builds over time

Cons: Limited to ~20 hours/month — but enough for maintenance and steady improvement

The math

Ad-Hoc Contractors

  • Context rebuilds every engagement
  • Unpredictable availability and cost
  • No documentation or knowledge transfer
  • You manage every interaction

Scalewerk Foundation

  • Context accumulates, efficiency compounds
  • Predictable monthly investment, no surprises
  • Complete documentation included
  • We manage ourselves, you set priorities

Better quality. Zero management overhead. Context that builds over time.

Terms

  • Initial commitment3 months minimum (need time to learn your systems)
  • After initial periodMonth-to-month, 30 days notice to change or cancel
  • ScalingCan scale to Growth tier if needs expand
  • Major projectsLarge initiatives outside normal scope quoted separately, can layer on top of retainer

Not sure yet? Start with Pilot.

One project, four weeks. See how we work before committing to an ongoing partnership. If we move forward to Foundation, the context and understanding from the Pilot carries over -- no starting from zero.

Fixed scope4 weeksZero commitment beyond

Common questions

“Foundation is designed for firms that aren't tech companies but depend on technology. Having someone reliable to call changes everything.”

Example ScenarioManaging Partner at a Consulting Firm · Illustrative — not a real client quote

“The Foundation model replaces the dread of technical breakdowns with a simple message that gets handled. Reliability over scrambling.”

Example ScenarioFounder of a Financial Advisory Practice · Illustrative — not a real client quote

Start with a conversation.

No pitch deck. No demo. No 47-slide methodology presentation. Just a 30-minute conversation about your firm, your technology, and whether Foundation is the right fit. If it's not, we'll tell you.

  • Reliable engineering support without the overhead
  • Systems that stay maintained and documented
  • Someone who knows your stack and responds fast
  • Predictable costs, no emergency invoices
Senior engineers onlyNo contracts beyond 3-month minimum48-hour response guaranteeEverything documented and owned by you
Explore Growth Partnership →

We respond within 24 hours. You'll hear from a senior engineer — not a sales team.