Saving opportunities
What it costs
The build-cost math, and what the White Glove vs solo Echelon trade-off costs over time.
What it costs — white glove model
| Project | Contractors / wk | Chinchilla / wk | You save per wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web — simple | $2.8k$2.8k per person-week × 1 people (nearshore rate card) | $2.4kflat pod rate $2.4k/wk, one forward-deployed AI-engineer pod | 14%1 − Chinchilla ÷ contractors, per week |
| Web — mid | $5.6k$2.8k per person-week × 2 people (nearshore rate card) | $2.4kflat pod rate $2.4k/wk, one forward-deployed AI-engineer pod | 57%1 − Chinchilla ÷ contractors, per week |
| Web — complex | $9.8k$2.8k per person-week × 3.5 people (nearshore rate card) | $2.4kflat pod rate $2.4k/wk, one forward-deployed AI-engineer pod | 76%1 − Chinchilla ÷ contractors, per week |
| Data platform | $11.2k$2.8k per person-week × 4 people (nearshore rate card) | $2.4kflat pod rate $2.4k/wk, one forward-deployed AI-engineer pod | 79%1 − Chinchilla ÷ contractors, per week |
Same outcome, one pod, 14–79% less per week than contractors — and we finish in fewer weeks.
Weekly rates. Contractors = nearshore rate card ($2.8k per person-week, team size scales with complexity). Chinchilla = one forward-deployed AI-engineer pod at a flat $2.4k/wk. Project totals (weeks × rate) coming in a separate section.
White glove vs solo Echelon
| Period | White Glove | Echelon only | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 months | ~$74k | ~$12k + your dev lead's time | ~$62k |
| Year 1 | ~$86k | ~$24k + your dev lead | ~$62k |
White Glove is ~$62k more and buys a hands-on build plus a trained team, not just a licence.
Licence indicative. Totals rounded; excludes pass-through infra run-cost.
Licensing model
[PLACEHOLDER] — coming.