Consulting · Single-decision · Advisory
This is the single-decision hiring path. One-off architecture calls, vendor-lock-in reviews, stay-versus-migrate go/no-go, acquisition-context due diligence. The deliverable is a written recommendation you can act on or hand to a board — not shipped code. Free 15-minute triage, $497 audit, or a $1,500 written-recommendation engagement when the question needs more depth. Same engineers as the build and migrate paths, different deliverable.
Short answer
A base44 consulting engagement answers one specific decision with a written recommendation. The three most common: is this base44 app safe to ship to production, should we stay on base44 or migrate off, and is this codebase acquirable. The free 15-minute triage call rules out wrong-fit work. The $497 one-day audit covers most production-readiness and vendor-lock-in questions. The $1,500 written- recommendation engagement runs deeper when the question needs modelling — stay-versus-migrate cost projection, acquisition technical-risk register, board-handoff package. Hourly at $300/hour with a four-hour minimum covers legal, due-diligence, and acquisition contexts. Same engineers who fix and build base44 apps, so recommendations are technical and specific — not slide-deck advisory.
When to hire a consultant
Most teams are not sure whether they need a consultant or a developer. Below are the five signals that a consultant is the right path. If none of these match, the developer paths (the pillar, urgent, or expert services) are likely a better fit.
Consulting deliverables are written, signed, and bylined. Investor decks, acquisition data rooms, board packets — they all want a third-party report. Code-shipping engagements produce code, not a paper trail.
Modelling the cost of staying on base44 against the cost of migrating off needs an opinion before it needs an engineer. The migration-feasibility audit is the right deliverable; see also the when-to-leave-base44 framework for the public criteria we use.
What does it cost to leave base44 in 12 months? In 36? Lock-in modelling is a written deliverable, not a code deliverable. Most teams ask this once a year and the answer drives runway, hiring, and architecture decisions.
Acquisition-context technical due diligence on a base44 app: platform risk, code maintainability, security posture, 36-month total-cost-of-ownership projection. Hourly at $300/h with a four-hour minimum, written report.
Pre-build, pre-migration, pre-investment. A one-day audit surfaces the questions that should drive the engagement letter of whatever follows. Cheaper to spend $497 once than to find out three months in that the architecture was wrong.
If you can describe what you want shipped, the developer path is faster and cheaper. Consulting begins when the question is "what should we ship" or "should we ship at all," not "ship this."
What you get from a consultation
Every consulting engagement closes with a written report that survives the engagement. The structure below is the same template we use across audits, migration assessments, and due-diligence reviews — adjusted for scope but not for content quality.
One page, no jargon, with a clear go/no-go recommendation. Written so a non-technical board member or investor can act on it without translation.
Every issue identified, scored on severity (critical / high / medium / low) and effort (hours / days / weeks). Reproduction steps where the issue is a bug. Cited to specific files, functions, or platform behaviours.
Sequenced action list with effort and dependency mapping. Critical items first, low-effort wins next, longer-tail items last. Each item references the underlying finding for traceability.
Cost-of-inaction estimate (downtime risk, security exposure, credit-burn projection). For migration assessments, full migrate-vs-stay TCO model over 36 months. For due diligence, technical-risk register with probability and impact scoring.
Reproduction artefacts, screen captures, code excerpts, configuration dumps. Everything an internal team needs to act on the report without further consultation.
30-minute optional Q&A on the report, recorded with consent. Useful for handing the engagement off to an internal engineering hire, an investor follow-up, or a board update.
For a public reference template of the audit structure, see the production audit page.
Three consultation flavors
Three productized shapes, picked by the depth of the decision. Pick the cheapest one that resolves the question — we will tell you on the free triage call which one fits.
TIER
Free
USD · Fixed-price · One engagement
15-minute triage call. Confirm scope, surface red flags, and route you to the right path. Often the only call you need for simple questions.
Scope
TIER · RECOMMENDED
$497
USD · Fixed-price · One engagement
One-day production-readiness or migration-feasibility review. Architecture, security, performance, SEO. Written report with go/no-go recommendation.
Scope
TIER
$1,500
USD · Fixed-price · One engagement
3-5 day written-recommendation engagement when the question needs modelling: stay-vs-migrate TCO, acquisition technical-risk register, board-handoff package.
Scope
For acquisition-context due diligence, legal expert-witness work, or other open-ended scopes, hourly consulting at $300/h with a four-hour minimum is the right shape. For ongoing capacity instead of a single decision, see base44 expert services. If a vendor comparison rather than an opinion is what you actually need, see the base44 agency framing.
What we won't consult on
We try to disqualify ourselves on the free triage call when the question is genuinely outside our consulting scope. Five patterns where the right answer is "hire someone else" or "different path on this site."
If the question is platform-shopping across base44, Bubble, Webflow, FlutterFlow, and Bolt, a generalist no-code consultant who has shipped on all five is a better fit. We only ship base44, so our strategy view is base44-specific.
Should you build feature X. Is this market large enough. Should you raise. These are not engineering questions and we are not the right consultants. We will refer to product strategy advisors on request.
Whether base44 ToS allow your specific commercial use, whether a customer contract conflicts with platform terms, etc. — we will brief your lawyer on the technical posture but the legal opinion is theirs to write.
If the question is "why does this button not work," consulting is the wrong wrapper — you want a fix sprint. See the fix index for productized single-issue scopes.
Active outage, payments broken right now, security incident in progress — consulting is too slow. Use the urgent / production-down path. We respond same business day with a fix sprint.
Multi-month embedded senior capacity is a different shape — see base44 expert services. Consulting is single-decision; expert services is ongoing.
Engagement examples
Names redacted at client request. Pattern, scope, and outcome shared with permission.
Case 01
Founders had built an MVP on base44 and were closing a $4M Series A. Investor due diligence asked "is this production-ready?" We ran a $497 audit, identified seven critical issues (auth, payments, SEO, credit burn), and delivered a written remediation plan. They closed the round and engaged us for a $3,000 multi-bug rescue afterwards.
Case 02
Founders had hit base44 platform limits at 50,000 active users. Question: stay and harden, or migrate? We modelled both — credit-burn projection vs migration cost — and recommended a phased migration to Next.js + Supabase. They engaged us for a $12,000 medium migration over the following quarter.
Case 03
A strategic acquirer was buying a base44-built business and needed an independent technical review. Eight hours at $300/ hour. We delivered a written technical-risk register covering platform lock-in, code maintainability, security posture, and a 36-month total-cost-of-ownership projection.
QUERIES
We answer one specific question with a written recommendation. The three most common questions: is this base44 app safe to ship to production, should we stay on base44 or migrate off, and is this codebase acquirable. We do not write production code as part of a consulting engagement — that is the developer or expert services path. The deliverable here is an opinion you can act on or hand to a board.
A developer ships code; a consultant ships a written recommendation. The two paths share engineers but produce different deliverables. If your situation is a single decision (stay-or-migrate, ship-or-fix, buy-or-walk), this is the right path. If your situation is a single bug fix or a multi-month build, the urgent or expert services paths are right. The audit fee is credited toward a follow-on developer engagement booked inside 30 days.
Fixed-scope is the default because most consulting questions resolve in a one-day audit ($497) or a written-recommendation engagement ($1,500). Hourly at $300/hour with a four-hour minimum is reserved for legal, due-diligence, and acquisition contexts where the scope is genuinely open-ended.
One of our most-requested engagements. We audit your app, model the cost of staying on base44 (credit burn, platform-bug exposure, vendor risk) versus the cost of migrating (engineering hours, downtime risk, infrastructure spend), and deliver a written go/no-go recommendation. Tier: $497 audit plus a free 30-minute review call. Detail on the /migrate/when-to-leave-base44 framework page.
Yes. Investor due-diligence engagements are a sub-category we ship regularly. Reports include a named author, credentials, methodology, and citations to specific files or platform behaviours. Investors typically want a 30-minute walkthrough call afterwards; that is included. For acquisition-context due diligence, hourly engagement is the right shape; for pre-investment readiness review, the fixed-scope $497 audit is usually enough.
Yes. Mutual NDAs are standard. Engagement letters specify the scope, deliverable, timeline, and price up front. For investor due-diligence engagements we also sign confidentiality side letters as required. Engagement letters land inside two business hours of the scoping call.
Audits start within one business day of payment. Hourly consulting can typically begin inside 48 hours. Time-sensitive due-diligence work (e.g. an acquisition closing) can be expedited — flag urgency in the contact form. For genuine production-down situations the right path is the urgent / production-down sister page, not consulting.
Common questions
Before scoping, three questions surface across most engagements. The honest answers shape the engagement letter and inform pricing.
Question 01
Yes. The honest recommendation comes through in the written report regardless of which way it goes. We have ended audits with "migrate to Next.js + Supabase" and we have ended audits with "stay and fix three things." Both are valid outcomes; the report says whichever the data supports. The when-to-leave-base44 framework is our public criteria.
Question 02
Yes — investor due-diligence engagements are a sub-category we ship regularly. Reports include named author, credentials, methodology, and citations to specific files or platform behaviours. Investors typically want a 30-minute walkthrough call afterwards; that is included.
Question 03
Yes — most consulting engagements lead to a follow-on implementation. The audit fee is credited toward any subsequent fix or migration engagement booked within 30 days, so functionally the audit is no-cost when you proceed.
NEXT STEP
Free 15-minute triage, $497 audit, or $1,500 written-recommendation engagement. We respond inside one business day.