--- title: FAQ: Hiring an AI & Automation Architect description: Straight answers on agencies, inheriting a codebase, NDAs, pricing, post-launch maintenance and how soon a project can realistically start. canonical: https://www.hire-web-dev.com/faq/ section: Site updated: 2026-09-11 author: SumanKumar Phuyal site: hire-web-dev.com note: >- Generated from the page of record at the canonical URL above. The four case studies are placeholder work and their metrics were never measured; imagery is AI-generated concept art. See https://www.hire-web-dev.com/disclosure/. --- # QUESTIONS I GET ASKED The eight questions that come up in almost every first conversation, answered here so we can spend the call on your project instead. ## Do you work with agencies? Yes, and often. I'm comfortable as a subcontracted specialist on the technically difficult portion of a larger build. I'll want direct access to whoever owns the design decisions rather than relaying questions through an account manager, because the round-trip cost on ambiguity is what kills those arrangements. ## Can you work with our existing codebase? Usually. I'll want to read it before quoting, because the difference between a tidy codebase and one with four years of accumulated workarounds is a factor of two or three on almost any estimate. I don't need it to be clean — I need to know how unclean it is. ## Will you use our framework? If it's React, Next, Vue or plain TypeScript, yes. If it's something I don't know, I'll say so and we can decide whether the ramp-up is worth paying for. Pretending otherwise wastes your first three weeks. ## Do you do design as well? I refine and extend an existing direction well. I'm not the right person to invent a visual language from nothing — that's a different skill and there are people considerably better at it. I'll happily work alongside one and I usually know someone. ## How do you charge? Fixed price per phase, quoted after discovery. No hourly billing. Discovery itself is a fixed cost. ## What about ongoing maintenance? A small retainer after launch, if you want it. I'd rather hand over properly to your team and remain available for questions than become a permanent dependency. ## Can you start next week? Almost certainly not. One project at a time means the next opening is usually a month or two out. If the timeline is immovable, say so early. ## Will you sign an NDA? Yes, routinely. ## Key facts - Questions: 08 - Updated: 2026 - Also see: Availability - Ask more: By email ## Quick answers - Agencies: Yes - Existing code: After a read - Design from zero: No - Start next week: Unlikely ## Topics FAQ, AGENCIES, PRICING, NDA, MAINTENANCE ## Image ![Carbon-fibre cylindrical module with a polished lens drifting in space, the questions that keep recurring](https://www.hire-web-dev.com/assets/img/faq-carbon-fibre-lens-module.jpg)