Questions people ask
before hiring us
Straight answers about scope, pricing, timelines, technology, and how to decide whether a studio is the right choice at all.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
If your question is not here, email [email protected] and we will answer it directly.
Working with OffLift
What kind of company is OffLift?
A digital product studio. OffLift LLC designs and builds web applications, iOS and Android apps, AI-powered products, AI chat automation, and custom websites, and it takes them all the way to a launched, running version rather than handing over a design file or a prototype.
How do I start a project with OffLift?
Book a 30 minute call at calendly.com/offlift/30min, or email [email protected] with a couple of sentences about what you are building. On the call we work out what the first version needs to be, and afterwards you get a scope and a fixed price in writing.
Will I be talking to the people who build it?
Yes. OffLift is a small studio, so the person who scopes your product is the person who builds it. There is no account manager relaying requirements to a delivery team you never meet.
Can I see something before I commit to a full build?
That is the normal way we start. Most engagements begin with one page or one flow built as a working concept, so you are judging something real on a screen rather than a promise in a proposal.
Do you work with clients outside the United States?
Yes. OffLift is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and works remotely. It has delivered products for clients across 3 countries.
Scope, pricing, and timelines
How much does a project cost?
We do not publish prices, because the honest answer depends on scope. What we do instead: you tell us what you are building on a 30 minute call, we scope it with you, and then we send a fixed price for that scope in writing. You will know the number before any work starts, and it does not move unless the scope does.
How long will it take?
We commit to a timeline after discovery, not before, because a realistic date depends on how much of the product is genuinely required for launch. What shortens it: one clearly defined core flow, one platform first, content and brand assets ready, and one decision maker on your side. What stretches it: multiple user roles on day one, integrations with systems that have slow or undocumented APIs, and scope that grows mid build.
What happens if the scope changes mid project?
We re-price the change before it is built, not after. You get the new number and decide whether it is worth it. Nothing gets quietly added to an invoice.
Do you charge a monthly retainer?
Not by default. Website builds are priced as a project, with domain, hosting, and a year of updates included rather than a monthly fee. Ongoing arrangements exist where they genuinely help — chat automation, for example, has running costs — and they are agreed explicitly, never assumed.
Who owns the code and the accounts?
Ownership, handover, and what happens to the repository and accounts at the end of the project are agreed in writing before the build starts, so there is no ambiguity later. Ask us on the call and we will put it in the proposal.
Technical questions
What technologies does OffLift use?
React, Next.js, and TypeScript with Tailwind CSS on the web. React Native with Expo and EAS Build for iOS and Android. Node.js and Python on the backend, with Supabase, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or SQLite with Drizzle ORM for data, and Stripe for payments. OpenAI and Claude models, embeddings and vector search for AI features, and n8n for automation.
Why React Native instead of separate native apps?
One codebase covers iOS and Android, which means one build to maintain and one set of features to keep in sync. It handles native auth, payments, offline storage, and signed store builds. For a product that needs deep platform-specific capability, we will say so rather than force the choice.
Can you take over a project someone else started?
Often yes. We start by reading the codebase and telling you honestly what is salvageable and what is cheaper to rebuild. If the honest answer is that a rewrite costs less than untangling it, you will hear that.
Is the site or app going to be fast, and will it rank?
Sites are built mobile-first with real attention to load time, correct canonical URLs, a current sitemap, structured data, and analytics configured so you can see where enquiries come from. Ranking is not something anyone can promise, but the technical foundations are done properly.
Do you handle hosting and deployment?
Yes. Products are deployed to production, on your own domain, with the accounts in your name.
MVPs, AI, and choosing an approach
What should the first version of my product include?
One core flow, end to end, that a real user can complete without help. Everything that does not serve that flow waits. Concretely: sign in, the single thing your product is for, and a way to pay if payment is part of the idea. Not five user roles, not an admin panel for a business that has no customers yet, not settings screens nobody has asked for.
Should I hire an agency, a freelancer, or build an in-house team?
A freelancer is usually cheapest and fine for one well-defined piece of work, but you are the integrator and the single point of failure. An in-house team is the right long-term answer once the product is proven, though hiring takes months and is expensive to get wrong before you know what you are building. A small studio sits between the two: one accountable team that can design, build, and launch a whole product, without a permanent payroll commitment. The honest tie-breaker is what happens after launch, so ask any candidate who maintains it and what handover looks like.
How do you stop an AI feature from making things up?
By not relying on one large prompt. OffLift builds multi-stage pipelines where each stage feeds the next and the source document stays the ground truth, so answers come back with evidence, a confidence level, and traceable reasoning. When the system is not sure, it is designed to say so and hand off to a human rather than invent an answer.
Which AI model should we use?
It depends on the job, and it should not be a permanent decision. We pick per task on quality, latency, and cost, and keep the model behind an interface so it can be swapped when a better or cheaper one appears. Being locked to one provider is a design flaw, not a feature.
Can an AI product use our own documents and data?
Yes, and that is usually the point. Retrieval-augmented generation lets an assistant answer from your own content with citations back to the source, so users can check the answer rather than trust it.
Still deciding?
A 30 minute call costs you nothing and usually clarifies the scope more than another week of thinking about it.
Or email us directly at [email protected]