A retainer is a pre-purchased block of hours used flexibly each month — best for teams that need responsive, on-call support without a full-time engineer. An annual service contract defines specific categories of covered work, response time commitments, and a fixed annual cost — best for products where predictability and defined SLAs matter. Both provide access to engineers who know your product.
In most cases, yes. Retaining the engineer who built or maintained your product is our default approach when transitioning into a service contract. Our industry-leading retention rates make this possible — the people who worked on your product are likely still with us and available to continue. This is one of the most significant advantages of a long-term First Factory relationship.
Small features are scoped additions that can be estimated, approved, and delivered within the existing contract structure without requiring a separate Statement of Work. Examples include a new dashboard widget, an additional filter option, a third-party API integration, or a UI update aligned to a brand refresh. Larger feature requests are handled as a separate scoped engagement.
We use your preferred project management and time-tracking tools. Monthly reports detail hours used by category — bug fixes, maintenance, feature work, and so on — so you have clear visibility into how the retainer is being applied. If usage patterns suggest the retainer size is not well-matched to your actual needs, we will tell you.
Yes, and it happens often. Many clients on service contracts identify a meaningful feature initiative or a platform upgrade that warrants a dedicated project. We transition seamlessly from maintenance mode into a scoped engagement — and back again. The relationship does not need to restart each time the scope of work changes.
We design service contracts to evolve with your business. Contract terms are reviewed at each renewal, and we can adjust scope, coverage, and model mid-term if circumstances warrant it. We would rather restructure the agreement to reflect your actual needs than hold you to terms that no longer serve you — that is not how we build long-term relationships.
