The on-demand team
Senior people, when you need them.
A fractional CTO, senior developers and product designers, engaged for an agreed number of days a month or a fixed-price build. One accountable person, no juniors, no bench, everything on accounts you own, month to month. The cost and lead time of hiring, without the hire.
Leadership, developers and design dock into the business you already have, on the accounts you already own, and undock when the work is done.
In short
PixelApps is an on-demand digital team for Australian businesses: a fractional CTO, senior developers and product designers engaged for an agreed number of days a month or a fixed-price project, led by one accountable person, on accounts the client owns. It replaces the cost and lead time of hiring in-house without the handover risk of an agency.
Four ways to engage
Each stands alone. Most engagements combine two, on one agreement, each scaled independently.
The alternative is a hire
Hiring senior technical people is slow, expensive before they start, and hard to undo. It's the right call when there is full-time work for years. When the work comes in waves, or the decisions are large but infrequent, paying for the days you use is the cheaper and faster shape, and it's reversible.
The buying guide, with the market ratesIndicative Australian figures for 2026, from the market rather than our price list.
How we work
Six things that are true of every engagement. Each is in the agreement, not just on this page.
Senior only
Everyone on an engagement has shipped production software that businesses depend on. Nobody learns on your budget.
One person accountable
A named lead who owns the outcome, sits in your meetings, and gives you a straight answer about how it's going.
You own everything
Code, hosting, domains, accounts and data are registered to your business from day one. Leaving is a matter of removing our access.
Fixed numbers, in writing
A fixed price or a fixed monthly fee, agreed before work starts. Changes are priced when raised, not found on the invoice.
Month to month
No lock-in on retainers. The engagement continues because it's working, and a handover is part of the job when it stops.
We'll say no
If you don't need us, or need something else, the first call says so. We'd rather lose a sale than run an engagement that shouldn't exist.
How an engagement runs
From first call to working inside two weeks. Reviewed every quarter, ended in a month.
A first call
An hour on where you are and what's in front of you. We say which shape fits, or that none does, and give you the monthly figure before either side commits.
A written scope
What we'll own, the cadence, the accounts to set up in your name, the number. One page, plain language, signed by both of us.
Inside two weeks, working
A technical or usability review lands in the first fortnight, and the standing cadence begins. Progress is something you can open, not a slide.
Reviewed every quarter
What shipped, what it cost, what changed in the numbers you watch. Continue, scale up, scale down, or hand over to a hire we help you make.
Work we can show
The public ones. Most engagements sit under client agreements and can be walked through on a call.
Hawker Spaces
Pop-up retail platform — Melbourne & Sydney
A multi-location platform with live availability, enquiries and bookings for short-term retail spaces.
Brands find and book premium retail spaces across Melbourne and Sydney, all in one place.
Dropt
Timed flash-sale storefronts — SaaS product
A full SaaS product: timed storefronts, AI-written listings, live pricing and signups — end to end.
Sellers snap a photo, AI writes the listing, and the sale goes live in minutes.
Theodore Men's Jewellery
Men's jewellery e-commerce — South Yarra, Melbourne
A rework and polish of the existing store — sharper product presentation, technical SEO throughout, and the full catalogue live on Google Shopping.
Since taking over in late 2025: online sales up 84%, orders up 53% and Google profile views up 45% year on year.
Start with a conversation
An hour on where you are and what's in front of you. You'll leave with a straight answer on which shape fits, or that none does, and the monthly figure if one does.
Common questions
An agency sells you a project with a project manager in front of a team you may never meet. An on-demand team is a small group of senior people who join your business for an agreed number of days a month, led by one person accountable to you, working in your tools and on your accounts. The difference is who you deal with, who owns the work, and what happens when it ends.
A fixed monthly fee for an agreed number of days, or a fixed price for a project with defined scope. Both are agreed in writing before anything starts. We don't publish day rates; you get the figure on the first call, and it doesn't change without your agreement. Ongoing care for a finished product runs on a retainer from $750 a month.
Everyone on an engagement has led or shipped production systems that businesses run on, across web, mobile, data and AI. We are a small core that's worked together for years, plus a network of specialists we bring in for particular work. You meet the people doing the work before it starts, and they don't change without telling you.
That's the most common arrangement. The fractional CTO sets the roadmap and makes the technical calls, the on-demand team delivers it, and a product designer works one sprint ahead of the developers. Each is a separate line on the agreement so you can scale any of them up or down independently.
The Macedon Ranges in Victoria, an hour from Melbourne, working on Australian Eastern time with businesses across the country. Most work is remote; we come to you for kick-offs and the meetings that go better in a room.
You say so, and it stops at the end of the month. Retainers have no lock-in. Everything is on your accounts, so there's nothing to extract, and we hand over to whoever comes next. We'd rather be easy to leave than hard to leave and resented.
Market figures on this page are indicative Australian ranges for 2026, not our prices. Our fee is fixed in writing on the first call.