Services › Terms
Plain-language terms
Read these before any down payment. Your signed written estimate states the scope and price for your job; these terms apply alongside it.
The short version
- You are the CEO of your world. The engagement type tells EliosTech where you want us: our scope of authority, what we own and where we stop.
- Vice-president–level ownership takes vice-president–level money. A narrow individual or external-consultant focus can carry significant discounts.
- Contracts set clear relationship boundaries. EliosTech work and services offered to your business are proprietary to EliosTech, Inc.
- Like a monthly SaaS plan: access to EliosTech service continues while paid and can be cut off if payment stops.
- One path: 20-minute intro call → Epic kickoff → down payment → Sprint 0 → your Sprint 1 decision → two-week sprints.
- Sprint 0 is paid first with the down payment. It runs about 2 weeks and up to about 30 days and produces your Sprint 1 plan, which is yours to keep.
- You may decline Sprint 1. If you accept it, we honor that scope and demo it as completion. Then the next payment is due.
- Two-week payments, one per sprint, with a demo and a progress and change report each time. New work goes into a later sprint only with your written approval.
- Physical jobs: the plan (spec) is Sprint 0, and it produces your written estimate.
- Skilled time is $165–$200/hr, 4-hour minimum per visit; travel, testing and documentation are included.
- Parts we supply bill at 11× our cost (cost + 1000%) plus a 12% parts search fee. Bring your own to skip both.
- Optional: financing at 12%–20%, or an annual program (from $150,000/yr) with infrastructure on a 2- or 3-year plan.
- Down payments are non-refundable unless we decline the work before Sprint 0 starts. Returns: 15% or $100, whichever is greater.
- Electrical is done by Complete Services For You LLC under its license and quoted separately.
The full terms below say the same thing in more detail.
- Ownership is priced by authority. If you ask EliosTech to accept vice-president–level status or ownership of an outcome, that engagement is priced at vice-president–level money. A narrow individual-contributor or external-consultant focus carries less authority, risk and accountability, and can carry significant discounts. Your written estimate states which applies.
- Relationship boundaries. Your contract sets clear boundaries for the relationship: the engagement type, the scope of authority, who approves what, and the people and systems involved. Work outside those boundaries is a new engagement or a written change.
- Proprietary work. The work, methods, tools, templates and services EliosTech, Inc. offers to your business are proprietary to EliosTech, Inc. Deliverables you have paid for, such as your Sprint 1 plan and Sprint 0 findings, are yours to use inside your business as your agreement states.
- Access while paid, like a monthly SaaS. EliosTech service works like a monthly software subscription: access to EliosTech service (sprints, support, field visits, program work and EliosTech-provided tools or environments) continues while your account is paid and current. If payment stops, EliosTech may pause or cut off access to service until the account is current. Amounts already owed, including any infrastructure plan balance, remain payable.
- Epic kickoff. After the 20-minute intro call, the Epic kickoff walks the entire project: the epic, its features, stories and tasks. It is how you and EliosTech, Inc. decide whether the amount of work and the price are right for you. Taking part in a kickoff does not commit you to anything.
- Authorized party to the project. When you accept the kickoff and pay the down payment, you authorize EliosTech, Inc. to act on your behalf for the project: to find the right people, vendors and specialists, to collect their estimates and to report them back to you. EliosTech does not sign, purchase or commit to a third party in your name without your written approval.
- Sprint 0 requires the down payment first. Sprint 0 is the investigation sprint. It is the longest and hardest sprint to estimate because it needs the most work up front. It runs about two weeks and up to about 30 days, depending on the project, and it ends with a written Sprint 1 plan (scope, stories, people, estimates and price). Sprint 0 does not start until the down payment clears. Sprint 0 work is earned as it is performed and is non-refundable once performed.
- You may decline Sprint 1. After Sprint 0 you may decline Sprint 1 for any reason. If you decline, you owe nothing further beyond Sprint 0, and you keep the Sprint 1 plan and the Sprint 0 findings. The down payment is not refunded, because it paid for Sprint 0.
- If you accept Sprint 1, the scope is honored. Accepting Sprint 1 in writing locks its scope. EliosTech, Inc. delivers that scope as written and demos it to you, and the demo is the completion of Sprint 1. Once Sprint 1 has been demoed, the next payment is due before the next sprint starts.
- Additional work and later sprints. Additional work is scoped from what was already defined in the Epic kickoff and Sprint 0, and it is added to a later sprint only with your written approval. Nothing is added to a sprint while it is running unless both sides agree in writing. Each later sprint is about two weeks long, is paid per sprint as stated in your accepted sprint plan, and ends with a demo and a written report on progress and changes.
- Focus and price. Every sprint stays on the exact tasks you approved as most valuable. Each sprint is priced, approved and demoed before the next payment comes due, so there is nothing to dispute about what a payment covered.
- Add-on engagement types. QA testing, UAT testing, test plan creation, automation testing and other product enhancements can be hired as their own sprint stories at the rates in your written estimate. They are never added without your written approval.
- Physical jobs. On cable, server, rack and network jobs, the paid plan (spec) is Sprint 0, the written estimate is the Sprint 1 plan you may accept or decline, and test & handover is the demo. Larger builds may be split into several sprints, each with its own payment.
- Estimates are estimates. The ranges on this site are rough. Work starts only after a written estimate confirms scope, hardware, schedule and price.
- At-will. Either side may end the working relationship at any time. Your written estimate states how work already in progress is handled.
- We may refuse work. EliosTech, Inc. may decline any job or request that does not align with our values, at any stage.
- Down payments are non-refundable at EliosTech's discretion. The one case where we refund it: if EliosTech refuses the work before Sprint 0 starts.
- Spec work is paid first. On physical jobs, building the spec and first written estimate (site walk, inspection, drop plan / rack elevation / device list, materials list) is billable time, paid up front with the down payment. Once performed it is non-refundable, whether or not you proceed.
- Down payment tiers. Physical: $3,500 (estimate up to $15k) · $6,500 (up to $50k) · $12,000 (up to $150k) · $8,000 spec & discovery when scope is open · custom above. Business analysis: $2,500 small · $5,000 standard · $8,000 discovery · custom for large programs. The down payment funds the spec and mobilization; the remainder is credited to the job.
- Field service rate. $165–$200 per hour with a 4-hour minimum per visit. Unit prices include transportation, inspecting, configuring, installing, testing and documenting.
- Materials & hardware supplied by EliosTech are billed at procurement cost + 1000% (11× cost), plus a 12% parts search fee. Client-supplied parts are inspected and configured at service rates and carry no EliosTech warranty.
- Financing is optional, at a 12%–20% fee on the financed balance, set by term in the written estimate. The spec fee is never financed.
- Restocking. Returns carry a 15% restocking fee or a $100 base fee, whichever is greater. Special-order items, cut or terminated cable, and opened or configured hardware are non-refundable.
- Timing. Good work at the appropriate time. Priority, after-hours or weekend scheduling is available when paid for.
- Lawful methods only. We help you set up lawful payment and systems methods, and we do not help anyone work around the law.
- Not a scapegoat. EliosTech is not responsible for fines, penalties or consequences arising from a client's own decisions, instructions or wrongdoing.
- Licensed electrical work on physical jobs is performed through our partner Complete Services For You LLC under its electrical license, and is quoted separately.
- Annual programs. Programs start at $150,000 per year per person and scale to $200,000 per year or more per person with risk, volume, timing and scale, multiplied by the number of people EliosTech, Inc. assigns or hires for your program. Infrastructure built under a program may be billed on a 2-year or 3-year plan at the financing fee (12%–20%) stated in your signed program agreement. If a program ends, future program fees stop; any infrastructure balance remains payable on its plan schedule or may be paid off early.
Full fee schedule (every number, one table)
Fee schedule — physical jobs (cable, racks, servers, networks)
| Item | How it is charged |
|---|---|
| Spec & first written estimate paid first | Site walk, inspection, drop plan / rack elevation / device list, materials list and your first written estimate. 8–16 field hours for the first site (about $1,320–$3,200), plus 4–6 hours for each added site. Due up front, before any design work; non-refundable once performed. |
| Field service hours | $165–$200 per hour. Every unit price already includes transportation, inspecting, configuring, installing, testing and documenting. We do not sell bare labor. |
| Mobilization / trip minimum | 4-hour minimum per visit ($660–$800). Most sites take two visits: install, then test and handover. |
| Materials & hardware service-on-materials multiplier | Billed at procurement cost + 1000% (11× what we pay). Hardware is not sold at cost: the multiplier covers sourcing, vetting, carrying, staging, warranty handling and our responsibility for it working on day one. EliosTech is not a discount box store. Bring your own and we inspect and configure it at service rates. |
| Parts search fee | 12% of the materials & hardware lines. |
| Financing (optional) | 12%–20% of the financed balance, set by term in your written estimate. The spec fee is never financed. |
| Restocking / returns | 15% of the item's billed price or a $100 base fee, whichever is greater. Special-order items, cut or terminated cable, and opened or configured hardware are non-refundable. |
| Priority / rush | Nothing is rushed by default. Priority, after-hours or weekend scheduling is available when paid for, quoted on the written estimate. |
| Job minimum | $3,500 per physical job. |
| Spec & mobilization down payment | $3,500 up to $15k · $6,500 up to $50k · $12,000 up to $150k · custom above · $8,000 when the scope needs discovery. |
| Licensed electrical | Through our partner Complete Services For You LLC, quoted separately. |