Technology, Innovation & App Development FAQs

We can work on a fixed price project based on an agreed fixed scope/functional document (usually our quote which is created from discussions &/or your brief); OR we can work on-going under an hourly arrangement for as long or as little as you like; this can be discussed and agreed upon (our goal either way is to establish a long-term relationship with you and your business/startup).

Yes, we like to know this to ensure we can provide a quality result for the budget you have available and goals you are aiming to achieve. The cost of our web & mobile app development and websites depends on the amount of time we can dedicate to any one project, so where possible we like to know your budget before we begin.

We wrote a whole article on this topic! You can read it here.

Yes, we can provide a fixed price quote which will include the cost of each task involved to complete your project; or we can work under a pay by the hour arrangement for as long or a little as you like (our goal either way is to establish a long-term relationship with you and your business/startup).

To send our quotes we use Harvest App where you will also approve our quotes. This ensures a transparent workflow including costs for tasks and approvals. Any addition to the original scope will be quoted separately and require approval before commencement (all T&C’s will be stated on your quote).

Honestly, we prefer to be 100% certain that the funds are in place to pay for the project. That said, we do accept credit card payments and also offer extended payment terms through Butn (https://www.butn.co/offer-butnpayin4).

If you’re still in early stages or pending investment, we’re open to discussing equity in exchange for a reduced build cost, depending on the idea. We can also introduce you to potential investors within our network if it’s a good fit.

We provide all tech advice needed to deliver your project via HITORI however if you are looking for tech advice ‘on the side’ you can read more about our fractional CTO and teams arrangements – we also provide post project support retainers.

Our studio/HQ is in Melbourne, Australia but we partner and work with companies and startups everywhere. We’re an easy stroll from the Fitzroy St side of Albert Park Lake in St Kilda at the so-called ‘Paris’ end of Fitzroy Street.

We are also available anywhere via Zoom, Teams, Slack etc!

Hitori was founded in December 2011.

During 2020 like most businesses we adopted a hybrid working approach; our ‘official’ office hours are 10am-6pm Mon-Fri however we work from home a couple of days a week; if you would like to meet us in the studio please arrange a time first.

Yes we know complex; but we make complex simple. We have a strong focus and vested experience working with innovators to design and build bespoke digital platforms & applications in the enterprise, startup and healthtech space; usually with custom built REST API’s, cross-platform front-ends (web/mobile/cloud) and 3rd-party API/SDK integrations. We run a full CI/CD pipeline for quick product/feature releases and prefer to partner with our clients over the long-term to grow and scale their digital products and businesses.

Python, Django, JavaScript, Ember.js, React Native, React, iOS, Android, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, DigitalOcean, nginx, Apache, PostgreSQL, MySQL, HIPAA, FHIR, OpenAI, PyTorch, eRx, Jest, QUnit, PHP, WordPress, Shopify, Stripe, PayPal, REST, Sketch, Node, Three.js, HTML5, CSS3, Sass.

Yes, Hitori has established technology partnerships and working relationships with internal staff at Apple, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), eRx,  Services Australia and the Australian Digital Health Agency.

Yes, we are committed to quality solutions and dealing fairly with our clients. That is why we have agreements covering our relationship with our clients. We list in writing what you can expect from us, and to protect things like your intellectual property, confidentiality and privacy.

Maybe; we hire for skill-set and attitude and are always open to hearing from talented folks, hit us up at careers@hitori-inc.com or check for any job openings on LinkedIn.

The timeline for your project largely depends on its complexity, with a general estimate of around 3–6 months. This can be shorter or longer depending on your budget—higher investment allows us to allocate more developers—but it also depends on how efficiently we can collaborate. If you’re responsive, provide clear feedback, and make decisions promptly, the process will move faster. On the other hand, frequent changes or delays in feedback can extend the timeline. That said, we believe that “Anything worth doing is worth doing right,” and some things simply can’t be rushed.

Most of our projects run Agile as from our experience this is the best approach to software development although we fix the quote/scope as much as we can so we’re all clear on the objectives (and costs). We run our sprints on kanbans through Trello and use Basecamp for client comms; some of our longer term client engagements also include Slack channels for direct messaging between our/your teams. Depending on the scope most of our projects include wireframing,  BPMN flows, database schemas, UX/UI design, interactive prototypes and multiple development stages in sprints; these usually map back to a user story and feature set which we’ll come up with together.

Once you have approved our quote we will set-up your project and all related tasks on Basecamp &/or Trello where we track all of our project tasks and comms between you and our team/s. We’ll provide you with a login so you can see what we are working on and when a task is scheduled to be completed. You will also see any project related documents, to-do lists and alike. This ensures complete transparency and allows you to login to your project at any time for updates.

All projects are built locally on our macs, version controlled via GIT and provided to you for review either via email, on our password protected staging server or via an adhoc app release using TestFlight or TestFairy. During the project you will have direct contact with our Melbourne team actually working hands-on on your project (totally transparent). We invoice at milestones of key deliverables in 1/4, 1/3, 50/50 or other prior agreed payment schedule, the first is always an up-front commencement deposit to start the ball rolling at our end. You can read more here.

Yes we also provide DevOps so can setup the required servers and hosting infrastructure for your platform/application, load test for X concurrent users and provide on-going monitoring and maintenance. We can do this under our cloud-based hosting accounts or yours.

Once we complete your web/mobile app development or website project we will supply completed website files for you to launch on your server or compiled app development builds for app store deployment. We can also (and in 99% of cases usually do); launch &/or submit your completed project, provide training to manage your project in-house and can also support and monitor your DevOps/servers and entire application 24/7 at an agreed rate. If would would like anything else delivered upon project completion please let us know during scoping.

On completion your project will initially move to our 30 day support phase where our Melbourne team can assist you with reasonable support and bug fixes at no cost within 30 days. We can also (at anytime) quote future upgrades at a fixed cost or preferably; work on-going with you and your team under a pay by the hour arrangement (our goal either way is to establish a long-term relationship with you and your business/startup).

Support requests can be logged on Basecamp, Trello or our support email most of which will be actioned &/or completed within 24 hours (sooner in most cases!).

Read about our augmented teams.