Couldn't a long-term retainer with one contractor do the same thing?

It can — if you find a senior engineer who wants a retainer relationship, who writes things down without being asked, and who stays. That is rare, expensive, and brittle when the person leaves. Kebehut is a service contract, not a person contract; the work survives any single individual.

We already have a contractor we trust. Should we still look at Kebehut?

Probably not for the projects they're already handling. Kebehut is useful in two places they likely aren't covering: the quiet months between projects, and a written specification that outlives them.

What about hiring the contractor through a marketplace?

Same trade-off, with one extra friction: the marketplace lock-in. The work shape is identical to direct contracting; the question is still 'do you need monthly steady attention with a written record, or a focused engagement with hours on a clock?'

§ Kebehut vs hiring a contractor

Hiring a contractor or signing Kebehut: an honest comparison.

Hiring a contractor is the default move for production maintenance — and for a focused, single-deliverable job it's usually the right one. Kebehut is built for the opposite shape: small, steady, monthly attention with a written record at the end. Here is when each one actually wins.

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§ How hiring a contractor is priced

Cost model.

Hourly or day-rate billing. Typical European senior contractor: 600–1,200€ per day. Minimum engagements vary; payment is per invoice with no commitment beyond the current contract.

§ When each one actually wins

The honest split.

When Hiring a contractor wins

You have a specific, scoped project: an upgrade, a rewrite, a feature push that maps to weeks of focused work
You already know exactly what you need built and you just need hands and a calendar slot
The work is intense enough that engaging for less than a full week would be wasteful

When Kebehut wins

Most months you don't need engineering hours — you need a checkup and a written record
You need cost predictability across the year, not a calendar of variable invoices
Knowledge has to outlive any single person — the monthly spec is what survives turnover

§ Side by side

Concrete differences.

Aspect Hiring a contractor Kebehut

Pricing shape Variable: hours billed times rate. Easy to estimate for one project, hard to predict across a year. Fixed monthly: 60€, 600€, or 6,000€. The number on month one is the number on month twelve.

Deliverable shape Mostly code, sometimes a handover doc at the end of an engagement. Code where needed, a written report every month, and a rebuild-ready specification that survives the engagement.

What happens between projects Nothing. The contractor is gone until the next contract. The Basic tier continues quietly — one report per month — until you bump up again.

§ FAQ

Questions, briefly answered.

Couldn't a long-term retainer with one contractor do the same thing?: It can — if you find a senior engineer who wants a retainer relationship, who writes things down without being asked, and who stays. That is rare, expensive, and brittle when the person leaves. Kebehut is a service contract, not a person contract; the work survives any single individual.
We already have a contractor we trust. Should we still look at Kebehut?: Probably not for the projects they're already handling. Kebehut is useful in two places they likely aren't covering: the quiet months between projects, and a written specification that outlives them.
What about hiring the contractor through a marketplace?: Same trade-off, with one extra friction: the marketplace lock-in. The work shape is identical to direct contracting; the question is still 'do you need monthly steady attention with a written record, or a focused engagement with hours on a clock?'

Tell us which side fits.

Email us a paragraph about the app and the situation. If hiring a contractor is the right answer for you, we'll say so.

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