Short answer. Send the same 17 questions to every agency on your shortlist. Score each answer 0, 1 or 2. Drop any agency that scores 0 on one of the four must-haves: who signs the contract, proof of its real role, code ownership and your users' personal data. Below are the scorecard, a copy to download, and our own answers, including the ones we can't give yet.
Why a scorecard
Agency websites sound alike, ours included. A scorecard moves the conversation to things you can check: a company register entry, a named engineer, a contract clause, an app in the store.
It also explains price gaps. Tappable, a UK app agency, tells buyers to expect quotes for the same brief to differ tenfold (Tappable, 30 August 2026). Their advice is to read the gap as a difference in scope, not a discount. Written answers show you what each agency priced.
This is for UK and Irish companies hiring an outside team for a new app or extra developers. We are one of those teams, so read our answers as a worked example, not a verdict.
How to score
- Send the questions in writing before the first call. Written answers are easier to compare.
- Score each answer. 2: clear and checkable (a document, a link, a name). 1: an answer, but vague or only spoken. 0: no answer, or a red flag.
- Questions marked ★ are must-haves. A 0 on any of them ends the process.
- The maximum is 34. Compare totals only between agencies that passed all four must-haves.
- Download the scorecard as a CSV file, with a column for each of three agencies.
The scorecard
| # | Ask the agency | A good answer | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ★ | Which company signs the contract, and where is it registered? | Full legal name, registration number and country. You can find it in a public register. | Only a brand name. The invoice names a company the contract doesn't. |
| 2 | Who will work on my app? Can I meet them before I sign? | Names and roles. A call with the lead engineer. A straight answer on subcontractors. | "We'll assign a team after you sign." You only ever meet sales. |
| 3 ★ | Show me a shipped app like mine. What exactly was your role? | A live app or named case, plus the role: whole product, one platform, or engineers inside the client's team. | Big-brand logos with no role. The client's growth figures shown as the agency's results. |
| 4 | Can I talk to past clients? Where are your independent reviews? | Named clients who will take a call. Reviews on a site the agency doesn't control. | Only anonymous quotes on the agency's own site. |
| 5 | Which technology will you use, and why? | A choice tied to your product (hardware, OS features, budget, who maintains it), with the trade-off stated. | The same stack for every client. |
| 6 | How do you estimate, and what happens if you're wrong? | Built from features or hours. A range before discovery. A written rule for changes. | A precise fixed price from a one-paragraph brief. |
| 7 | What is your rate, which currency do you invoice in, and is there a minimum? | Rate, currency, payment terms and any minimum, in writing, early. | The rate appears only after a paid workshop. |
| 8 ★ | Who owns the code and IP, and from when? | IP assigned to you in writing as each invoice is paid. Third-party and reused parts are listed. | The agency keeps ownership and licenses the app to you. Or nothing passes to you until the final payment. |
| 9 | Where does the code live, and whose accounts is the app on? | The repository, your Apple Developer and Google Play accounts, the signing keys, and the analytics and crash-reporting accounts are yours from day one, or move to you on a set date. | A zip file at the end. The app sits in the agency's store account with no written transfer plan. |
| 10 ★ | Will you sign a data processing agreement? Where will our users' personal data be handled? | Yes to a DPA (Article 28, UK and EU GDPR). Who can reach production data, from which countries, and the transfer mechanism outside the UK and EEA. | "We're GDPR compliant," with nothing in writing. |
| 11 | How soon can you start, and what exists after two weeks? | A start date and a concrete two-week output: a scope list, a clickable flow or a first build. | "We can start tomorrow," with no plan for day two. |
| 12 | How will we know how it's going? | A fixed weekly rhythm, a named contact, a shared board, and overlap hours stated in your time zone. | Updates only when you chase. |
| 13 | How do you test and release? | Automated checks in a pipeline, testing on real devices, a staged release through beta channels, and a plan for app store review. | "We test manually before release," and nothing else. |
| 14 | What happens after launch, and if a key person becomes unavailable? | Support terms with response times. Handover documents. A backup for each key role. | Support "as needed." One developer knows everything. |
| 15 | When should we not hire you? | A specific answer. | "We're a fit for everyone." |
| 16 | Do you use AI tools to write code? Who reviews it? | Which tools, and for what. A person reviews every change, and the same tests run on it. | "The tools handle it." Or no answer. |
| 17 | What would you tell us not to build? | A specific feature to cut or delay from your first release, with the reason. | "We'll build whatever you want." |
A note on question 10. If anyone outside the UK or EEA will handle your users' personal data, ask which legal mechanism covers it.
- UK companies. The ICO lists the options, such as the International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or the UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses.
- Irish companies. EU GDPR applies, and the Data Protection Commission (DPC) is your regulator. The DPC's guidance on transfers says to check first whether the country has an EU adequacy decision. The European Commission publishes the list of those countries. If the country is not on it, the DPC says the EU standard contractual clauses are the main alternative for most firms.
Links checked 23 September 2026. This is a question to ask, not legal advice.
Our answers
The numbers match the scorecard. We have not answered question 16, on AI-assisted code, yet.
1. Who signs the contract
Next Era Solutions is the trading name of AppVanta OÜ, a private limited company registered in Estonia (reg. 17188835, VAT EE102858846). Contracts and invoices come from AppVanta OÜ, so you contract with an EU company. You can look it up in the Estonian e-Business Register. Our engineers work remotely across Europe, from the UK to Portugal, the Nordics and DACH, and a few work in Ukraine.
2. Who works on your app
Our founder, Oleksiy Kazavchynskyy (CEO), has 8+ years building mobile apps. With him, you work with:
- Andriy Kazavchynskyy, Co-founder, responsible for delivery
- Dmytro, business analyst and project manager
Counting everyone who works on client projects on a regular basis, contractors included, we are under 20 people (Clutch's 10–49 bracket). We name engineers by role, not by name: iOS work, for example, is led by one of our iOS engineers. See About us.
3. Our role on each case
We have 12 case studies, and each one states what we did. They fall into four groups:
- We built the product: Merezha Prava (iOS and Android), Shkaf (iOS and Android), Travel Security Kit (Android), Rethought (Flutter), Gamble Count (Flutter) and the In-Store Picker.
- One platform of a wider product: Motiday (native Android; the client has since closed the app).
- Our engineers inside the client's team: Enterprise POS (Android), Automotive Radio (Android Automotive, under NDA), Red Robin and Dutch Bros (a developer in each client's app team, on loyalty and ordering features).
- The release pipeline, not the app: MobileVision (a full CI/CD pipeline for the Flutter app, with automated test runs on BrowserStack and builds sent to the stores).
4. References and reviews
Four clients are quoted by name on our site: Maksim Kriviy (Merezha Prava, Ukraine), Yuval Ashkenazi (iMDsoft, Israel), Victor Klaaby (Gamble Count, Denmark) and Marc Denier (Rethought, Switzerland).
Our Clutch profile is new. When we wrote this (24 September 2026), it had no reviews yet. We are asking past clients now, and we offer nothing in return for a review. Our Upwork agency profile holds feedback from earlier jobs.
5. Technology
We choose per product. We go native (Kotlin, Swift) when the app works close to hardware or deep OS features. Our POS and Android Automotive work is like that. When the same features ship on both stores and nothing forces native, we use a shared codebase: Flutter is our default, and we have also done Kotlin Multiplatform projects. Our cost calculator picks it by default, because two fully native apps add about 70% to the hours. Case by case: Native or cross-platform? How we choose.
6. Estimates
We size the scope in engineering hours: a base for the type of app, plus hours for each feature. Before discovery, we give a range of ±15% around the midpoint. After discovery, whether a short call or a full discovery phase, we send a written proposal. It is an estimate, and development is billed by the hour. You can run the same model yourself in the cost calculator. No email is needed to see the number. Why a range, and what discovery settles: App discovery phase.
7. Rates and minimum
Our rates are per engineer, about $30–90 an hour, depending on the engineer's level and experience. We work time and material, fixed price, or as outstaff (engineers joining your team). There is no minimum project size, and the rates are the same for Irish clients. We invoice in US dollars or euro, and pounds are possible; payment terms are 14 or 30 days, depending on the client. For planning, the cost calculator uses a blended rate of £45 an hour and also shows prices in euro.
For context, UK app agencies typically charge about £80–150 an hour. One UK agency, Pocketworks, puts agency day rates at £650–1,200 in its guide UK app development costs in a nutshell (updated 9 July 2026). Over an 8-hour day, that is about £81–150 an hour. The same guide cites The Wow Company's BenchPress 2026 survey: an average UK agency rate of £122 an hour. We have not read that survey ourselves. Our calculator compares each estimate with £75–110 an hour, on purpose below that range.
For Ireland, Reptile Haus, a Dublin agency, puts Irish agency day rates at €600–1,000, and hourly billing at €80–200 depending on seniority, in What Software Actually Costs in Ireland in 2026 (2 August 2026).
8. Code and IP
Rights in the code and designs pass to you as each invoice is paid, not only on the final payment.
9. Repository and accounts
It depends on the agreement, and we put it in writing before work starts. Both ways have happened. Sometimes the repository, the App Store and Google Play accounts and the signing keys sit with the client from day one. Sometimes, on an MVP, they sit on our side at first so we can move faster, and then transfer to the client. The same written agreement covers the push certificates and the analytics and crash-reporting accounts (for example Firebase). When an app is published under our account at first, it also says what moves to you and when.
10. Personal data
How your users' personal data is handled and transferred is agreed in writing for each project. Ask us about yours.
11. Start and timeline
We can usually staff a team within one working week of your request. A design-first phase gives you something concrete to react to before you commit to the full build. For a small scope, the shortest timeline band in our calculator is about 6–12 weeks from design to release. One real example: Merezha Prava's first MVP shipped in 3–4 months, and we built and ran the product for about two years.
12. Progress
You get weekly progress updates.
Your named contact is Oleksiy Kazavchynskyy, our CEO: he takes the first call, leads discovery and handles the commercial side, and he replies within 1 business day.
13. Testing and release
We build release pipelines, not only apps. For MobileVision, a clinical product for nursing workflows, we built a full CI/CD pipeline for the Flutter app, with quality gates. We added the missing tests, fixed the suite's batch runs, and made the tests run on BrowserStack for both iOS and Android, on the triggers the client needs, and the pipeline builds the apps and sends them to the stores. The client's review on our site describes that Flutter test-automation work: we connected their app to BrowserStack, and it surfaced real issues in their automated tests. We also track the store rules that decide whether an update can ship: Google Play and App Store rules for 2026–27.
14. After launch
After launch we help with QA, store releases, fixes and updates. You choose how support is billed: a monthly retainer, or hourly as needed.
15. When not to hire us
- You want people in your office every week. Our team works remotely.
- You need a fixed price from a one-paragraph brief. We give a ±15% range first and a written estimate after discovery.
- Price is your only test. Our rates, about $30–90 an hour per engineer, pay for an experienced team: our founder has 8+ years building mobile. You will find cheaper teams.
- You want dozens of independent reviews before you talk to anyone. We are collecting our first ones now.
- You don't really need an app. We have turned down potential clients many times because an app was not what their business needed. A small restaurant chain was one of them.
17. What we would tell you not to build
- Two fully native apps when nothing forces native. They add about 70% to the hours (answer 5).
- Points and tiers for a business whose clients rarely come back. Points don't pay back there. Our ROI calculator switches the loyalty add-on off for legal work, while a referral module stays on offer.
- Many confirmation dialogs in an ordering flow. A client wanted to add them. We talked them out of it, because they would have made the experience worse for their users.
Use it on us too
Send the 17 questions to every agency on your list, including us. Download the scorecard (CSV) to score them side by side. If you want a number before any call, the calculator gives you a range in about two minutes.
Or book a 30-min call and bring your scorecard. Already have an app and want a first view before a rebuild? Start with our free high-level audit: what users complain about in your store reviews, the store rules your next update has to meet and, with read access, your crash rates. A 20-minute walkthrough and a plan you keep.
Related: All services · MVP app development · Android app development · Mobile team augmentation · Mobile app audit · Native or cross-platform? How we choose