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Proyecto Haru · web studio

From a $48k/yr agency engagement to a launched product in 12 weeks.

Founder-led SaaS · seed·Founder-led SaaS·Mexico Cityindicative · live

When a US mid-size agency quotes $48k for a launch site you don't have yet, the question isn't 'is the agency good?' — it's 'is the agency the right shape for the job?'.

−71%

Total cost vs. mid-size US agency

$48k → $14k

12 wk

Discovery → live

vs. 20-week agency timeline

98

Lighthouse performance

production score

Traditional vs. CartiamAI

$34,000 per year, every year.

The standard alternative on the left, our deployment on the right. Same scope, same outcome. The savings figure assumes steady-state operation after onboarding.

The traditional way

US mid-size agency · marketing site + brand

A typical US mid-size agency engagement for a marketing site, brand system and basic CMS pipeline.

Monthly
$0
Setup
$48,000
Year one
$48,000
Time to value
20 wk
With CartiamAI

Proyecto Haru · 12-week engagement

Brand system, design tokens, Next.js production site, headless CMS, analytics, performance budget, edge deploy.

Monthly
$0
Setup
$14,000
Year one
$14,000
Time to value
12 wk
71% lower year-one cost
Capability
Traditional
With CartiamAI
Total cost
$48,000
agency engagement
$14,000
Haru project
Timeline
20 weeks
discovery + design + build + QA
12 weeks
phased, fixed-scope
Production stack
Often WordPress
themes + plugins + maintenance
Next.js + Tailwind + edge
no theme · production-grade
Performance
70–85 Lighthouse
industry average
95+ Lighthouse
all four categories · WCAG AA
Brand system
Optional add-on
+$5k–15k
Included
tokens + motion principles
Maintenance
Hourly retainer
$100–200/hr
Monthly retainer
fixed scope · optional
Before / after

What changed in production.

  • Total spend to launch
    Before
    $48,000
    After
    $14,000
  • Time to launch
    Before
    20 wks projected
    After
    12 wks delivered
  • Lighthouse performance
    Before
    n/a
    After
    98
  • WCAG AA audit
    Before
    n/a
    After
    passed

Where the agency engagement was going wrong

By month three the founder had a Figma file, a PDF brand book, and zero deployed code. The agency was good — they had real designers, real PMs and a clean process. They were also priced for a different stage of company than this one.

What we shipped instead

  • Brand system + design tokens · weeks 2–4
  • Production-grade Next.js site + CMS pipeline · weeks 5–10
  • QA, SEO, performance budget, accessibility audit · weeks 10–11
  • Edge deploy + launch + handover · week 12
We came to Haru with a Notion doc and a deadline. We launched a site that loads under a second, ranks in week three and looks like it belongs to a much bigger company than ours.
Sources for the traditional cost estimates

CartiamAI figures reflect our current published pricing. The traditional column uses 2025–2026 industry benchmarks; numbers vary by company size and contract terms.

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