$ diff refactor a-dev-agency

Refactor vs a traditional dev agency

Agencies are built for greenfield builds and long retainers. Vibe-coded rescues sit in an awkward middle — too small for their process, too messy for their juniors.

criterion

Refactor

A dev agency

Ideal engagement

2–4 week fixed-price rescue

3–6 month retainer, minimum

Who does the work

The senior who scoped it

Whichever mid/junior is on the bench

Discovery phase

Free triage call + audit in week one

2–4 weeks of paid discovery before code

Familiarity with AI-built code

It's all we do

Rare — most agencies avoid it or rewrite it

Overhead in the price

None — no PM, no account manager, no sales layer

30–50% of the invoice

Exit

Fixed scope, clean hand-off, you own everything

Handoff friction, ongoing retainer pressure

// bottom line

Agencies are great for new builds and long roadmaps. Refactor is the surgical strike for the specific problem of 'my AI-built app needs to be production-ready, fast.'

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// next step

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// other comparisons

Prompting the AI harder

Rewriting from scratch