Bespoke builds for organisations with a specific problem.
For work that goes beyond a standard application configuration — deeply integrated systems, non-standard data pipelines, domain-specific model adaptation, or infrastructure that needs to live somewhere specific and accountable. Small team, hands-on, working out of Newcastle.
Discovery → build → deploy → support
Discovery and scoping
1–2 week fixed-fee engagement. We sit down with you (in person where practical), map the problem, run a small technical spike, and return a written proposal — scope, timeline, fixed price, what we're explicitly not doing.
$4,000 – $9,000
Build
Day rate $1,400 – $2,200 per engineer. Weekly demo, monthly invoice itemised by hour. We work in your stack where it makes sense and propose alternatives where it doesn't. Compute is billed at cost on top, transparently.
Deploy
We deploy onto sovereign infrastructure in your city by default, or onto your own infrastructure if you'd prefer. Either way you own the code, the data, the model weights, and the keys. Nothing is locked to us.
Support
Optional monthly retainer for ongoing maintenance, model updates, and incident response. Cancellable any month. No-retainer support also available at standard day rate for occasional work.
What this looks like in practice.
Deeply integrated workflow applications
When the application needs to reach deep into your existing systems — practice management, document management, ERP, billing — beyond what a standard configuration handles. Complex integrations, custom APIs, legacy system bridges. Typical scope 8–16 weeks.
Domain-specific model adaptation
Fine-tuning a model on your firm's specific data once enough high-quality examples have accumulated. Produces a model that responds in your terminology, your format, your standards — better than RAG alone for high-volume repetitive tasks. Typically relevant after 6–12 months of usage.
Data extraction and processing pipelines
Building the ingestion layer for complex document types — structured data extraction from unstructured sources, normalisation across formats, integration with existing databases. Often the harder half of getting AI into production. Typical scope 3–6 weeks.
Greenfield AI products
Building a new product from scratch for a specific vertical — where the requirement is a production-grade application with AI at its core, not a bolt-on. Full-stack development, running on sovereign infrastructure. Scope varies significantly.
Who you're working with.
Newcastle Rising is led by Matt Cook — software engineer, Hunter resident, founder of Newcastle Rising. The team is deliberately small: two to three engineers depending on the project, all senior, all based in Australia, no offshoring. You get the people who do the work, not an account manager standing between you and them.
We've shipped production systems across web, data, and applied AI. We'll share references and prior work under NDA. Where we don't have direct experience in a domain, we'll say so before you sign anything.
Send a brief.
One or two paragraphs describing the problem is enough to start. We'll reply inside 48 hours, usually faster.