Freelance
Hiring a developer who also understands the rest of the project.
Rascals is a one-person studio with a deliberately small intake. That makes this a good fit for scoped work that has to get done — a module, an integration, a migration, an audit — rather than for a chair in your office from nine to five. Capacity is agreed up front in hours per week, so the planning is built on real hours rather than hoped-for ones.
When this fits
A scoped piece that has to get done
A module, an integration, a migration: work with a clear edge around it. You describe what it has to do, I deliver it in agreed steps, and progress is visible in your repository the whole way.
An agency with overflow
More work in than capacity, or a project that calls for Laravel while the team is booked elsewhere. I work as a subcontractor, white-label if you prefer, with you as the point of contact towards the client.
A speciality you need once
Peppol and e-invoicing, Stripe Connect, a migration that cannot fail, or an audit of what is there. Work you would not hire a permanent developer for, that still has to be right — and that scopes well.
A codebase nobody dares touch
The developer has moved on, the framework is versions behind, and the next change is frightening. I take it over, get tests and a deployment under it, and hand it back with a document explaining how it runs.
How it works in practice
Capacity agreed up front
You are told before the start how many hours a week realistically go in, and the planning is built on that rather than hoping for it. In practice that means a steady stream of deliveries, visible in your repository, rather than full days at a desk.
€85 per hour, €105 for specialist work
Both excluding VAT, and per hour worked rather than per day present — you pay for what was built. The higher rate covers work where the risk sits with me or the clock is against us: e-invoicing and Peppol, payments, audits, migrations, and anything against a hard deadline. Each month you get an overview of where the hours went, grouped per piece of work.
In your repository, by your rules
Your branching model, your review, your style. I am not there to tell you how it should be done; I write code that does not stand out from the rest, and documentation for what I changed — which counts double when we do not speak daily.
Meetings at hours that work
A conversation at a time that suits you, a written update each week, and a kick-off in person in West Flanders when it is worth the drive. A reply to a message within one working day.
What you will want to know
Can you work at our office during the day?
Not as a daily presence. Work is scoped and delivered in agreed steps, with a kick-off in person when it helps. If you need somebody at a desk from nine to five, a full-time freelancer or a permanent hire is the better call, and I will say so up front.
How much time can you put in?
That is agreed up front, in hours per week rather than days, and I take on only a couple of things at a time so the promise holds. For most of the work here that is plenty; for something due tomorrow, it is not.
What is your hourly rate?
€85 per hour for ordinary development work, €105 for specialist work and work against a hard deadline — both excluding VAT. Tell me what is on the table and you get back which rate applies and how many hours I see in it, before anything is committed.
Can you work as a subcontractor for an agency?
Yes, and it is part of the work. White-label towards your client if you want, with you as the point of contact, and with the same clarity about when the work happens.
Which stack do you work in?
Laravel and Livewire first of all, with PHP, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis and Docker around them. Vue where the front end calls for it, and Magento, Shopify or WooCommerce when it is e-commerce.
Scoped work that has to get done?
Describe briefly what is on the table, which stack and by when. You get back whether it fits the capacity there is, what I see in it, and when I could start.
Taking on new work