01 / Day to day
The work that never gets scoped
Theme changes, new sections, landing pages, metafields, app conflicts, tracking that stopped firing. This is most of what a live store needs, and it rarely justifies a proposal each time.
Fractional Shopify Developer
A senior Shopify developer on your team, without the full-time hire.
We join your Slack and ticket board for a set number of hours a month and work through your backlog at $100 an hour. It suits brands that have outgrown one-off freelancers and don't have a full-time developer's worth of work.
$100 an hourSlack, Jira or Linear48-hour average response
Where projects go wrong
The backlog keeps growing and nobody owns it.
Small jobs wait because they're too small to scope. Bigger ones wait because the last freelancer has moved on and nobody knows how the theme was put together. Each new developer spends paid hours relearning the store. A fractional developer learns the store once and stays.
02 / Bigger pieces
Features and integrations
Cart logic, pre-order flows, subscription changes, checkout extensions and links to your warehouse or ERP. If a job grows into a project, we scope it separately and you decide how to run it.
03 / Peak
Launches and sale periods
A developer who already knows the store is worth most the week a launch slips or a discount stops working. You can raise the hours around Black Friday or a big drop and bring them back down afterwards.
04 / Fit
When we'd say no
One defined project suits a fixed quote better. More developer hours won't help if nobody on your side can set priorities, and a store whose work fills every week of the month may be ready to hire.
Working with US teams
Warsaw is usually six hours ahead of New York.
An East Coast morning overlaps our afternoon, so calls happen in a normal working day for both sides, and tickets you raise in the afternoon can be done by the time you're back. We've worked with stores in New York, California, Texas, Utah and Connecticut, and every price we quote is in US dollars.
Relevant work
Ongoing work includes Amberjack, our largest Shopify Plus client, Ace Garage Storage in Austin and Glow Gummies.
See the work →What is included
Work that ends in a better storefront—not another deck.
01
A short review of your theme, apps and tracking before the first ticket
02
A place in your Slack and your Jira, Linear or other board
03
Direct contact with the people doing the work, with no account manager in between
04
48-hour average response time for active retainer clients
05
Changes tested on a duplicate theme or development store before they go live
06
A plain record of the hours used and what shipped
How the engagement moves
Review the store
We look at the theme, the app stack and your backlog, then tell you how many hours the work is likely to need. Sometimes the honest answer is a one-off fix, and we'll say so.
Join your workflow
We get collaborator access, join your channels and agree who sets priorities on your side. The first tickets are small so you can judge the work before you rely on it.
Ship every week
We work the list in your order, flag risks before they reach the live store, and adjust the hours up or down as the roadmap changes.
Specialist Shopify services
Shopify task library
Real fixes and features we've shipped, with the client reviews that came with them.
View service →Custom Shopify themes
When the store needs a rebuild instead of more patches.
View service →Custom Shopify apps
Private apps for the jobs no App Store app does.
View service →Retainer or sprint?
How to choose between a retainer, sprints and fixed projects.
View service →Straight answers.
What is a fractional Shopify developer?+
A developer who works on your store for a set share of the month instead of full time. They join your Slack and ticket board, learn your theme and apps, and work through your backlog. You keep the context a full-time hire would build, and you pay for the hours you use.
How much does a fractional Shopify developer cost?+
We charge $100 an hour. That works out at $1,000 for 10 hours a month, $2,000 for 20 and $4,000 for 40. Published retainers from other Shopify agencies range from about $50 to $185 an hour, and the rate usually tracks seniority and who you get to talk to.
How many hours a month do I need?+
Look at the last three months of work you wanted done, shipped or not. A store with steady small changes often fits around 10 to 20 hours. A brand running launches, tests and integrations at once may need 40. We can start low and adjust once we see how the backlog moves.
Is there a minimum term, and what happens to unused hours?+
We agree the monthly hours, how unused hours are treated and the notice period in writing before work starts. Ask us about these on the first call, because the right answer depends on how predictable your backlog is.
How is this different from a freelancer or an agency retainer?+
Freelancers can be cheaper, and they are often booked with other clients when you need them. Agency retainers usually put an account manager between you and the developer. With us you talk to the people writing the code, and there is a studio behind them, so the work doesn't stop if one person is away.
When should I hire a full-time Shopify developer instead?+
When you have enough steady work to fill most of a working month, plus someone who can manage a developer. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median web developer wage at $90,930 in May 2024, which is about 75 hours a month at our rate before benefits and recruiting. Below that level, fractional usually costs less.
You're in Warsaw. Does that work for a US team?+
Yes. Warsaw is usually six hours ahead of New York and nine ahead of Los Angeles, so an East Coast morning overlaps our afternoon. West Coast teams get less live overlap, so we run those through the ticket board and book calls ahead. Prices are in US dollars.
Free discovery call
15 minutes. No charge. We tell you if we can fix it.
Bring the problem: a leaking checkout, a feature your last developer said was impossible, a store that needs rebuilding. You leave with a straight answer and, if it fits, a fixed-price proposal within 48 hours.
Book a free 15-minute call- Pick a slot that suits you, any time zone
- Video or phone, your choice
- No pitch deck, no retainer, no follow-up sequence
© 2026 Thought Bulb Studio
Tell us what's not working. We'll tell you if we can fix it.
No sales call. No deck. Just a direct conversation about your store, what it's costing you, and whether we're the right fit to solve it.
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A straight answer on the call, not a follow-up email
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Fixed-price, scoped proposal in 48 hours
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No retainer, no commitment — just an honest conversation
Founder - Thought Bulb
Talk to Robin directly →