Build work is quoted per project. A marketing site with a handful of pages, a CMS and analytics is a fixed-price engagement measured in weeks. A custom platform is discovery, design, build and a support period, measured in months, and should be staged so you can stop between phases without losing the work already done.

Marketing is a monthly retainer covering paid social, a content calendar and reporting. Advertising spend sits on top of the retainer and goes to the platform, not the agency — insist on that separation and on access to the ad account in your own name.

Managed IT support for villas, cafés and offices is a monthly fee covering business-hours support, network monitoring and a set number of site visits. Given how much Bali runs on unreliable connectivity, the visits are the part that matters.