What does a work contract with half-work cost?
half-work is a consultancy and matching agency — not a self-service tool with a subscribe button. Every engagement is a work contract (Werkvertrag) with a named freelancer as our subcontractor. The effort depends on domain and complexity, which is why you get an individual quote after the briefing. What never changes: the briefing is free, and every person's rate range is visible in the directory.
From the free briefing to accepted work.
Briefing
- We listen: what is the task, what is the timeline, what are the AI requirements?
- An honest assessment of fit — “nobody fits right now” is a possible outcome.
- One to three concrete match proposals with real names, CVs and toolstack, usually within a week.
- A rate range per proposal and a clear effort estimate — no sales pressure.
Want more substance before the contract? → Scoping session from €199
Work contract
- A work contract under §§ 631 ff. of the German Civil Code (BGB). half-work is your contracting party; the freelancer works as our subcontractor.
- Your choice: a fixed price for clearly defined tasks, or a retainer with a defined band of hours per month.
- Formal acceptance under § 640 BGB. Standard statutory liability with a cap; compliance documentation package included.
- The delivered work is yours afterwards, in machine-readable form. No lock-in.
Ongoing collaboration
- If the collaboration is meant to continue: a fixed band of hours per month, cancellable monthly.
- Scalable up to a half or full position — the same person stays on it.
- Visible KPI reports every month. Your escalation contact stays committed.
- No minimum term, no lock-in.
It all starts with the free briefing. Request a slot →
Scoping session.
Instead of a free small-talk call: 90 minutes of structured sparring with an AI moderator, an optional NDA and a documented PDF. It filters out tyre-kickers and qualifies engagements. If you go on to commission the work, the fee is credited in full against the contract — so anyone who commissions effectively pays nothing.
Scoping · Standard
- 90 minutes of structured sparring with Finn (or a senior freelancer from the directory)
- An AI moderator in the room — it condenses, surfaces contradictions and proposes next steps
- A documented PDF: the task, use-case classification, AI Act risk class
- One to three match proposals from the directory
Scoping · Plus
- Standard plus an eIDAS-compliant NDA via Documenso (a guided 30-second signing flow)
- The NDA unlocks the AI moderator (gatekeeper logic) — without it, the chat is never stored
- Session hash published on trust.half-work.com — verifiable long-term
- An audit trail for your DPO file and compliance evidence
Scoping · Deep
- Day 1: sorting the task plus AI-moderated sparring
- Day 2 (three to seven days later): a follow-up session with the selected senior freelancer
- A persona round trip — the task rethought from the senior's perspective before any contract
- Full output PDF plus a draft work contract
The session fee is credited in full when you commission the work. To book, send a short email to hallo@half-work.com — or simply raise it in the free briefing.
Two building blocks that make your setup more robust.
When an engagement involves an AI component, two questions usually follow: how do I train my people alongside it? and where does the agent actually run? — we have partners in the same stack for both.
KOMPETAI · AZAV-certified, subsidisable in Germany
Our training partner KOMPETAI runs the “AI practitioner” programme for companies, jobseekers and founders. For participants based in Germany, funding through the Federal Employment Agency is possible depending on status (in individual cases up to 100%) — eligibility is checked with your local employment agency or directly with KOMPETAI. Outside Germany the programme is available as a regular paid course. It can serve as a building block for the AI-literacy evidence required under Article 4 of the EU AI Act; whether it replaces a company-wide record depends on your context. Worth it if your people are meant to develop the agent further on their own.
Qognio · EU data centre, no US cloud in the path
Should the agent run inside the EU, without inference travelling through OpenAI or Anthropic US endpoints? Qognio hosts it in a data centre in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, with its own model pools (32B/70B). Subscription from €200/month or a custom build from €990 — bookable separately or directly inside the work contract.
Why there is no price list.
A simple content workflow is a different amount of work than a RAG agent inside a regulated process. These are the factors that determine the fixed price — and we put them on the table during the briefing.
Domain complexity
How deep does the procedure go? A clearly bounded task is faster than a process with many branches and edge cases.
AI depth
A prompt pattern is not the same as a RAG setup with a vector database, tool use and an eval pipeline. We cost according to the maturity of the stack.
Data & system integration
Does the agent reach into internal systems, or does it work standalone? Integrations increase both effort and testing depth.
Regulation & audit depth
Engagements in regulated fields (GDPR, AI Act high-risk, audit-relevant processes) need more documentation and more review steps.
Level of support
How often does course need correcting? How tight is the escalation path? That determines the monthly retainer.
Hosting choice
Sovereign on Qognio or your own setup — both work. Sovereign hosting has a clear list price; your own setup varies with the stack.
What every work contract contains.
- A real person, not model output. Listed pseudonymously in the directory with senior domain, years and AI toolstack — the real name and CV come to you after the briefing.
- half-work as your contracting party. One contract, one invoice, one address for escalation. The freelancer is our subcontractor.
- Formal acceptance under § 640 BGB. Proper warranty rights under German work-contract law, standard statutory liability with a cap on cardinal obligations.
- Compliance documentation package. DPIA template, draft data-processing agreement, technical and organisational measures, AI Act classification, audit-trail sample — everything your data protection officer needs for the file. Details in the trust centre.
- No lock-in. The delivered work is yours in machine-readable form, and ongoing collaboration is cancellable monthly.
Common questions about pricing.
Can you give me a ballpark figure?
In the briefing — yes, and a very concrete one. Naming a number beforehand, without knowing the task and the AI depth, would be guesswork. What we can say: the rate ranges are openly visible in the directory, and we build a defensible effort estimate from there. No sales pressure.
How does this differ from Upwork, Fiverr or Malt pricing?
We do not add a platform fee on top. Each freelancer's rate range is the range we cost with — the half-work margin is priced transparently into the fixed price or the hourly rate. In return you get a contracting party who stands behind acceptance and escalation.
Why not a simple monthly subscription like other AI tools?
Because an engagement here is not an off-the-shelf tool. It carries a senior person's way of working, applied to your specific task. That curation is consulting work — and it cannot honestly be squeezed into a self-service tariff.
What if the briefing shows that nobody fits right now?
Then we say so. The briefing is free, and we keep you on the “not a fit right now” list — we get in touch actively as soon as someone joins the directory who matches your task. We will not sell you something vaguely suitable.
What is a scoping session — and when is it worth it over the free briefing?
The free briefing is 30 minutes of initial sorting: unstructured, nobody takes minutes, confidentiality is verbal. A scoping session is 90 minutes of structured sparring with an AI moderator, an optional eIDAS-compliant NDA and a documented PDF as the output. It pays off when (a) your task is confidential, (b) you need a recorded result at the end for your DPO, management or board, or (c) you genuinely want to think the task through before booking anyone. The fee is credited in full against the contract if you commission the work.
Can I book only the KOMPETAI training, without a work contract?
Yes, directly via kompetai.de — it is an independent certified programme. We are happy to make the introduction if you first want to establish whether funding applies in your case; just mention it in the briefing.
Can I book only the Qognio hosting, without a work contract?
Yes, likewise directly via qognio.com — subscription or custom build. We are glad to help with the configuration if you do not know the stack yet.
Do you invoice international clients, and in which currency?
Yes. We invoice in euros. For business clients inside the EU with a valid VAT ID, the reverse-charge procedure applies; for clients outside the EU, invoicing is generally without German VAT. Your finance team will want the exact treatment confirmed for your jurisdiction — raise it in the briefing and we will put it in writing with the quote.
Want a concrete number? You get one in the briefing.
Free, non-binding, with an honest effort range and one to three concrete proposals at the end. If you need structured depth with minutes and an optional NDA, book a scoping session instead.
