You pay $10K for code.
You get $4K of building.
You think the problem is time allocation. It's not.
The breakdown:
→ $2,000: Meetings, standups, planning (20%) → $1,500: Debugging code (15%) → $1,000: Fighting with tools and infra (10%) → $800: Waiting on decisions or dependencies (8%) → $700: Docs and handoffs (7%) → $4,000: Actually writing new code (40%)
Want more building time?
One strategic call saves 10 meetings. One good architecture choice kills 100 hours of debugging. One documentation hour prevents a $50K rebuild.
Start optimizing for speed + clarity.
That's how you buy back 60% of your budget.