Australian consultancies charge $150-250/hour. We charge $80/hour equivalent.1 Before you close this tab thinking "cheap offshore disaster," let me explain the model.
The Economics Nobody Admits
Typical Australian Consultancy
| Senior developer | $200/hour2 |
| Junior developer | $150/hour |
| Blended rate | $175/hour |
| Actual coding time | 60% (rest is meetings) |
| Real cost per coding hour | $291 |
Our Model
| Philippine senior developer | $50/hour loaded3 |
| 100% senior, no juniors padding hours | — |
| AI tools subscription | $50/developer/month |
| Actual coding time | 80% (AI handles admin) |
| Real cost per coding hour | $65 |
That's a 78% reduction in real coding costs. We claim 60% to include our margin and give you a conservative number you can bank on.
The Timezone Arbitrage
Everyone knows offshore is cheaper. Here's what they don't know: Philippine developers working Sydney hours changes everything.
Traditional Offshore Problems
- Send question at 5pm, get answer at 9am tomorrow
- Sprint planning at midnight
- Nobody online when production breaks
Our Reality
- Developers online 9am-6pm Sydney time (Manila is GMT+8, Sydney is GMT+10)
- Slack response in minutes, not hours
- Pair programming that actually works
- Production support when you need it
The 2-hour timezone difference means you actually have overlap. India? That's 5.5 hours behind—your workday is their evening.4
Quality Without Compromise
"But offshore quality..." Stop. Here's the difference:
Traditional Offshore
- Take any project
- Assign whoever's available
- Hope for the best
Our Approach
- Only senior developers (5+ years)
- Interview pass rate: <10%
- AI agents paired with every developer
- Agentic code review with escalation protocols
A study by Accelerance found properly managed offshore teams deliver equal quality at 40-60% less cost.5 The key words: "properly managed."
We're the proper management.
The AI Multiplier Effect
Philippine developers + AI tools = unexpected magic.
Why? They're hungrier to learn. Our team adoption stats:
- AI agent pair programming: 100% of developers
- AI-assisted PR rate: >60%
- Self-directed AI learning: 3 hours/week average
They don't see AI as a threat. They see it as a superpower.
Real Numbers from Real Projects
Government Digitisation Project
- Delivered at <50% of traditional consultancy rates
- Ongoing support and feature development model
- Same hybrid team + AI approach at any scale
- Timeline: Faster iteration cycles
- Result: Year-long partnership secured
US Dental Technology Platform (Multi-year Strategic Partnership)
- Transforming referral management & provider communication
- Delivery efficiency: 45% faster than industry standard
- Model: Lean + pragmatic + AI-augmented development
- Multi-year partnership: Continuous feature velocity
- Outcome: Competitive advantage through speed
The Uncomfortable Truth
Most consultancies use offshore teams. They just don't tell you.
Academic research found that consulting firms practice "transparency arbitrage"—they're accountable to local regulators while keeping offshore operations deliberately opaque.6 Engagement letters don't disclose where work is performed. Rate cards don't break down onshore vs offshore allocation.
Industry sources report that when major consultancies deploy offshore teams, rates may drop to $90-160/hour—but they still call them "Sydney-based consultants" in the pitch deck.7
You want to know who's writing your code and where they're sitting. We'll tell you. We'll introduce you. You'll have them on Slack.
When This Model Doesn't Work
Let's be honest. Skip us if you need:
- On-site presence daily
- Government security clearance
- Someone to blame in person
- Legacy tech stacks from 1995
But if you want quality code at fair prices, delivered by people who work your hours and answer when you call?
We need to talk.
Citations
- Our $80/hour rate is a blended average across team structures on 3+ month engagements. Rates vary by project complexity, required seniority mix, and engagement length. Single-developer short-term projects may be higher. Contact us for project-specific pricing.
- Australian IT consulting rates: Senior consultants typically charge $120-175/hour according to industry data (PayScale, 2020; Authentic, 2020). Senior developers at major consultancies bill at $150-250/hour. Sources: "How Much Should I Charge As A Consultant In Australia?" (Authentic.com.au); "IT Consulting Rates Per Hour - Guide For 2024" (eSpark).
- Philippine developer costs: Senior Philippine developers with 5+ years experience cost approximately $35-50/hour in direct compensation. With benefits, office costs, tools, and overhead (40-60% loading), total cost is $50-70/hour. We use $50/hour loaded as our baseline for senior talent. Sources: Industry salary surveys; offshore development rate comparisons 2024-2025.
- Timezone alignment: Manila (GMT+8) is 2-3 hours behind Sydney (GMT+10/+11 with DST), creating 6-7 hours of daily overlap during standard business hours. India (GMT+5:30) is 4.5-5.5 hours behind Sydney, resulting in minimal business hour overlap. Sources: Standard timezone calculations.
- Accelerance research: The 2024 Global Outsourcing Report found that properly managed offshore development teams can deliver comparable quality at 40-60% cost reduction when timezone alignment and management practices are optimised. The key differentiator is "properly managed" including cultural fit, communication practices, and technical oversight.
- Stausholm, S.N. (2024). "Big 4 offshore: Transparency arbitrage across legal and geographical boundaries," Contemporary Accounting Research. Research found firms use "organisational partitioning" to provide "transparency signals to onshore stakeholders while maintaining discretion about offshore operations."
- Offshore billing indicators: Industry analysis shows that when major consultancies use offshore delivery, client billing rates may decrease to $90-160/hour compared to standard $200-400/hour local rates, though engagement letters typically don't specify work location. Source: Embark Consulting industry analysis; offshore consulting market research 2024.
All client examples represent real project scopes with anonymized details to protect confidentiality. Individual results may vary based on project requirements, technology stack, and implementation approach.
Based on 18 months of project delivery data across enterprise and government clients in Australia and New Zealand.