Frequently Asked Questions

Stack Shop LLC is a US-registered technology consulting and services company founded by Sarel Pieterse, an engineer with more than 30 years of IT experience. We specialise in AI automation, systems integration, smart infrastructure, and managed technical services. Our team is remote-first and globally distributed, operating under US business registration with a focus on serving American and international clients.

We deliver end-to-end solutions — from discovery and architecture to deployment and ongoing support — across logistics, energy, manufacturing, and technology sectors.

We’ve been remote-first since inception. Our delivery model relies on structured communication, shared tooling, and clear milestones. Most projects are managed through async collaboration — Slack, Notion, GitHub/GitLab — with regular video check-ins.

For on-site work (CCTV hardware, IoT sensor deployment, network equipment), we coordinate with local technicians or travel when needed. For software-based work, everything happens remotely. We overlap with US time zones during Eastern and Central business hours and maintain a 24-hour response standard.

Getting started is straightforward:

1. Reach out — Fill out our contact form or email sales@stackshop.net.
2. Discovery call — Free 30–45 minute call to understand your goals and constraints.
3. Proposal — Within 3–5 business days, a written proposal with deliverables, milestones, and pricing.
4. Kickoff — Once scope is agreed, we schedule kickoff and begin work.

We also offer a Lightning Discovery option — a paid two-day deep-dive that produces a fully scoped architecture and implementation plan.

Not at all. Many engagements are one-off consulting projects or fixed-scope integration work. No account, no subscription, no ongoing commitment required.

Subscription services are available for clients who need ongoing managed hosting, monitoring, or AI agent maintenance — but they’re entirely optional. If you later decide you want ongoing support, we can transition to a subscription model at any time.

Our standard consulting rate is $150 / hour. Most engagements are quoted as fixed-price projects based on a well-defined scope.

Billing options:
• Fixed-price — one-off projects with clear deliverables
• Monthly invoicing — for ongoing subscription services
• Net 30 terms — standard for established businesses
• Up-front discount — available for smaller projects

We invoice in USD. All prices on our website are estimates — final pricing is in the proposal.

We accept wire transfer (domestic US and international), ACH direct payment, credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Amex via Stripe), PayPal, and ZAR EFT for South African clients.

Enterprise subscription clients are invoiced monthly with no long-term lock-in — cancel with 30 days’ notice. One-off projects are billed on a fixed-price basis with clear deliverables.

Timelines vary by scope, but typical ranges are:

• AI automation — 2 to 6 weeks
• Systems integration — 4 to 12 weeks (many go live within 6)
• IoT / smart infrastructure — 4 to 8 weeks for pilot deployment
• CCTV AI — 2 to 4 weeks for software integration
• Web & cloud — 3 to 8 weeks for most applications

Every proposal includes a detailed timeline with milestones. We build in buffer for testing and iteration.

Our Enterprise subscription (from $500/month) includes:

• Managed cloud hosting & infrastructure
• Custom AI agent deployment & management
• 24/7 system monitoring & alerting
• Priority support with 4-hour SLA
• Monthly strategy & optimisation reviews
• Dedicated account engineer

We also offer a lighter Managed Support tier starting at $1,500/month. Custom subscriptions can be scoped to fit specific requirements.

We’re technology-agnostic at the consulting level, but have deep expertise in:

AI & Automation: OpenAI / Anthropic APIs, LangChain, custom agent frameworks, RAG pipelines, n8n.
Backend: Node.js, Python, Go, REST/GraphQL APIs, RabbitMQ, MQTT.
Cloud: AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform.
IoT: ESP32/ESP8266, Mosquitto/EMQX, Modbus, LoRaWAN.
CCTV: ONVIF, Frigate NVR, Coral TPU, NVIDIA Jetson.
Frontend: React, Svelte, responsive HTML/CSS, PWAs.

We also work with legacy systems and proprietary platforms — if your stack isn’t on this list, we’re happy to evaluate the fit.

Both. Stack Shop LLC is registered in the United States, serving US clients with American business practices, contracts, and invoicing (ACH, wire, W-9s, Net 30 terms).

Our team is globally distributed with a strong presence in Cape Town, South Africa, giving us the ability to serve clients across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East with competitive rates and flexible timezone coverage.

For US clients: US-registered company, USD invoicing, Eastern/Central timezone overlap, no language barriers.
For international clients: US-standard professionalism with global team speed and cost efficiency.