Plumbing is basic project setup, CI, testing, etc but also all core functionality and any technically questionable bits like integrations with client APIs that are frequently not what is advertised. Research is always conducted by one of our "CTO"s (partners who have > 10yrs experience).

Projects vary at the low end from 2 people, 2 months up to 5-7 people for a year or longer. We do smaller stuff like prototypes also, usually as a first step in a longer series of releases. We are local in SF and frequently work in client offices. Budgets are between $100K - $1M.