THE MODEL

Your hours while the team onboards, then half your day, live

Two phases and one conversation between them. This is how we work with every US client, so there is nothing to negotiate at the start.

Onboarding: your hoursStandard: half-day overlapReview call

Typically 6 to 8 weeks, at most 12

Onboarding: your hours

The team works your full business day while it learns your codebase, your people and your standards. The async standard runs from day one, so the habit is built before you need it.

  • Your full business day, live
  • The async standard running from day 1
  • One review call at the end

After the review call, for as long as we work together

Standard: half-day overlap

Half of your working day is live together, every day, fixed in your own time zone. The other half of your day, and the hours the team works outside it, are covered by the async standard, so work lands while your office is closed.

  • Half your business day, live together
  • Fixed in your time zone, not ours
  • Async delivery for the rest

Typically week 6 to 8, at most week 12

One review call, at the end of onboarding

We look together at how delivery is actually going. The team moves to the standard half-day overlap from there, unless you would rather keep it on your full hours for longer. If you ask, it stays.

Starting something big later on? Ask, and the team goes back to your full business hours for as long as the launch needs.

A STANDARD DAY

What the working day actually looks like

Two clocks, one set of hours. Your overlap is fixed in your own time zone, so it does not move when the US changes clocks. The team's Manila day moves instead.

US East Coast

New York, Boston, Atlanta

  • Your business day
  • Team working window
  • Your overlap, live together
Your dayEDT
Your team's dayManila, GMT+8
4 hours live, every day
09:00-13:00 EDT, which is 21:00-01:00 next day in Manila. That is 50% of your working day, and it falls in your morning, before your afternoon gets busy.
5 more hours of delivery before your day starts
The team is working 04:00-09:00 EDT with your office closed, so reviews and answers are waiting for you rather than pending.

When the clocks change: your overlap stays at 09:00-13:00 EST. The team's Manila day moves instead, from 16:00-01:00 next day while you are on EDT to 17:00-02:00 next day while you are on EST.

US West Coast

San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles

  • Your business day
  • Team working window
  • Your overlap, live together
Your dayPDT
Your team's dayManila, GMT+8
4 hours live, every day
13:00-17:00 PDT, which is 04:00-08:00 next day in Manila. That is 50% of your working day, and it falls in the back half of your afternoon.
5 more hours of delivery after your day ends
The team is working 17:00-22:00 PDT with your office closed, so reviews and answers are waiting for you rather than pending.

When the clocks change: your overlap stays at 13:00-17:00 PST. The team's Manila day moves instead, from 04:00-13:00 next day while you are on PDT to 05:00-14:00 next day while you are on PST.

THE ASYNC STANDARD

The hours you are not in the room are written down

Async is a discipline, not a euphemism. These three things run from day one of onboarding, long before the overlap becomes half your day.

  • End-of-day note

    Every day, in your own Slack or Teams channel: what was done, what is next, what is blocked.

  • Pull requests before your day starts

    Work is raised for review overnight, so your morning begins with something to read rather than something to wait for.

  • Blockers raised inside the overlap

    If it needs you, it reaches you while you are both online, not a day later.

Sample end-of-day note

End of day, Tuesday

Done
Checkout validation shipped to staging. PR #418 raised for the retry logic, ready for your review.
Next
Webhook replay endpoint. Tests are written, implementation tomorrow.
Blocked
Sandbox credentials for the payment provider expired, raised in today's overlap. And one question: do failed refunds retry automatically or wait for support? Either is a day of work, so we would rather ask than guess.

An illustration of the format, not a real client's work.

NEARSHORE VS OFFSHORE

Compared with Latin America

Latin America is the alternative most US buyers weigh, and on the clock it wins: a whole shared working day, from week one. What it does not give you is work arriving while your office is closed, and it is a different order of cost.

If your work genuinely needs eight live hours a day, take the nearshore answer. If it is reviewable asynchronously, read the three rows below and decide what the extra hours are worth to you.

Philippines and Latin America compared on onboarding overlap, standard overlap and cost per senior engineer
FactorPhilippines (Global BrainForce)Latin America
Overlap while the team onboards (US)Your full business dayThe team runs your hours while it onboards, typically 6 to 8 weeks and at most 12Your full business daySame or adjacent time zones, so the shared day is there from week one
Overlap once onboarding ends (US)Half your day, then delivery outside itHalf your working day live together, fixed in your own time zone, then work continues while your office is closedYour full business dayA whole shared working day. Delivery runs on your clock, so it stops when your day does
Cost per senior engineer (USD/month)USD 4,380Fully managed. One rate, no employer costs on topUSD 9,600–12,000

Every column is compared in USD, the currency the published benchmark quotes, so the columns stay like for like whichever market you buy from.

Our own figures are generated from our published role catalog. Every third-party figure is sourced:

The full Philippines vs Latin America comparison

Working hours: the questions US buyers ask

The honest answers, including the one we cannot promise yet.

A.At one review call at the end of onboarding, typically in week 6 to 8 and at most week 12. We look together at how delivery is actually going, and the team moves to the standard overlap from there. There is no checklist to clear and no score to hit.

A.Yes. Say so at the review call and the team stays on your full business day. You do not have to justify it: if it is not the right moment for your team, it is not the right moment.

A.Ask, and the team goes back to your full business hours for as long as the launch needs. A new codebase, a new domain or a new set of people needs the same live ramp-up the first onboarding did.

A.Yes, if that is what your team needs. We agree the working hours with you per engagement.

A.The live window sits in the back half of your afternoon rather than your morning, and the team's Manila day starts early to meet it. Same half of your day live, same delivery outside your hours, except the work lands after your day ends instead of before it starts.

A.The half-day overlap is how we run with every US client, and it is fixed in your own time zone rather than negotiated. What we do not sell is a contracted overlap window with a number of hours written into the agreement, because we will not put a figure in a contract we cannot hold on every seat, every week. If you need that in writing, say so early and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it.

FURTHER READING

Further reading on the time zone question

How the Philippines compares with the nearshore alternative for US teams.

Tell us the hours your team actually needs live

We will tell you what the overlap looks like in your own time zone, how onboarding runs, and what it costs. No contracted overlap window, because we do not sell one.

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