You're not buying hours. You're buying the pattern.
Each block is a blueprint already designed, argued over and hardened — that is why it moves. It arrives as code in your accounts, not as a project plan.
Block 02 in plain terms: six pillars, then the first fixes.
A Well-Architected Review walks one workload through the AWS Well-Architected Framework's foundational questions, one pillar at a time. AWS grades what it finds as High Risk Issues and Medium Risk Issues — a graded list, one workload at a time. That fixed shape is why block 02 is the usual way in and the one block with a published starting price; the other six are quoted after the spek session, and the scope is fixed before the number is.
A fair question before the six: the framework is published, the AWS Well-Architected Tool is free to use, and reviews are widely available. So the list is not what the price is for. What this block prices is the half after the list — the quick wins merged as pull requests in your repositories, and a scoped quote for the fixes that are bigger than a quick win. The report is what a review produces. The merged code is what changes the workload.
Running and improving the system. Without it, recovery time depends on which specific person is awake.
Protecting data and systems. Over-broad IAM on a flat network means one leaked credential reaches everything.
Working correctly, and recovering when it doesn't. A single-AZ workload does not survive an AZ event.
Using compute well as demand shifts. Over-provisioning to mask an architecture problem rents that problem monthly.
Delivering the same value for less. With no tags or budgets, drift surfaces on the invoice — after it is spent.
Added 20 November 2021. Any review older than that never asked these questions at all.
What actually lands in your repo.
Every block ends as auditable artifacts in your accounts and your git history — not a slide deck. This is the handover, file by file.
Every block ends in a handover shaped like this. Which one to start with is the first thing a session settles.
The modern foundation — built in the right order.
Opinionated defaults — the same versioned modules on every build, flexible where your goals demand it. The foundation, in order:
Starts day one, so everything after lands on real signals — not guesses.
Change a pattern once — every environment inherits it.
One pipeline per service shape — a fix in one place upgrades every repo.
Docs that update themselves, and Claude skills for safe self-serve infra.
Autoscaling and guardrails that fix problems before they page a human.
A multi-account split that fits your scale — the bill matches the stage you're at.