Pricing, approvals and contract basics

The shape of the commercial rules, who approves what, and where every number actually lives

GATED SECTION, FOR CLIENT FACING ROLES. No rate, floor, multiplier or commercial percentage is printed here, on purpose: every figure is read from the ORIGIN Brain register at the time of use, and the governing row is named beside each rule. NEW SECTION, proposed as Act 05 Section 07.

You do not need to memorise ORIGIN pricing. You need its shape, who says yes before you move, and which register row to open. A figure carried in your head goes stale without telling you.

Two tracks, and what separates them

ORIGIN prices on two tracks. The difference is who you are selling to, not how big the deal is.

• Client facing. ORIGIN contracts directly with the end client and owns the outcome in front of them.
• Partnerships and consultants. ORIGIN is the white label execution arm under a Tier 1 prime, or a complementary partner beside a firm that holds the client. On the subcontracting motion ORIGIN stays invisible to the end client.

The tracks are different in kind by decision. They share neither numbers nor approval chain, so which track a deal sits on is the first question.

Source: Register tab 4 rows 9, 11 and 31, and tab 5 row 16

Each track has a start, a target and a floor

• A start. Where you open. You negotiate down from it, never up to it.
• A target. Where the deal is expected to land.
• A floor. Where the price stops without the named approval. On the client facing track the floor is an absolute wall, not an approval point.

Above both sits a blended cycle target: an annual average outturn, not a per engagement minimum.

Source: Register tab 4 rows 9 (the two ladders), 7 and 30

WHY NO NUMBERS ARE PRINTED HERE
The ladder was rewritten twice in one cycle: a floor and a multiplier abolished in July 2026, the partner ladder ruled separately in August 2026. A number printed here outlives the ruling that set it. Tab 4 governs if another surface disagrees.

Who approves a price below target, and below floor

The approval is a record, not a conversation, and it happens before commitment, never after the client has a number.

Source: Register tab 4 rows 11 and 9, both on the ruling of 10 August 2026 that superseded a two head chain

TO CONFIRM
The register records the asymmetry between the tracks as unruled, not decided: the partner chain was ruled explicitly, the client facing gate was not, so it stays at two heads until it is. The pricing exception RACI also still carries a retired team label. Tab 4 row 11, tab 10 row 6.

ORIGIN never competes on price

This is positioning, not a negotiating style. Anchor against the Tier 1 firms on methodology and quality, McKinsey, BCG and EY, and present ORIGIN as the affordable alternative delivering that quality. Never argue price against an agency. Never offer a rate card before context. Never say ORIGIN can do it cheaper.

Source: Register tab 4 rows 13, 12 and tab 14 row 13

Pass through on third party spend

Where third party spend runs through an engagement, media placement and boost spend being the clear case, ORIGIN applies a standard pass through percentage on top. Two features matter more than the number: it is separate from management fees, and it applies whether or not the spend goes through an ORIGIN account.

Source: Register Open items rows 87 (item 116, CANDIDATE), 62 (item 91, the ruling verbatim) and 99 (item 128)

TO CONFIRM, AND IT CHANGES WHAT YOU SAY TO A CLIENT
Three things are unsettled. The rule is a candidate, not a promoted row. The register carries no rule on how it is PRESENTED, so whether it is absorbed into the blended price and never shown as a line, unless a signed contract says otherwise, is written nowhere and must not be promised either way. And what counts as third party spend beyond advertising is open. Rows 26, 62, 87, 99.

Technology maintenance

Technology builds are expected to carry an annual maintenance arrangement, paid in advance, priced as a percentage of build cost.

TO CONFIRM, THIS RULE IS NOT IN THE REGISTER
A whole workbook search, control term validated, returns no maintenance percentage and no percentage of build cost anywhere in the register. The nearest written standard is the Technology stream SLA, credit based incident support with an hourly overage, on a tab marked DRAFT and TO REVISE whose overage rate no signed instrument supports. Quote nothing until it is ruled. Tab 17 rows 2 and 5, Open items 25.

What is always excluded, and said out loud

• VAT. 15 percent in KSA, an explicit exclusion above the total, never folded into it. Tab 4 row 5.
• Withholding tax. Always an explicit exclusion in the pricing table. Tab 4 row 6.
• Production. Print runs, TVC and video shoots, photography production, fabrication and signage, event production. Sellable only when separately quoted and partner delivered. Tab 4 rows 27, 14.
• Trademark and naming diligence. ORIGIN does no trademark research, screening or clearance. It sits with the client, through their own PRO, lawyer or IP specialist. Open items rows 92 and 28, both candidates.

Production ready defines that exclusion, and it is precise: scope ends at print ready artwork, scripts, storyboards and technical specifications. Handing over the file is delivery. Getting it printed is not.

Source: Register tab 4 row 27

TO CONFIRM
On trademark the register refuses to merge a scope difference: the ruling covers registration and checking, a relayed version also covers domain and availability checks, which the ruling never mentions. Whether those are in or out is open. The same exchange carries a rule that binds you: a scope reduction is raised with the client openly, never absorbed silently. Row 28.

Contract basics you are expected to know

Payment terms and milestone billing

Standard terms are 5 days from invoice, with the register adding its own caveat that reality varies. Service work bills on a three instalment milestone split; retainer and transformation bill quarterly in advance.

Source: Register tab 7 row 5

The liability cap, and what sits outside it

The cap equals the fees the client paid ORIGIN in the twelve months before the claim, and on a shorter engagement that equals the total contract fees. Say so explicitly. Indirect and consequential damages are excluded both ways. Full exposure remains outside the cap for gross negligence, wilful misconduct, breach of confidentiality, the IP infringement indemnity, fraud, and bodily injury or death. When the client drafts, push back only if the cap is unlimited, one sided, above the ceiling the register sets, or stripped of its carve outs.

Source: Register tab 7 row 7 and tab 10 row 9 (uncapped is a hard stop)

Who owns the work, and when it transfers

Deliverables transfer on full payment and clearance of all obligations, not on delivery. ORIGIN retains all pre-existing IP: methodologies, frameworks including the House Framework and the POD Model, tools, templates and know how. Where ORIGIN IP is embedded, the client gets a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use it as embedded, internally only, with no right to extract, resell or sublicense. ORIGIN keeps the portfolio showcase right, client opt out allowed. Never share methodology before the NDA.

Source: Register tab 7 rows 8 and 9

Who signs

Marwan Arban signs every contract. His is the only authorised signature, with no delegation and no value threshold. Escalation sets how deeply a contract is reviewed, never who signs it: the screener sorts the clauses, hard stop items go to the CEO or counsel before anything returns to the counterparty, then the final version returns to him.

Source: Register tab 7 row 10 and tab 10 row 9

Next: The Act 05 quiz, then the final exam. The pass mark is 90 percent