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Engagements

Plain pricing. Project-based.
You pay for the deliverable.

Every engagement is scoped to a named outcome with a fixed price and a committed timeline. No hourly games. No surprise scope. If AI is not actually the answer for what is slowing you down, I will tell you in the first call.

The ladder is built so you can start small. A Quick AI setup takes an everyday job off your plate — the phone, bookings, follow-ups — done for you in days. An AI Workflow Map looks at the workflows that slow you down and finds which AI is actually worth building, with real numbers and an honest verdict. An AI Build makes one (or a few) of them real and gets the team using them. The Advisor Retainer keeps a senior set of hands available after, on a regular cadence. See a worked example →

What is and is not included: My pricing covers my work: discovery, design, build, training, and monitoring as scoped per engagement. AI platform subscriptions, LLM token usage, and integration tooling (typically $100 to $1,500 per month per workflow, depending on volume and tools) are billed by the vendors directly to you. I will size, recommend, and help you negotiate. You own the subscription and credentials. That is deliberate so you stay in control after I leave.

Discovery Quick AI setups AI Workflow Map AI Build Retainer
Start Here · Free

Discovery Call

Thirty minutes. You talk. I listen.

Free
30 minutes

What you get

  • Real questions to surface what is actually slowing the business down (often not AI)
  • An honest outside read on whether senior advisory, workflow mapping, or none of the above is the right next step
  • If AI is not the answer, I will say so and tell you what would help instead
  • A recommended next move: an engagement, a referral, or "not yet"
No pitch. No slides. No follow-up unless you ask for one.
Book the call
Start small · Done for you

Quick AI setups

"I just need the everyday stuff handled — the phone, the bookings, the follow-ups."

From $1,250
live in days
What you walk away with
A piece of everyday AI working in your business — most often an AI receptionist (that's Alex) answering calls, booking appointments, and taking messages. Set up on your own accounts, tuned to how you work, and explained so you're never in the dark. You own everything; usage is billed to you at cost.

What's included

  • A short call on how you greet customers and how you like things handled
  • Setup and configuration on accounts in your name — you own the number, calendar, and data
  • Tuning until it sounds and works like your business
  • A walkthrough so you and your team know exactly how it runs
  • An optional monthly support plan if you'd like ongoing help
The easiest place to start. Meet Alex, the AI secretary →
Book a fit call
Start small · Quick wins

The Backlog Cut

"There is a pile of small, repetitive tasks nobody has time to fix. Clear a few of them, fast."

$2,500
1 to 2 weeks
What you walk away with
A short, honest inventory of the small manual tasks quietly eating your team's time, ranked by value, effort, and risk, with the top few actually automated and running. The backlog that was never worth a big project, cleared in a couple of weeks, plus a shortlist of what to tackle next.

What is included

  • A focused look at where repetitive, manual work is piling up across the team
  • A ranked backlog scored on value, feasibility, and risk, using our own ConceptToValue method
  • Two or three of the highest-value tasks automated and handed over, on accounts in your name
  • A short walkthrough so your team owns what we built
  • A prioritized list of what to clear next, whenever you are ready
The fastest way to feel the difference. Low risk, quick payback.
Book a fit call
Lead Product · Narrower AI lens · You bring three workflows

AI Workflow Map

"We have three workflows that hurt. Tell us which one is actually viable, what it would cost, and what to build first."

$4,000
4 weeks elapsed
What you walk away with
A deep-dive on each of your three named workflows: current state map, AI opportunity scope, named tool stack with negotiated pricing, estimated build cost and run-rate cost, ROI projection with sensitivity, integration approach, risk register, and a clear verdict on each: Build now / Build later / Skip with rationale. Delivered as a working document, not a deck. The de-risk before you commit to a build.

What is included

  • 30-minute scoping call to confirm the three workflows you want analyzed
  • Focused observation of each workflow in motion, not a sanitized version
  • Deep treatment per workflow: design, tools, integration architecture, cost, ROI, risk
  • Vendor evaluation and negotiated pricing for the recommended tool stack
  • Decision verdict per workflow with rationale (Build now / Build later / Skip)
  • A 90-day plan if you proceed, delivered as a working document, not a deck
  • One follow-up working session 30 days after the plan, included
Why client-named workflows

When you bring the three workflows that already hurt, the hit rate is higher than discovery-led selection. You know your pain. I bring hard-won pattern recognition for what AI does well and where it falls down. Three workflows is the right number: enough that at least one is almost certainly viable, few enough that each gets real depth.

The plan is yours, regardless of when you act

You walk away with the document at the end of week 4. Act on it now, next quarter, after the next budget cycle, or six months from now after you have had time to think it through. The work is done either way. Most clients sit with the Map for two to six weeks before deciding which Build (if any) to commission. A few never commission a Build because the Map made the right answer "not yet" - that is a valid outcome and the Map paid for itself by saving you from the wrong build decision.

What this Map costs you not to do

A wrong Build engagement because the prerequisites were not named: $8K to $18K plus 12 weeks of team time. A vendor pitch that landed because nobody had the comparison math: $5K to $30K per year of unnecessary tool stack. A Big-4 or hourly equivalent of this same work: $10K to $75K. A partner spending 60 to 100 hours doing it themselves: time you do not have. $4K is the cheap option, not the expensive one.

Pick this when AI is already on your radar and you have specific workflows in mind. Free self-check → · See a worked example →
Book a fit call
Build it · One change, or a few woven together

AI Build

"We know what's worth building. Make it real, get the team using it, and make sure it sticks."

From $8,000
6–16 weeks · scoped by the Map
What you walk away with
The workflow built and live — the AI and the guardrails around it, plus any process or role changes it needs to stick. One named change for a focused build (from $8,000), or three to five coordinated changes woven together for a larger one (around $18,000). The build and the operating side are handled together.

What a build can include

  • The AI workflow itself: platform configuration, the automation layer, integration with your existing tools, testing against real cases, and the checks that make it safe to rely on.
  • The process around it: current and future-state mapping, a transition plan with named owners, and team training in the new way of working.
  • Roles and ownership: who owns what once it's live, decision rights where they need to change, and coaching managers through the first weeks.
  • The rhythm to keep it going: a simple cadence and the few metrics worth watching, so the change holds instead of drifting.
  • Monitoring after go-live: 30 days for a focused build, 60 days for a coordinated set.
Assumes the change is defined — by a Map, or by you bringing a clear scope. Watch how a Build unfolds week by week →
Book a fit call
Ongoing · Senior advisory on retainer

Advisor Retainer

"We need a senior set of hands available without committing to another build."

$3,500/month
90-day minimum, then month-to-month
What you get
A senior advisor on retainer for the harder calls: AI tooling choices, vendor evaluation, hiring, second opinion on engineering decisions, change-management gut checks. Six to ten hours per month of working time, plus async access in between.

How it works

  • One monthly working session (90 minutes, on-site or video)
  • Async availability through the month for specific questions, with same-day reply on workdays
  • Quarterly written read on the trajectory, what is working, what to revisit
  • Best after we have already worked together once. New retainers without prior context are rare.
  • 90-day initial commitment so the rhythm has time to land. Then month-to-month.
If you cancel mid-month, you owe only the months you used. No tail.
Book a fit call

Not sure which one fits?

That is what the Discovery Call is for. Bring what you are seeing, in whatever shape it shows up. Thirty minutes, no slides, no pitch. If I am not the right fit, I will tell you who is.

Book the call →

Payment terms

25 / 25 / 50

Project-based engagements (Maps and Builds) are billed in three tranches: 25% on signing to secure the calendar slot, 25% at the halfway checkpoint where we confirm scope and value-in-progress, and 50% on final readout when the document or system is delivered. The Advisor Retainer is billed monthly.

Engagement On signing Halfway Final readout
AI Workflow Map ($4,000) $1,000 $1,000 $2,000
AI Build ($8,000) $2,000 $2,000 $4,000
Larger AI Build ($18,000) $4,500 $4,500 $9,000
Advisor Retainer ($3,500/mo) Billed monthly · 30-day notice to end
Pennsylvania sales tax

Pure consulting, advisory, configuration, and training services are not subject to Pennsylvania sales and use tax (61 Pa. Code § 60.19). The price is the price.

Third-party vendor costs

SaaS subscriptions (Retell, Twilio, Anthropic, Make.com, etc.) are billed directly to you by the vendor, not passed through this invoice. Honest pricing, no hidden markups, and you own the relationship.

Net terms

Net 14 on each tranche. ACH or check preferred. Card OK with a 3% processing fee added.

Common questions

You are pricing well below what national AI consulting benchmarks suggest. Why?
Two reasons. First, the buyer here is in Lancaster County and central Pennsylvania, not San Francisco. Pricing has to feel honest, not flashy. Second, I am in a phase where I would rather have three or four good early engagements at a Lancaster register than wait six months to land one engagement at a coastal register. Once the work proves out, the register adjusts.
Why are you cheaper than the firms with AI offerings I see advertising in this market?
Most of those "local" AI firms running search ads for Lancaster are not local. They are out-of-state shops with SEO landing pages. My overhead is mine. No sales team, no partner taking a cut, no franchise fee. The price is what the work actually costs to deliver well.
What if four weeks is not enough for a Workflow Map?
Four weeks is the average delivery window across discovery, observation, opportunity ranking, and writing the plan. I am not on-site full time during it. Most engagements include three to five working sessions and one or two observation visits, with the rest done in between. If your operation is unusually complex, the deliverable might extend by a week. If that becomes likely, we will agree on it in writing in week two, not the day before the deadline.
Why no hourly rates anywhere?
Hourly billing turns every conversation into a meter running. You should be paying for the deliverable and the outcome. How long I spend on it is my problem to manage, not yours to worry about.
Do you actually deliver implementation, or just advise?
Both. The AI Workflow Map is design and advisory. The AI Build is hands-on: configuration, integration, testing, training. I do the build work directly. No junior staff handed off to.
What kinds of businesses is this for?
Established Pennsylvania mid-market businesses, roughly 10-200 employees. The verticals I have credibility in are insurance, financial services, healthcare, professional services, manufacturing, and family businesses. If you are outside those and the workflow problem is genuinely interesting, I will tell you on the call.
What if I want to start with a Build and skip the Map?
You can, if the workflow is already well defined and there is a clear scope on paper. We will spend the first week of the Build tightening scope so we do not end up in the wrong place. If it becomes clear in that first week that we needed a Map, we will pause and reset rather than press forward.
Why does the Retainer require us to have worked together before?
A retainer without shared context becomes "rent a head" which is the wrong shape of relationship and almost always ends badly for both sides. The Map or a Build gives us the shared language. After that, the retainer is high-leverage for both of us.
Are you taking new work right now?
Yes, with limited capacity. I can hold three to four active engagements at any time across the menu. If we agree the work is a fit and I am at capacity, I will say so and offer a start date or a referral.

Thirty minutes. No slides, no pitch.

Tell me what you are seeing. You will get an honest outside read on whether I can help. If I am not the right fit, I will say so and point you to who is.

Book a Discovery Call