What automation costs. Fixed quote, published bands.
The scope sets the price, and the price is fixed before work begins. No hourly meter, no retainer that keeps charging after the work is done. The bands below are where most projects land. The number for your task comes after the free evaluation, and it does not move once we start.
- Free evaluation
- Fixed quote before work begins
- First deliverable running in 14 days, guaranteed
Build prices
Single-task automation
$7,500–$25,000
First deliverable running within 14 days.
One task, end to end: a scheduled job that reads files or portals, applies your rules and writes the result back. Messy input, exceptions and a review step are what move it up the range.
Larger workflow
$25,000–$75,000
First deliverable running within 30 days.
Several tasks or systems chained together, often across more than one person, with handoffs, approvals and exceptions. A phone agent with lookups and transfer rules sits here too.
Custom web app
From $40,000
First deliverable running within 30 days.
A workflow that never fit a product, built around your own screens, rules and handoffs, connected to the systems you keep. Overlaps the workflow band on purpose: many apps start as one.
Quick tasks
From $2,500
First deliverable in 7 days.
A reminder, a recurring report, one repetitive step.
The guarantee
Quick tasks: first deliverable running within 7 days. Single-task automations: within 14. Larger workflows, phone agents and custom apps: within 30. The clock starts when we have access and sample data. "Running" means in your operation, not a demo.
"First deliverable" means something real running in your operation, not the whole project. The rest follows on the schedule in the quote.
Not sure which task first? The Automation Inventory.
Optional. If you already know the task, skip this: the evaluation and your fixed quote are free.
For teams with a dozen candidates and no ranking, we spend half a day with the people doing the work and hand back a one-page inventory: every repetitive task, hours a week and annual cost for each, whether it needs plain automation or AI, a price band, and the order to attack them in. Also the ones not worth automating, and why.
$500, credited in full toward your first build.
After the build: the managed plan.
Portals change, file formats drift, a vendor adds a login step. The managed plan keeps what we built running: monitoring and alerts, fixes when something upstream changes, a set number of small changes each month, a monthly report, and a review with one new candidate task. Every tier includes the full service; the tiers differ by how many automations are covered and how fast we respond.
Essential
$500 / month
Covers 1–2 automations.
Response next business day.
Standard
$1,000 / month
Covers up to 5 automations.
Response same business day.
Priority
$2,000 / month
Covers up to 10, incl. phone agent.
Response within 4 business hours.
Optional. Month to month, 30 days' notice. You own the code either way.
AI phone agents.
An agent that answers your routine calls, books to your calendar, looks up a status and hands the rest to a person by your rules. Or one that makes the calls your team should not be making by hand: status checks, confirmations, follow-ups. Inbound, outbound, or both.
- Setup, one direction
- From $4,000
- Setup, inbound and outbound
- From $7,000
- Running
- From $500 a month plus usage
Usage is sized to your call volume and quoted up front. First deliverable running within 30 days.
What moves a price up or down
- The number of systems. A task inside one system is simpler than one that touches four.
- No API or portal work. Where a system offers an API, EDI or file exchange, the automation uses it. Where the only way in is a website built for people, we review that portal's terms with you and work through your own login, and it takes longer to build and to keep running.
- Exception handling. If a person makes a judgment call a dozen times a day, we build a place for that call to happen.
- Data quality. A clean export every time is easy. A file that looks different every week is not.
- Approvals. A step where someone approves, checks or picks up the work adds screens and states.
You do not need to work any of this out before you contact us. Tell us what you are doing by hand and we look at the systems, the inputs and the rules with you. What business automation actually costs goes into each of these.
A payback example
The calculator's arithmetic, at an illustrative fully loaded cost of $45,000 a year for one person.
| Hours a week on the task | Hours a year | Labor value a year |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 520 | $11,250 |
| 20 | 1,040 | $22,500 |
| 40 | 2,080 | $45,000 |
A task that takes 10 hours a week is worth about $11,250 a year of a person's time. A single-task automation at the bottom of its band, $7,500, is paid for by that time in about eight months. At 20 hours a week, about four. At 40, about two. The hours come back every week for as long as the task exists.
These figures show the value of the time, not guaranteed cash savings, and not a quote. Run your own numbers in the hours-back calculator.
Pricing questions.
Do you take small jobs?
Yes. Quick tasks start at $2,500: a reminder, a recurring report, one repetitive step. The first deliverable is running within 7 days.
Do I have to buy an Inventory to get a quote?
No. The evaluation and the fixed quote are free. The Inventory is for teams that want every task found and ranked before they pick one.
Do I have to take the managed plan?
No. Without it, everything you own keeps running, and fixes are quoted as they come up.
Why fixed price?
Because the scope is knowable once we have seen the task, and an hourly meter puts the risk of our estimate on you. We look at the systems, the inputs and the exceptions, then give you one number. It does not move once we start.
What if it takes longer?
That is our cost, not yours. The quote is the price of the build. If you add a system or a step after we start, that is new scope and gets its own fixed quote first.
Who owns the code?
You do. The code and the documentation are yours from the first deliverable, whether or not you take the managed plan.
What does the managed plan cover?
Monitoring and alerts, fixes when a portal, login or file format changes, a set number of small changes each month, a monthly report and a review with one new candidate task. Tiers start at $500 a month. Month to month, 30 days' notice.
Tell us about the task your team keeps doing by hand.
Every morning, every Friday, or every time an order comes in. Small tasks and larger workflows are both welcome. The evaluation is free, and if we take it on, the first deliverable is running in your operation within 14 days, guaranteed.
Free evaluation. Fixed quote before work begins.