Pricing is a feature.
Not a negotiation.
Every project below has a written scope, a fixed price, and an explicit set of deliverables. Scope is locked at the end of discovery. Change orders are written, not whispered.
Four pricing decisions that shape every engagement.
Pricing structure is a design decision. The four principles below decide what we charge for and how money moves through the engagement.
Fixed-fee, not hourly
Hourly billing pays the consultant to think slowly. Fixed-fee pays for the outcome and pushes us to ship faster. Every project below has a price ceiling that does not move once the scope is locked.
Paid discovery, refundable
Discovery is paid because it has to produce a real diagnostic, not a sales pitch. If we find the bottleneck is not automation, we refund the discovery fee and tell you what the actual problem is.
Scope locked at end of discovery
New requirements that surface mid-build do not silently inflate the invoice. They either defer to a follow-up engagement or go through a written change order.
Three retainer tiers, not one
A flat monthly retainer hides whether the work being done justifies the price. Three tiers make capacity and cost visible.
Four fixed-fee tiers.
Discovery audit
Map the operational pain before spending on the fix.
- ✓Workflow map of current state
- ✓Prioritized bottleneck list
- ✓Recommended architecture
- ✓Written scope for build phase
- ✓60-minute walkthrough with founder
Paid in full at kickoff. Refundable if the real bottleneck is not automation.
Simple workflow
One well-defined workflow built right the first time.
- ✓Workflow architecture document
- ✓Production build in Zapier, Make, or n8n
- ✓Native integrations with CRM and tools
- ✓Error monitoring and retry logic
- ✓Operator training and runbook
- ✓30 days of post-launch tuning
50% at kickoff, 50% at production launch.
Mid-complexity build
Multi-workflow systems with real engineering rigor.
- ✓Full operational map and architecture
- ✓3-8 connected workflows
- ✓CRM data model design and migration
- ✓Custom API integrations
- ✓Idempotent design with observability
- ✓Phased rollout with change management
- ✓60 days of post-launch tuning
40% kickoff, 30% milestone, 30% production.
CRM + operations overhaul
Full operations infrastructure rebuild.
- ✓CRM platform selection or migration
- ✓Complete data model architecture
- ✓Historical data migration with deduplication
- ✓10+ connected workflows
- ✓Custom integration layer
- ✓Engineering-grade observability
- ✓Phased rollout with weekly reviews
- ✓90 days of optimization
4 milestone payments tied to discovery, kickoff, midpoint, production.
What a $10M-$50M mid-tier build actually buys.
Four paths exist at that budget level. The honest comparison below explains what each delivers and what each risks.
ACS mid-tier build
- ✓3-8 production workflows
- ✓CRM data model design
- ✓Custom integrations included
- ✓Runbook and training
- ✓60 days of tuning
Scope locked at end of discovery. Change orders are explicit.
In-house automation engineer
- ✓Continuous in-house capacity
- ✓Direct on-call coverage
- ✓Deep institutional knowledge
Hard to hire at $10M-$50M scale. Single point of failure. Workflows stay in their head.
Enterprise consultancy
- ✓Large team
- ✓Brand-name on engagement
- ✓Deep process documentation
Sized for enterprise. Junior consultants on delivery. Reports over running systems.
Fiverr / Upwork freelancer
- ✓Single workflow
- ✓Fast on simple tasks
- ✓Low up-front cost
No architecture. No runbook. Workflow rots within 6 months. No accountability.
Three monthly tiers. Month-to-month.
Retainers are month-to-month with no minimum commitment. Three tiers exist because flat-rate hides whether the work justifies the price.
Maintain
Keep the system running.
- ✓Workflow monitoring
- ✓Credential rotations and API updates
- ✓Monthly health-check report
- ✓Up to 2 small enhancements per month
Iterate
Active improvement, not just keeping the lights on.
- ✓Everything in Maintain
- ✓Quarterly ops review and roadmap
- ✓2-4 new workflows per month
- ✓Direct Slack/email channel
- ✓Priority production response
Embed
Effectively a fractional automation lead.
- ✓Everything in Iterate
- ✓Weekly working sessions
- ✓Continuous workflow capacity
- ✓CRM/tool implementation included
- ✓On-call coverage for critical workflows
What we do not charge for.
Discovery audit credits
When you move from discovery to build, the discovery fee credits against the build invoice. You do not pay twice.
Post-launch tuning
30 days included on simple builds, 60 days on mid-tier, 90 days on overhauls.
Hourly overruns on fixed-fee work
When a fixed-fee build takes longer on our end, that risk is on us, not on the invoice.
Re-explaining scope mid-engagement
The written scope at end of discovery is the contract. We do not re-pitch the work.
Documentation and runbooks
Documentation is part of the build, not an upcharge for knowledge transfer.
Four pricing models we will not use.
Hourly billing
Hourly creates the wrong incentives. We bill outcomes, not stopwatches.
Value-based pricing capturing upside
We charge what the work costs to deliver plus margin. Upside belongs to the operator.
Surprise change orders
Every change order is explicit, written, and priced separately.
Token or subscription billing for builds
Projects are projects. Subscription billing for fixed scope obscures usage.
Six pricing questions operators ask.
Do you offer payment plans?+
Projects under $25K split 50/50 (kickoff and completion). $25K-$50K splits into three milestones. $50K+ engagements split into four milestones. Retainers bill monthly in advance.
What currency do you bill in?+
USD by default. International clients pay via Wise or wire transfer in USD-equivalent. We work with US, UK, Canadian, Australian, and EU operators at the same rate card.
What happens if the project runs over scope?+
Scope is locked at end of discovery. New requirements either defer to a follow-up engagement or go through a written change order. We do not bill hourly overruns on fixed-fee builds.
Is the discovery fee really refundable?+
Yes, when the discovery audit shows the real bottleneck is not automation. We refund the fee and tell you what the actual problem is.
Can I move between retainer tiers?+
Yes, month-to-month. Move from Maintain to Iterate, or down from Embed to Iterate. No penalty for changing tiers.
Do you offer equity-based or revenue-share pricing?+
No. We bill what the work costs to deliver plus margin. Revenue-share entangles consulting incentives with operator outcomes in ways that compromise the diagnostic.
Book a discovery call.
Paid discovery from $500. Output is a written audit, ranked bottleneck list, and recommended scope. If we are not the right fit, we say so on the call.