How We Work
Senior people, honest advice, and a fixed quote before we build
Whether you don't know where to start, have an idea that needs scoping, or know exactly what you want building, we'll advise on the right place to begin, and you only pay for the stages you need.
Trusted by growing businesses
Where you start
Wherever you're starting from, we can help
We'll advise on the right place to begin, and you only go through the stages your project needs.
You're not sure where to start
You know there's more to get from AI and automation, but not where. We start with discovery: where the biggest opportunities are, and what to do next. Then we design and build what earns its place.
The stages you need
- Discoveryneeded
- Solution designneeded
- Build & launchneeded
You have an idea that needs scoping
We start with solution design: how it will work, an honest connect, buy or build call, and what it will cost. If we need to understand more about your business first, we'll suggest discovery.
The stages you need
- DiscoveryIf needed
- Solution designneeded
- Build & launchneeded
You know exactly what you want built
A straightforward integration can often go straight to build: we just need access and the data mapping. Anything more involved gets designed first, so it can be costed properly.
The stages you need
- Discoverynot needed
- Solution designnot needed
- Build & launchneeded
Once it's live, you can run it yourself, or we can look after it for you.
Stage by stage
What happens at each stage
Each stage ends with something you can use, and nothing starts until you've seen what it costs.
Who it's for
Businesses that aren't sure where to start, have more ideas than they can choose between, or want to know where the biggest opportunities are before deciding what to do. It's also where we begin if we need more information before we can properly scope or build.
Summary
We assess how your business works today, its processes, systems and data, to find where the time and money go and what's worth doing about it.
- We map your processes, the systems they run across, and where the data lives.
- We talk to the people who do the work, not only the people who own the budget.
- We find the bottlenecks, and what they're costing you.
- We research the tools and models that could help.
- What you get
- An efficiency impact report: our findings, clear advice on what to do next, and where the biggest opportunities are. ROI estimates come when discovery is combined with solution design, because a return needs a cost. It's yours to act on, with us or with anyone else.
- Typical length
- Usually several days' work, estimated up front by how deep you want us to go.
- How it's billed
- Consulting time, estimated before we start.
Discovery also runs as a standalone engagement: AI Consulting Services
If you've bought this kind of work before
Four things that can go wrong, and how we prevent each one.
| What went wrong | How we prevent it |
|---|---|
| Weeks of silenceNo idea what was happening, or whether anything was. | You hear from the people doing the work throughout, not just at the end. |
| Lead times in quartersBy the time it landed, the business had moved on. | Senior people building with AI, so most integrations and workflows go live in weeks. |
| Bugs that never endedGo-live was the start of the problems, not the end of the project. | Thorough testing before go-live, and close support through the first weeks after it. |
| A strategy deck and an invoiceAdvice nobody could act on. | Discovery ends in clear advice on what to do next, and design turns it into something costed and buildable. |
Who does the work
Who's actually on your project
A small senior team does the work, and brings in senior specialists when your project calls for them.
Senior people do the work
AI does the heavy lifting
Specialists, when you need them
When your project calls for deeper expertise, we bring in senior specialists from our trusted network, chosen for exactly what the work needs, including:
- Sector and vertical expertise
- AI safety & alignment
- Machine learning
- Engineering & development
- Infrastructure, data privacy & security
- Transformation & project management
Pricing
What does it cost?
No mystery pricing, and no long retainers locking you in: you only pay for what you need. Consulting is time-based; builds are fixed scope and everything is quoted before we start.
Consulting
From £400*
time-based
Discovery, process and data reviews, solution design, or a second opinion on a plan you already have.
Buy the time you need — no retainer, no ongoing commitment.
*Consultant rates from £100/hour, four-hour minimum.
Integrations & workflows
£1k–£10k
fixed scope
Connecting the systems you already run, and automating a process end to end.
Quoted up front, before anything starts.
Custom builds
£10k–£100k
phased, fixed scope
Bespoke platforms your operation depends on, built around your process.
Each phase quoted before it begins.
If your system needs ongoing running costs, such as third-party software licences, AI tokens, hosting or maintenance, we’ll give you estimates up front. All figures exclude VAT.
Start with a call, not a commitment
A 20-minute call. Tell us where the time goes, and we'll tell you honestly whether there's something here worth building or not.
FAQs
Questions about how the process works
If yours isn’t here, ask us on a call and you’ll get a straight answer.
No. Discovery is for when you're not sure where to start, or want to know where the biggest opportunities are before deciding what to do, and also if we need more information before we can properly scope or build. If you already know what you want, such as a one-off automation or a pilot, we can start at solution design. A straightforward integration can often go straight to build: we just need access and the data mapping. Either way, we'll advise on the right starting point.
This shouldn't become a project for your team. What we need is concentrated in the first two stages: a handful of working sessions with the people who actually know the process, access from whoever administers the systems, and someone able to make decisions. During the build we aim to need you for updates and sign-offs rather than meetings.
It gets quoted. Builds are fixed scope, and bigger projects are phased, with each phase quoted before it begins. So a change either fits the current phase or becomes part of the next one, with a number attached. What doesn't happen is an open-ended clock and a bigger invoice than you expected.
Yes, and that can be the best arrangement. They know your environment, and there are things they should keep owning. We'll agree who builds what, work to their standards and review conventions where they have them, and hand over documentation their team can maintain from. We're not trying to become the only people who understand your systems.
You own the code, the systems and the data. You can always run it yourself, hand it to your own team or another supplier, or we can look after it for you. During a build we work inside your environment with access scoped to what the build actually needs, using credentials that stay yours and can be revoked at any point. If you have your own security requirements, they come into the solution design stage rather than being discovered at the end.
We're still there. We stay close through the first weeks while your team settles in, and you get documentation for everything we've built. Once your system is live, our monitoring and ticketing system automatically detects, diagnoses, and escalates problems and keeps you updated. Monitoring and support are optional, never a time retainer, and because you own the system, you can also have your own team or another supplier look after it.
Yes. We're not selling a product, so we tell you what you need and what you don't. Sometimes the honest answer is to buy something off the shelf, use what you already have, or do nothing yet. Advice that always ends in a build isn't advice.