We don't do six-month transformation projects. We automate one high-impact workflow, prove the ROI, and build from there. Here's exactly how it works — and what it costs.
Every client starts in the same place. Every engagement ends with automation running in production — typically within 30 days.
We start with a free 30-minute call. We look at your calendar from last week — what did you do more than twice? What did someone on your team spend hours doing that felt like robot work?
From that conversation, we produce a Drudgery Report: your top 3 automation opportunities, ranked by time saved, ease of implementation, and ROI. You get this whether or not you engage us further.
We pick the single highest-impact workflow from your Drudgery Report and build the automation. Scoped tight. Delivered fast. Running in your real environment — connected to the tools you already use — not a sandbox demo.
We don't ask you to switch platforms, retrain your team, or change how you work. We build around what you have.
The automation has been running for a week. We sit down and measure what actually changed — hours recovered, errors eliminated, throughput increased. We put a dollar figure on it together.
This isn't a sales pitch for the next engagement. It's a calibration. Did we hit the estimate from the Drudgery Report? What did we learn? What would we do differently on the next one?
Once the first automation is running and you've seen the ROI, you have a decision to make. Most clients choose to expand — moving to the second and third items from their Drudgery Report. Each automation compounds.
Some clients pause after the first one. That's a perfectly valid outcome. We don't push the next engagement until the current one has clearly earned it.
These aren't marketing copy. They're the constraints we put on ourselves in every engagement.
We refuse to scope five automations in the first engagement. The clients who try to do everything at once end up with nothing running. Pick the most painful thing. Build it. Prove it. Then talk about what's next.
If you run Microsoft + Notion + QuickBooks, we build in Microsoft + Notion + QuickBooks. We don't introduce new platforms unless there's a genuinely compelling reason — and we'll tell you if there is.
Every system we build has guardrails. Exceptions get routed to a person, not guessed at. Edge cases escalate. You always have a way to see what the automation is doing — and override it if needed.
You get documentation of how the automation works, what triggers it, what it does with edge cases, and how to turn it off. You're not dependent on us to understand what you're running.
Some processes aren't worth automating yet. Some businesses aren't at the right volume. Some workflows are too variable to automate reliably. We'll tell you this in the Drudgery Report — before you've spent anything.
If an automation can't pay for itself within 90 days, we don't recommend building it first. We start with the workflows that have the fastest, most measurable payback — so the math is obvious from day one.
We've found that being direct about this upfront saves everyone time.
"Dispatchers were spending their entire day reading emails and copy-pasting data. Now the system handles the routine work and our team focuses on what actually needs a human."
The honest answer: it depends on what you're automating. Most small businesses start with one high-impact workflow. Here's how our typical engagements are scoped.
| Automation Type | Typical Investment | ROI Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Single-workflow automation Email response, invoice chasing, status reporting |
$8K – $12K | 30–60 days |
| Document intelligence & data entry elimination Invoice processing, form extraction, multi-format intake |
$12K – $18K | 60–90 days |
| Multi-step workflow automation Dispatch system, invoice intake + follow-up + reporting |
$18K – $28K | 60–90 days |
Most businesses we work with are spending 10–20 hours per week on the workflow they want to automate. At even a modest valuation of your time, the math usually makes the decision obvious.
Our automations typically pay for themselves in the first quarter. After that, every hour saved is pure return.
Prices listed are for build and deployment. Ongoing maintenance and monitoring available as an optional monthly retainer.
Tell us your biggest time-waster. We'll map your top 3 automation opportunities — and tell you honestly which one to build first.
Get Your Free Drudgery Report →Or email us directly: [email protected]