Our prices
| Stage | What you get | Length | Cost (ex VAT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blueprint | A map of how your work actually runs, a shortlist of AI opportunities with the value of each and what it needs, a written list of what not to automate, and an operating plan you own. | One month | £3,500, fixed |
| Build | The system the Blueprint calls for: working agents, approval queues, spend caps, audit trails, integrations, dashboards, documentation and handover. | At least six months | Quoted from your Blueprint |
| Embed | Training for the people who run it, review and escalation routines, and support until your team runs and improves it without us. | Ongoing | Quoted from your Blueprint |
Blueprint is one invoice, paid before the work starts, with no expenses unless we agree them with you in writing first. If you go on to work with us within 60 days of your report, we take the full fee off your first project.
Build and Embed are quoted from the Blueprint, so the number you sign is based on what we found, not what we guessed in a sales call. You get the quote before Build starts, and you can stop after any step.
What the UK market charges
WhiteHat SEO’s guide to UK AI consulting costs (March 2026) puts independent AI consultants at £1,200–£2,200 a day, boutique specialists at £2,500–£5,500 and the Big Four at £4,000–£8,500. It puts strategy and assessment work at £8,000–£25,000 over four to eight weeks, and a pilot at £35,000–£120,000.
Those ranges are wide because the work behind them is. A four-week “strategy” can mean a slide deck or a working map of your operation. Ask any supplier what you’ll hold at the end, and whether you could act on it without them. There are more questions to ask before you sign in our Field Note on the subject.
What moves the price
How many workflows are in scope. One process, such as invoice chasing, costs far less to diagnose and build than five that hand work to each other.
The state of your data. If the information lives in one system, it’s straightforward. If it lives in spreadsheets, inboxes and one person’s head, someone has to untangle that first. It’s usually the biggest hidden cost.
How many systems it has to talk to. Every integration with your CRM, accounts package or warehouse system adds build and testing time.
How much control you need. An agent that drafts for a person to approve costs less than one trusted to act on its own. We start with approval and widen what an agent may do as it earns it.
How much your team does. The more your people own during Build, the less you pay us during Embed, and the sooner we leave.
The costs nobody quotes
Running costs. Model usage and software subscriptions carry on after handover. We put spend caps on every agent we build, so that figure is agreed, not discovered. For scale, about £400 a month runs our own agent fleet. Yours will depend on how much work it does.
Your team’s time. Expect the people who do the work today to give a few hours a week during Blueprint, and more during Build. Skip this and the system gets built around how someone imagines the work runs.
Doing nothing. Not a reason to rush. But the Blueprint puts a number on what each manual process costs you now, and that’s the figure to weigh the fee against.
When it’s worth paying for
When there’s a number you already track (hours spent chasing invoices, order-to-delivery lag, margin per job) and a process behind it that people work around rather than through. If you can’t name the number, start there, not with a consultant.
Sometimes the useful answer is no. Every Blueprint includes a written list of what not to automate, with reasons. If nothing on the shortlist is worth building, we’ll say so, and you’ll have paid for one month rather than six.
Questions we get asked
How much does AI consultancy cost in the UK?
WhiteHat SEO’s March 2026 guide puts independent AI consultants at £1,200–£2,200 a day and boutique specialists at £2,500–£5,500, with strategy and assessment work at £8,000–£25,000. Our one-month Blueprint is a fixed £3,500 plus VAT.
How much does an AI opportunity assessment cost?
Ours is the one-month Blueprint, a fixed fee of £3,500 plus VAT. It gives you a map of how your work actually runs, a shortlist of AI opportunities, a list of what not to automate and an operating plan you own, whether or not we build it. The same guide puts comparable strategy and assessment work at £8,000–£25,000.
Do we have to use you to build what the Blueprint recommends?
No. The operating plan is written so your own team, or another supplier, can carry it out.
Why don’t you publish a price for Build?
Because until the Blueprint is done, nobody (including us) knows how many workflows, integrations and approval steps it will need. You get a quote based on what the Blueprint found before Build starts.
What does it cost to run an AI system once it’s built?
Model and software subscriptions carry on after handover. We put spend caps on every agent we build, so running costs stay inside a figure you’ve agreed in advance.
Who owns the code and prompts?
You own the agreed client-specific code, prompts, dashboards and documentation from handover. The proposal sets out what transfers and what stays our reusable IP.