Engagement ladder
The ranges below reflect the current engagement structure. They are useful for planning but do not replace a scoped proposal. Data sensitivity, systems, integrations, jurisdictions, stakeholder count, travel, acceptance criteria, and delivery risk can change the final fee.
| Offer | Typical timing | Representative planning range | What the client receives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Opportunity Session | 90 minutes plus preparation and brief | $2,500 | Outcome statement, high-level workflow map, evidence gaps, and proceed/remediate/stop recommendation. |
| Workflow Evidence Diagnostic | One to two weeks | From $18,000; standard $30,000 | Current-state workflow, baseline economics, constraint analysis, AI/non-AI comparison, control boundary, and decision brief. |
| Fixed-Scope Assessment | Three to five weeks | $45,000–$125,000 | Requirements, architecture and governance gaps, prioritized options, evaluation plan, and implementation roadmap. |
| Controlled Pilot | Six to ten weeks | $150,000–$350,000 | Bounded working capability, test set, evaluation results, operating controls, rollback, runbook, and scale-or-stop memorandum. |
| Implementation | Three to nine months | From $400,000 | Production integration, redesigned workflow, security and control evidence, enablement, monitoring, handoff, and acceptance results. |
| Independent Assurance | Four to eight weeks | $70,000–$220,000 | Scope-defined technical, process, control, or implementation evaluation with limitations and remediation priorities. |
| Operating Retainer | Three to six month initial term | $15,000–$95,000 monthly | Reserved evaluation, monitoring, governance, or portfolio capacity with defined service units and reporting. |
What makes a fixed fee credible
Enumerated boundary
The statement of work names business units, workflows, systems, datasets, environments, stakeholders, workshops, deliverables, review rounds, and acceptance criteria.
Client dependencies
Access, subject-matter experts, decision owners, review windows, and security or legal participation are explicit schedule conditions.
Milestone acceptance
Delivery is accepted against specified artifacts and tests—not a guaranteed commercial outcome that depends on client adoption or third-party systems.
A closer look at the diagnostic
| Output | Decision value |
|---|---|
| Current-state workflow | Shows the real trigger, steps, handoffs, decisions, systems, queues, exceptions, and endpoint. |
| Baseline economics | Separates cycle time, touch time, rework, error, service loss, capacity, and cost mechanisms. |
| Intervention comparison | Tests process redesign, policy, rules, search, integration, conventional automation, machine intelligence, and no action. |
| Evaluation and control plan | Defines representative cases, critical errors, human review, permissions, monitoring, fallback, and stop conditions. |
| Executive recommendation | Provides pilot, remediate, defer, non-AI, or no-go direction with owners, unknowns, and next evidence. |
Commercial guardrails
- A new workflow, business unit, dataset, environment, integration, jurisdiction, executive audience, or acceptance rule requires change control.
- Internal contingency protects against uncertainty inside the agreed boundary; it is not unallocated client scope.
- Retainers reserve defined capacity and service units. They do not provide unlimited access, unlimited analysis, or 24/7 operations unless expressly staffed and priced.
- Legal opinions, accredited certification, destructive security testing, and unsupported autonomous authority are outside the standard offer.
