What AI consulting costs, and what moves the number.
Every engagement I take on starts with a free 30-minute call, and what comes after it is priced in three phases. The first phase is Lean work before it's AI work: I map the workflow with the people who actually do it, take out the waste, and only then point technology at what's left. These are my numbers, what moves them, and the cases where you don't need a consultant at all.
How I price the work
A free 30-minute call
Free 30 minutes, on video
Tell me what's eating your team's time and what you've already tried. I'll tell you honestly whether a diagnostic makes sense, or whether the free plan or the class will get you there on your own. Pick a time
Diagnostic
From $3,500 fixed, 2 to 3 weeks
I sit with the people who do the work and map it end to end, then we take out the waste: the waiting and the hand-offs and the re-keying and the steps nobody needs. I'll look at the tools you already pay for, too. You leave with a findings report and a build path in priority order, which you can run yourself or have me build. It's the same kind of work that took a workers' comp quote at Missouri Employers Mutual from ten minutes to three.
Build
From $12,000 quoted from the diagnostic
Scoped from what the diagnostic found, and built on the process we already leaned. Sometimes that means getting the AI tools you already have to work together, sometimes it's tailored software because nothing off the shelf fits how you actually work, and often it's some of both.
Ongoing support
$1,000 to $5,000 a month
Keeping the system tuned, adding to it as your team finds new uses, and supporting your people as you grow. The price follows how much support you want.
Map the workflow, take out the waste, then point technology at what's left. I'm a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and I do it in that order every time.
How much does an AI consultant cost?
With me, it starts with a free 30-minute call, then a fixed-price diagnostic from $3,500, a build from $12,000 quoted from what the diagnostic finds, and ongoing support at $1,000 to $5,000 a month if you want it. The scope of the work moves the number much more than who you hire does.
The rest of this page is what moves those numbers. If you'd like a figure for your own project, tell me what you're working on.
How do AI consultants charge: hourly, by project, or on retainer?
Usually one of those three: by the hour, by the project, or on a monthly retainer. Whatever the shape, it's worth asking what you'll actually have at the end of it.
For me that's a working system your team uses, measured in results. I work alongside your team, in the room and in the weeds, from the first idea to the working system. I'm in it with you, not handing over a plan and walking away.
What drives the price up or down?
Mostly how much has to change around the AI, more than the AI itself. A clean process with good data costs less to automate than a messy one, and connecting tools you already have costs less than building something new.
- The state of the process. If the workflow needs leaning first, that comes before any AI, and sometimes it pays off on its own. At Missouri Employers Mutual, quoting a workers' comp policy took ten minutes, and Lean process work and a rebuilt portal got it to three.
- Your data. A model learns from what you already have. The catalog system in Teaching a Catalog to See trained on 1 to 2 million photos the business had already taken.
- Off the shelf or built for you. Connecting an assistant to your email and calendar is a much smaller job than software shaped to your business, though AI has made that kind of software genuinely affordable.
- How many systems it touches. Every connection, to email, a calendar, a CRM or the books, is one more thing to build and one more thing to test.
- How good "good enough" has to be. Anything a customer sees needs a written definition of right, and testing against it, before it goes live. An internal drafting tool needs a lot less.
What does it cost to run what gets built?
It can be very little, and it's worth asking before you sign. MO Bill Watch, 3,403 pages I built solo with AI, runs for about the price of the domain, and JCMO Today, Jefferson City's local calendar, runs for roughly $10 a year.
For an AI assistant working on your own inbox and calendar, the running cost is usually a monthly subscription to whichever assistant you pick.
When is a $99 class the better buy than a consultant?
When you control your own tools and want to build the system yourself. The Build Your AI Chief of Staff class is a 2-hour live build plus a 45-minute office hour, $99 for a founding seat, and you leave with your own AI chief of staff.
Before that, the free 30-Day AI Starter Plan is the same approach on your own, with about twenty minutes of setup. A consultant makes sense when the job is inside the business: several systems, something your customers will see, or a process that needs rebuilding first. If the class sounds right, the waitlist hears first.
Should I hire an AI consultant, an agency, or do it myself?
Do it yourself when the work is your own inbox, calendar and recurring tasks; the free plan and the class cover that. When AI has to do a job inside the business, bring in someone who'll fix the process first and stay until the system holds up when real people lean on it.
That's how I work, and here's how an Applied AI engagement runs. If you're a small business deciding where to begin, start with AI for a small business.
How do I get a price for my project?
Book a free 30-minute call, or tell me what you're working on through the contact form or at hello@shannonowens.com. I read every message myself, and I'll set a price once I understand the problem.
Working in Missouri? Here's what AI consulting looks like here.
If you'd rather look around first, here's what I've built.