Working together
How an engagement works
Most consultants bill by the hour, whatever the outcome. We agree on a price before we start, based on what the work is worth to you. You pay part at the start and the rest on delivery, and a support retainer is optional.
Upfront minimum
A fixed fee to start, scoped to the work. This covers discovery and the initial build. It means we only take on projects we're confident we can deliver, and both sides are committed from day one.
Delivery payment
The rest of the price, due when the system is live and you have signed it off. It's the price we agreed before we started, and it stays fixed. It doesn't depend on a savings report either.
What you do with the hours we free up is up to you.
Support retainer
Ongoing support, monitoring, and continuous improvement. As your business changes, the systems need to keep up. The retainer keeps us involved so the new process doesn't slide back into the old one.
Requires a minimum engagement level to make sense for both sides.
Assessments start at $2,000 CAD; what they cost above that depends on how many teams and workflows are in scope. Build work is priced per job and agreed before anything starts.
The process
What it looks like step by step
Start with the audit
Use our savings audit to map one workflow and put a dollar figure on what it costs you. It commits you to nothing, and it gives us both real numbers to talk about.
You can also just reach out directly if you already know what you want to tackle.
Run the savings audit →Or start with an assessment
The audit needs one workflow to start from. If you know you should be doing something with AI but can't say where it would pay off, start with an assessment instead. We spend time in your business with the people doing the work, as well as the people who manage it, and come back with a ranked list: what is worth automating, what each one is worth per year, and what you should leave alone.
Fixed fee, and the findings are yours whether or not we build any of it.
Discovery conversation
Book a first conversation, or we can talk by email or phone, whatever works for you. We want to understand the problem, the people involved, what has already been tried, and what success would look like for your business. We'll skip the slides and the demo.
Scope and agree
Once we understand the work, we scope it together. We agree on the workflow, the baseline savings from the audit, and the engagement structure. Nothing starts until we are both comfortable with the plan.
Build
We work through discovery, design and cleanup of the existing process, then build. You're involved the whole way, so by handover you understand what we built and why. Everything is tested and documented.
Deliver and enable
When the automation goes live and you have signed it off, the delivery payment falls due. It's the number we agreed before the work started, so nothing needs recalculating. We also train your team and leave them documentation and a runbook written for their jobs.
Ongoing support
After handoff, questions come up, processes change and systems need tweaks. We stay available on a support retainer for all of that.
If you also want someone to own your technology decisions, that's a Fractional AI Lead engagement, which is set up separately from a support retainer.
See the Fractional AI Lead role →Deliverables
What you walk away with
Beyond the automation itself:
- →Working systems your team can run and own
- →Documentation and runbooks written for the people doing the work
- →A clear picture of where the time went and what changed
- →Someone to call when things change after handoff
Common questions
Before you get in touch
- What does it cost to work with Digital Blacksmiths?
- Assessments start at $2,000 CAD, and what they cost above that depends on how much there is to look at: how many teams and workflows are in scope. Build work is priced per job, and the number is agreed before anything starts, so nothing needs recalculating at the end.
- What is an assessment, and do I have to build anything afterwards?
- An assessment is for businesses that know they should be doing something with AI but can't say where it would pay off. We spend time in your business with the people doing the work, as well as the people who manage it, and come back with a ranked list: what is worth automating, what each one is worth per year, and what you should leave alone. The findings are yours whether or not we build any of it.
- How do I get started?
- Two ways, and neither commits you to anything. You can use the free savings audit to map one workflow and put a real number on what it costs you, or you can book a first conversation and we will talk it through. If you already know what you want to tackle, just get in touch directly.
- What happens in a first conversation?
- We talk through the problem, who is involved, what you have already tried, and what a good outcome would look like for your business. It takes about half an hour, and you're under no obligation afterwards.
- How quickly will you get back to me?
- Within one to two business days. If it looks like a fit, we will be in touch to talk through your priorities and how we might help. If it is not a fit, we will tell you so, including when the job doesn't need AI at all.
- Do you only work with businesses in Saskatoon?
- Digital Blacksmiths is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and works with businesses across Saskatchewan and the rest of Canada. Assessment work benefits from time on site, so local engagements are the most straightforward, but build and support work is done remotely as a matter of course.
Ready to talk?
Start with the audit if you want to put a number on it first, or just reach out and we will figure it out together.