The price tag is the first problem
You’ve probably had this experience: you look into AI help for your shop, and the pricing you find is either suspiciously cheap — some guy on the internet charging $49 for a magic prompt pack — or a big number with no explanation of what you’d actually get. Neither one helps you make a decision.
Here’s why this hurts: you already know how to buy things for your business. A water heater has a price, a scope, and a warranty. You can compare bids apples to apples. AI help doesn’t work that way yet. One consultant charges $150 an hour with no defined end date. Another quotes $12,000 for a “full AI transformation.” A third wants $3,000 a month forever. They’re all selling something called AI help, and none of them describe the same thing. So most contractors do the rational thing: nothing. And the problem they were trying to solve — missed calls, drowning in paperwork, quoting taking too long — keeps costing money every week.
This article gives you the actual pricing landscape as it’s publicly reported, so you can tell the difference between a fair price and a fantasy.
The reported price ranges — labeled honestly
One important note before the numbers: the AI services market is young, unregulated, and full of unpublished pricing. What follows are reported ranges — published pricing I’ve seen and what vendors report — not verified industry averages. Treat these as landmarks, not survey results.
Small-business AI advisory: ~$100–$300/hr (reported)
The “talk to me and I’ll tell you what to do” tier: a consultant advises your team on which tools to adopt and how to use them. Watch the clock — open-ended hourly advisory is where “AI help” can quietly become a permanent line item with no finish line.
AI assessments / audits: ~$500–$2,000 low end; $1,500–$4,000 some firms (reported)
A diagnostic: someone looks at how your business actually runs and hands you a written report on where AI could help and what to do first. The question to ask is always the same: is the deliverable a real roadmap I can act on, or a PDF that sits in a drawer?
Fixed-scope quick-win projects: ~$2,500–$10,000 (reported)
One problem, one working solution — say, after-hours call handling or automated review requests. This is the tier most small contractors should start with, because you see a real result before committing real money.
Simple workflow implementation: ~$3,000–$15,000 (reported)
A bigger build: automating a multi-step process like quote-to-invoice, or connecting your CRM to your scheduling to your review requests. If a quote lands here, make sure the scope names every workflow being built — “implement AI” is not a scope.
Ongoing advisory / optimization: ~$1,000–$8,000/month (reported)
Retainers cover monitoring, tweaking, and adapting things as your business changes. Be honest about whether you need this: many small contractors need a good build plus occasional support, not a permanent monthly bill.
What AltaPoint charges — stated plainly
We put our pricing on our website and in writing, because hidden pricing is one of the problems with this market. Here’s ours:
- AI Audit — $2,500 flat. The deliverable is an implementation roadmap plus quick wins. If you start a build with us within 90 days, the full $2,500 is credited toward the build.
- Builds — project-priced $2,500–$30,000+. Most land between $7,500 and $15,000. Fixed scope, defined deliverables, in writing before we start.
- Monthly retainer — from $500/month, scoped to what you actually need.
And a free AI Workflow Review — a 20–30 minute call — comes before all of it. No obligation. Sometimes the honest answer on that call is that you don’t need us yet, and we’ll say so.
How to judge value — five checks before the price matters
A $2,000 quote can be a ripoff and a $15,000 quote can be a bargain, depending on what’s inside. Judge every proposal on these five things before you look at the number:
- Defined deliverables in writing. What exactly will exist when they’re done that doesn’t exist now? “An automated review request system that texts customers after completed jobs” is a deliverable. “AI implementation” is not.
- Who does the work. Are you paying for the person who showed up to the sales call, or subcontractors you’ve never met? Fine if delegated — not fine if you don’t know who to.
- Time-to-value. When do you see the first working result — and how much do you pay before that? Front-loading payment before anything works is risk you’re carrying, not them.
- What happens after handoff. Who maintains it, what breaks, what it costs when something changes. A build with no maintenance plan has an expiration date nobody mentioned.
- Whether training is included. If your office manager can’t run it after the consultant leaves, you bought a demo, not a system. Training should be named in the proposal, not assumed.
Red flags — walk away signals
- Vague pricing with no deliverables defined. If they can’t tell you what you get for the money, the money isn’t the problem — the absence of a thing you’re buying is.
- Guarantees of leads, revenue, or results. Nobody can guarantee your business outcomes. An honest consultant talks about what the system will do; a dishonest one sells you your own success.
- No training included. This is how “AI projects” become expensive shelfware.
- Can’t explain it in plain English. You explain a roof in plain English to your customers; expect the same courtesy.
- Pressure tactics. “This price expires Friday,” or making you feel behind for asking questions. Legitimate businesses let you think.
- No references or proof of any kind. “No proof” plus “no pilot option” plus “full payment upfront” is a combination you should decline.
A picture of how this plays out
Picture a typical 10-person electrical shop. The owner gets two AI quotes in the same month. One is $1,200 for an “AI audit” — a two-hour phone call and a templated report. The other is $2,800 for an audit that includes a day watching how the office actually works and a written roadmap with three prioritized builds. The first one is cheaper. The second one is the only one that could tell him anything he doesn’t already know. Price told him nothing; scope told him everything.
That’s the whole point: cheapest isn’t best, and most expensive isn’t either. Fit and clarity win. A $500 audit that names your actual bottlenecks beats a $4,000 audit that could have been written for any business. A $6,000 build your team can run beats a $12,000 build that needs the consultant on retainer forever to keep working.
Use this prompt to evaluate any quote you receive
Copy this into ChatGPT, Claude, or any similar tool. Paste the proposal where it says, and let the AI do the first pass — then you apply your judgment.
You are helping a small contractor evaluate an AI consultant's proposal. Be direct and practical — no sales language, no hype.
I received the following proposal from an AI consultant. Review it and give me:
1. VAGUENESS CHECK — List every claim or line item that is vague or undefined (e.g., "AI implementation," "optimization," "ongoing support" with no detail). Quote the exact wording.
2. MISSING DELIVERABLES — What should be in this proposal but isn't? Check for: specific deliverables in writing, who does the work (named people or roles), timeline with a first-working-result date, what's included after handoff, training for my team, and what triggers extra charges.
3. RED FLAGS — Flag any of these if present: guaranteed results or revenue, full payment required before anything works, pressure tactics, no mention of training, no references or proof of past work.
4. QUESTIONS TO ASK BACK — Give me 8 specific questions to send the consultant, in plain contractor language, targeting the gaps you found.
5. PLAIN-ENGLISH SUMMARY — In 3-4 sentences, tell me what this consultant is actually offering and whether the price seems tied to real work or mostly to talk.
My trade: [YOUR TRADE, e.g., plumbing, roofing, HVAC]
Size of my business: [NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES]
The problem I'm trying to solve: [ONE SENTENCE]
Here is the proposal:
[PASTE THE FULL PROPOSAL TEXT HERE]Before you sign
- Can I state, in one sentence, what I will have when this is done that I don’t have now?
- Are the deliverables named specifically in the proposal — not “AI services” or “optimization”?
- Do I know who is doing the work — by name or role — and who’s accountable if it goes wrong?
- Is there a date for the first working result, and how much do I pay before that date?
- Is training for my team named in the proposal, with who gets trained and how?
- Do I know what support costs after handoff, for how long, and what breaks the warranty (so to speak)?
- Are there references I can actually call — or a small paid pilot so I can see the work before committing?
- Did they answer my questions in plain English, without pressure and without guaranteed results?
- If I walked away from this deal, would I be missing a real solution — or just a good sales pitch?
If any of those get a “no” or a “sort of,” slow down. The honest version of this advice sometimes points away from hiring anyone — maybe the problem is a process fix, maybe it’s a $30/month tool you can set up yourself, maybe it’s just not the right quarter. A consultant who won’t say that isn’t advising you; they’re selling you.
One offer, no pitch
If you’re looking at quotes and want a second set of eyes from someone who does this work: we offer a free AI Workflow Review — a 20–30 minute call where we look at how your shop actually runs and tell you straight what we’d do, including whether we’d recommend doing nothing yet. If it makes sense to go deeper, our AI Audit is $2,500 flat — a written implementation roadmap plus quick wins, fully credited toward a build if you start one within 90 days.