Pricing & Billing

One pricing and billing page for all three services. The detailed numbers live here so each service page can stay about the work, not the invoice. The same internal build rate runs underneath all three; what changes is the shape of how that rate is packaged, because a managed harness, a done-for-you automation, and a team training programme bill differently.

Pricing Matrix

At a glance. All prices exclude VAT (charged at the prevailing rate; VAT-registered from invoice #1).

AI Managed Harness Services

The harness engagement runs as a fixed audit-tier ladder. Each phase is a fixed-fee output of the phase before it, so you always know the next number before you commit to it.

Business Automation Services

Same rate as the harness ladder, different commercial shape. Business Automation engagements are scoped by days rather than fixed audit tiers: I map your goals to build time, deliberately over-budget so the work does not stop mid-build, and draw down from that budget as build increments are completed and signed off. The day-scoped drawdown budget is set after the requirements phase, once the workflow detail is known, and you only pay for build time actually used within the agreed envelope. No published per-phase number here, because the budget is scoped to your workflows, not a fixed ladder.

AI Adoption Training

Positioning only, no published number, same internal rate. AI Adoption Training starts with a free discovery call, then a paid programme-design step where I learn your goal and build the adoption programme around it. Delivery is billed in the shape the design produces: a fixed fee for a single-day session, a day-scoped drawdown for a multi-week programme run with your teams, or a programme fee for a defined engagement. You get the price before delivery starts, off the design, not off a public rate card.

Billing

How and when I bill, in plain terms. The structure protects both sides: you do not pay before there is real value committed, and I do not carry months of work-in-progress without cashflow.

Upfront, before work starts

On a harness engagement, two phases bill upfront on engagement open: the Phase 2 company audit (invoiced and paid before the audit begins, so both sides stay serious; you commission real research that lands in your hands whether you proceed past it or not), and the Phase 3 foundation setup (invoiced and paid before foundation work begins, after you have seen the audit and accepted the budget). On a training engagement, the paid programme-design step bills before delivery starts, because that is where the custom prep happens.

Rolling monthly, for ongoing build phases

On a harness engagement, the per-harness audit, build and rollout, and SME workshop bill on a rolling monthly basis, pro-rata for whatever was completed and signed off in that calendar month. Sign-off is the gate: each deliverable needs your “yes, I am happy with this” before it goes on the invoice. For a longer build we agree milestones at kickoff (scaffolding, core build, rollout per user cohort, workshop), and each signed-off milestone bills in the calendar month it lands, so you pay as we make signed-off progress instead of one lump at the end.

On a Business Automation engagement the same rhythm applies against the day-scoped drawdown budget: I draw down as build increments are completed and signed off, and both sides reconcile against the budget as the engagement runs. On a training engagement, delivery bills in the shape the programme design produces: a single-day session fee, a day-scoped drawdown for a multi-week programme, or a defined programme fee.

Recurring, for ongoing maintenance

The harness Monthly Maintenance Package is invoiced monthly or annually depending on your commit choice. Business Automation engagements can keep the same optional deliverable-anchored support after handover, dropped the moment it is no longer earning its place.

Out-of-scope work

Smaller pieces get rolled into the next invoice. Bigger pieces (a new harness, a substantial feature, a new training cohort) go through the same scope-first discipline: a fresh audit or a fresh design step, then the build or delivery folds back into the normal billing cycle.

What this means in plain language

You pay upfront for the audit and foundation on a harness engagement, for the programme design on a training engagement, and you draw down against an agreed budget on a Business Automation engagement. After that, you pay for whatever is genuinely complete and signed off. Once the work is running, you choose whether to retain me for ongoing maintenance and on what cadence.

No big-bang final bills. No vague “we’ll figure it out.” If you have already paid me, it is because something tangible got delivered and you signed off on it.

If you feel you need to haggle my prices, then you probably can’t afford me anyways and should stop here and walk away.

What I cover, what you cover, what you own, what I keep

My side, costs absorbed (inside the build, drawdown, or programme fee, not separately billed): all AI tooling costs for my own work. Claude Max subscriptions, Anthropic API top-ups, MCP server hosting, agent-orchestration overhead during build, automation, and training delivery. You will never see “Anthropic API: £487.32” as a line item on an invoice from me.

Your side, your subscription with Anthropic: your team’s everyday production use of whatever I ship. A managed harness, a delivered automation, and a trained team using AI day-to-day all run against your own Anthropic accounts. I recommend Claude Max 20x per active user, or whichever Anthropic tier fits your usage agreement. This is a direct subscription between you and Anthropic, separate from anything I bill you for. (The Claude Max subscription I absorb on my side is for my own build work; your production use is yours, and that split is most visible on a harness engagement.)

Your side, IT infrastructure: for harness and automation work, a GitHub organisation (or willingness to set one up) so the work stays source-controlled in your own repo with version history, rollback, and audit trail. Each user also needs a machine that can run the AI tool (Mac, Windows, Linux all fine). Beyond that, your IT infrastructure stays your lane: machine procurement, backups for data your existing apps generate, data-residency decisions for your existing tools.

What you own (yours on payment clearance): the deliverable, whichever service it is. For a harness, the custom harnesses I build for your business (skills, hooks, configurations, integrations specific to YOUR context) plus the audit report, architecture proposal, and monthly maintenance reports. For an automation, the built automation and its documented manuals. For training, your trained team plus the prompt and playbook library and materials they keep. Plus any client-specific tailoring of governance documents. I will NOT reuse your custom deliverables for other clients (it would not be fair on you, and it is in the SOW).

What I keep (my pre-existing IP): the SST3 framework I bring into every engagement, my generalised methodology and patterns, and my operational infrastructure for running the consultancy. You get a perpetual right to USE the framework as installed in your business; you do not get the right to resell it as your own product. I retain the right to use generalised patterns (redacted of any of your specifics) in my own future work, blog posts, and teaching.

HOIBOY AI LTD, registered in England and Wales (Companies House 17211412). VAT registration: pending HMRC issuance. Contact: [email protected].