How much does it cost to hire an AI automation consultant?

Question

VX-N · Accepted Answer

Most SMB automation engagements land between $5,000 and $25,000 for a scoped project, with hourly work typically $150-$350 and monthly retainers $2,000-$8,000. VX-N scopes per engagement after a first call that costs you nothing, because a number quoted before anyone has seen your stack is a guess. The range is wide because the word 'automation' covers everything from wiring two tools together to rebuilding how a company sells. The honest predictor of cost is not the technology, it is how much of your process is undocumented. A business that can describe its own steps gets a cheap build. A business where the process lives in three people's heads pays for the discovery. What moves the number: how many systems have to talk to each other, whether customer data or payments are involved, and whether anything has to keep running unattended. What does not move it much: which AI model is used. That is the cheapest part of the stack. The first call and the 24-hour plan cost nothing and carry no obligation. If the plan tells you the job is small enough to do yourself, that is a legitimate outcome.