01
Hourly blocks
Sessions are booked in blocks of one, two, or three hours at £80 per hour plus VAT. No package, no minimum commitment beyond the booking.
01Assess · 03 of 03
AI Consulting.
Quick answer
Hourly advisory sessions on AI and automation, sold in blocks of one, two, or three hours at £80 per hour plus VAT. No formal report, no scorecard, no commitment beyond the hour booked. Sit down, use the time on whatever's most useful: talk through where AI fits in your business, work through a tool together, scope a problem. A short written note after the session is included on request. The audit is the formal route. This is the open one.
What is included
Hours, not a fixed deliverable.
02
Shape set on the day
Open conversation, working session on a specific tool, scoping a decision, or a mix. Agreed in advance so the time is set up around your input.
03
Independent advisor
No vendor pays us. No commission on any recommendation. If the answer is "do nothing, what you have is fine", that is what you will hear.
04
Optional written note
Two to three pages capturing the points discussed, any tools or prompts referenced, and the practical next steps. Included in the hour, on request.
05
Repeat bookings welcome
One session can stand on its own. So can a sequence of them. Each booking is independent, the same hourly rate, no escalation.
06
No pitch in the hour
If a build, integration, or audit is the obvious next step, we say so once and you decide. The hour itself is the hour, not a sales conversation.
The process
Three steps. No formal process tax.
01
Book
Choose one, two, or three hours. Agree the shape of the session, share any documents or context you want us to look at in advance, set the date.
02
Session
Run remotely by default, on site where it makes sense. Hour starts when we start. Open conversation, working session on a tool, or whatever shape was agreed.
03
Follow-up
Optional written note within two working days if you asked for one. Any next steps you decide to take become a separate engagement.
What it costs
Three block sizes. One rate.
£80 per hour plus VAT. Same rate at every block size. Repeat bookings at the same rate.
- 01
One rate, every block
£80 per hour plus VAT whether you book one hour or three. No discount for volume, no premium for shorter sessions.
- 02
Quoted plus VAT
All figures on this page are plus VAT, in line with the rest of our service pricing. VAT is added at the standard UK rate on invoice.
- 03
Partnership flag at 12 hours
If repeat bookings stack to roughly twelve hours a month, the Partnership becomes the better price and we say so. No pressure, just the maths.
- 04
Invoiced after the session
30-day terms, paid by bank transfer. Repeat clients can pre-book a sequence of sessions and be invoiced monthly.
What this looks like
An hour, scoped on the day.
The audit is structured. This is open. You might use the hour for a working session on a specific tool, a sense-check on a workflow you have been quoted on, an open conversation on where AI fits in your business, or anything else that benefits from sitting with someone independent for an hour. The shape is set on the day.
How a session runs
Booked in blocks of one, two, or three hours. Run remotely by default, on site where it makes sense. We agree the shape in advance: open conversation, working session on a specific tool or workflow, or a mix. If you have a problem in front of you, bring it. If you want to think out loud about where AI is going and what it means for your business, that works too. The hour is set up around your input, not a script we run.
On request, we send a short written note after the session: two to three pages covering the points discussed, any tools or prompts referenced, and the practical next steps. Plain English. Included in the hour booked. If you would rather have the time and skip the note, that is fine.
When this is the right route, and when the audit is
Consulting is right when you want the advisor without the structured artefact. A partner who wants two hours on AI policy ahead of a board meeting. An operations lead who wants to sit with someone for an hour and work out which AI tool to use for one specific job. A founder who has been pitched an automation build by another vendor and wants an independent view before signing. Sessions where the value is in the conversation, not in the report.
The audit is right when you want a formal structured view of how AI and automation could help your business: process discovery, an AI maturity scorecard across six dimensions, three workflow recommendations costed and ranked, three AI recommendations, a 30-day plan, and a “what to ignore for now” page. The deliverable is a PDF on our brand and a 60-minute walkthrough. The fee is £2,000 plus VAT. If that is the shape you want, the AI and Automation Audit is the page.
If the conversation reveals scope that warrants the structured route, we will say so. The audit, an Automation Build, an AI Integration, or AI Training are the formal next engagements when the hour shows one of them is the right fit.
Hours add up. The Partnership exists for that.
Repeat bookings are welcome. If hours stack up to around twelve or more in a month, the Partnership will save you money: £800 per month plus VAT includes twelve hours of retained advisory time, priority access, change requests, and a 30 per cent discount on builds, audits, and overage hours. Six-month minimum term. At twelve hours a month, ad-hoc consulting costs £960 plus VAT; the Partnership is £800 plus VAT and includes the other benefits. We will flag this when the pattern suggests it is the right move. Below that, ad-hoc is fine and often the right shape.
Who runs the session
David Perkins, founder of Perkins SmartOps. The hour is with David. Sessions are not delegated to associates or junior consultants.
Why this is independent
We are independent AI and automation specialists. No vendor pays us. No commission flows from any recommendation made in a session. If the right answer to your question is “what you have is fine, do not buy anything”, that is the answer you will get. The hour you pay for is for the advice, not for the tools the advice points at.
Is this you?
Built for businesses ready for this.
You want an independent advisor for a one-off conversation on AI, not a structured audit.
You are about to commit budget to a tool or build and want a second opinion before signing.
You want to work through one specific AI tool or workflow with someone, not read another article about it.
Book an hour. Use it however helps.
One, two, or three hours at £80 per hour plus VAT. Open conversation, working session, or scoping a decision. The audit is the formal route. This is the open one.
Last updated: