The AI Audit.
A 45-minute call. A written 12-page punch list naming the four AI tools your business should install this week, with monthly cost, setup time, and hours saved for each. A 30-minute walkthrough. And a guarantee: five-plus hours per week back for your team within thirty days, or your $1,995 returned.
What this is.
Most AI audits are sold by people who learned about AI three days before you did. This one isn't. The Audit is a fixed-fee diagnostic engagement run by a senior engineer who has actually deployed these systems in production — Marc Shade or Scott Frederick Laughlin — for businesses your size, in industries we already know.
The deliverable is the same shape every time: a written punch list naming four specific tools you can install starting Monday morning, the time each one will save your team, the dollar value of that time back, and a four-day quick-start plan so you can install all four yourself in about ten minutes per day. No code. No retainer. No agent build. No "let me connect you with our solutions architect."
See the deliverableSample audit · Pittsburgh-area CPA firm · 17 staff →
What you get.
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The 45-minute discovery call.
One senior engineer. Zoom or phone. We work through an industry-specific question bank to surface bottlenecks — what's eating the team's day, where information falls through, what's manual that shouldn't be. Recorded with your permission. Transcript drives the analysis.
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The 12-page punch list.
Eight sections in your inbox within three business days. Executive summary, an effort-versus-impact 2×2 anchoring the quick-wins quadrant, four named tool prescriptions in a 7-column grid (pain · tool · why it fits · complexity · monthly cost · setup time · hours saved), a 4-day implementation plan, three named upsell candidates for the bigger fish on the list, a Monthly Net ROI figure in dollars, and a data-handling note for any tool with compliance implications.
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The 30-minute walkthrough call.
We share screen, walk you through the punch list, answer questions, and hand off implementation. If you want to hire us to do any of it, we'll quote it on the call. If you want to do it yourself, we'll point you at the docs and step out of the way.
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The guarantee.
If the four prescribed tools don't recover at least five hours per week of team time within the first thirty days, you get the full $1,995 back. You keep the punch list either way. We've never refunded one; the SaneBox-tier quick-win tools really do save the hours we say they save.
The guarantee, in one sentence
Five hours a week back in thirty days, or your $1,995 returned.
If the four prescribed tools don't recover at least five hours per week of team time within the first thirty days of implementation, we refund the full Audit fee. You keep the punch list, the recorded walkthrough, and the upsell shortlist. We don't make money on refunds, but we'd rather lose $1,995 once than keep money on an audit that didn't move the needle. The math works because the average client recovers six to eight hours per week.
What the punch list looks like.
Eight sections, in this order, every time:
- Executive summary — pain, outcome, and weekly hours reclaimed in one page
- Impact-effort 2×2 — all bottlenecks plotted; quick-wins quadrant highlighted
- Four prescribed tools — pain · tool · why it fits · complexity · monthly cost · setup time · hours saved
- 4-day quick-start plan — one tool per day, ~10 minutes each, in implementation order
- What comes after — three named bigger-fish opportunities for after quick wins are in place
- Financial impact — weekly hours, monthly tool cost, Monthly Net ROI in dollars
- Data handling notes — for each prescribed tool, what data leaves your network and what doesn't (matters for law, healthcare, CPA)
- Next steps — implement the four wins, schedule the 30-day check-in, decide if a bigger-fish engagement is warranted
See a complete sample punch list →
How it compares.
This product sits between the free 30-minute readiness assessment and the $7,500 Two-Week Deep Discovery. Pick by depth — and by whether you want to install the tools yourself or want us to build something.
Free 30-min Readiness Assessment
$0 · one-page summary
- For: "Should we do AI at all? Roughly where?"
- Output: one-page written summary, two-to-three directional opportunities
- Guarantee: none (it's free)
- Time to deliverable: one business day
- Best when: you're still deciding whether AI fits your business at all
The AI Audit
$1,995 · 12-page punch list · ← you are here
- For: "Which four tools should I install on Monday?"
- Output: 12-page punch list, four named tools, 4-day implementation plan, Monthly Net ROI in dollars
- Guarantee: 5+ hours/week back in 30 days or full refund
- Time to deliverable: one week (call + writeup + walkthrough)
- Best when: you've decided AI fits and you want the prescription
For larger questions — multi-department transformation, custom build, regulated-industry deployment — the next step up is the $7,500 Two-Week Deep Discovery, which ships a working prototype on your own systems and is credited toward any subsequent Production Build.
Who this is for.
- Owner-operators running businesses with 1 to 50 employees who know they're losing time to manual work but don't know which AI tool to install first
- Office managers and operations leads tasked with "look into AI" who need a defensible shortlist to bring back to the principal
- Practice managers at law firms, CPA practices, and healthcare practices where data-handling rules out half the tools their peers are using
- Founders who want senior engineering judgment, not a YouTube-grade tool dump
Who this isn't for.
- Companies who already know the tools and just want someone to install them (skip to the Foundation Retainer)
- Companies who want a custom AI agent built (skip to multi-agent systems or the Proof of Concept tier)
- Companies under 3 employees with no recurring bottlenecks (the math doesn't work — take the free assessment instead)
- Vendors evaluating us for a partnership pitch
How to book.
Email [email protected] with the subject "AI Audit." We'll send back an invoice, three time slots for the discovery call within the next ten business days, and a short pre-call questionnaire so we don't waste the first ten minutes of the call on background. Payment terms: 100% on booking. Refund is unconditional if the 30-day guarantee isn't met.
If you'd rather start with the free version: take the 5-minute self-assessment, call (412) 998-1370 for the 6-minute phone version, or book the free 30-minute readiness assessment.
Common questions
How is this different from the free 30-minute readiness assessment?
The free assessment answers "should you do AI, and roughly where?" The paid Audit answers "which four specific tools should you install on Monday, how much will they cost, and how many hours per week will they give your team back?" The free version is a one-page directional summary. The paid Audit is a 12-page punch list with named tools, monthly cost per tool, setup time per tool, hours-saved per tool, a 4-day implementation plan, and a Monthly Net ROI in dollars. Most clients who buy the Audit have already done the free version.
What's the 5-hours-back guarantee, exactly?
If the four tools we prescribe don't recover at least 5 hours per week for your team within the first 30 days of implementation, we refund the full $1,995. You keep the punch list either way. Across the audits we've delivered, the average team recovers 6–8 hours per week. We've never refunded one. It's a real guarantee, not a marketing line — we can afford it because the Sanebox/Fathom/notetaker tier of tools really does save the hours we say it saves.
Is implementation included?
No. The Audit is the diagnosis — the deliverable specifies exactly what to install and includes a 4-day quick-start plan you can do yourself in about 10 minutes per day. If you want us to handle implementation, that's a separate fixed-fee engagement starting at $2,500 for a single agent build, or rolled into a Foundation Retainer at $4,500/month. Most clients implement the four quick wins themselves and only hire us for the bigger items on the punch list.
How long does it take from booking to delivery?
One week, typically. Day 0: book the 45-minute call. Day 1–3: we run the call and build the punch list. Day 4–5: we schedule the 30-minute walkthrough and you receive the written deliverable. Day 6+: you start implementing. The 30-day guarantee clock starts the day you receive the deliverable, not the day you book.
What industries have you done this for?
Law firms, CPA and accounting practices, healthcare practices, manufacturing operations, contractors, insurance agencies, and a handful of e-commerce operators. The model works across industry — the bottlenecks change, the deliverable structure doesn't. We have industry-specific question banks for law, healthcare, finance/CPA, and manufacturing. If you're in something we haven't done before, we'll tell you on the booking call and ask for an extra few days of prep time before the audit call.
Why $1,995 instead of $999 like other AI consultants?
Two reasons. One: the deliverable is built by a senior engineer who has actually deployed these systems in production for the last decade, not by someone three days ahead of you on YouTube. Two: pricing filters. A $999 audit attracts buyers who want a Google Doc and a tool list. A $1,995 audit attracts operators who want the punch list to be the basis of an actual implementation plan. We'd rather do five $1,995 audits per month for serious operators than fifteen $999 audits for tire-kickers.
Do you sign an NDA first?
Yes if you want one. Send your standard mutual NDA or ask for ours. For regulated-industry conversations — healthcare, finance, legal — we usually insist on one before the discovery call. The audit transcript and deliverable are kept confidential regardless of whether an NDA is signed.
Can multiple people from our team join the discovery call?
Yes, up to four. Past that it becomes a meeting instead of a working session. If you need to involve a wider group (executive team, compliance, IT), the $7,500 Two-Week Deep Discovery is the better fit — that one is designed for multi-stakeholder engagement and ships a working prototype.
Ready to book?
One email. One week. One punch list.
Email [email protected] with the subject "AI Audit." Invoice, three time slots, and a short pre-call questionnaire come back the same business day. Deliverable in your inbox within a week. Five hours a week back in thirty days, or your $1,995 returned. See the sample punch list before you decide.