AI consulting services, every price on the page.
I help small businesses and teams of 10 to 200 put AI to work on real workflows. A written plan if you're not sure where to start. A done-for-you install if you are. A course if you'd rather build it yourself.
No hourly billing. No 90-day discovery phase. No deck. Every option below has a number and a timeline.
Get started opens the AI Readiness Assessment: your email first, then secure checkout. Nothing is charged until you pay.
Justin McKelvey
AI consultant · 15 years building products · Austin, TX
Quick Answer
Justin McKelvey's AI consulting services come in three published prices: a $2,500 AI Readiness Assessment (two weeks, a 15 to 25 page written roadmap), an AI Team Rollout that installs Claude, ChatGPT Business, or Microsoft 365 Copilot for your team (from $4,500, about 2 weeks, with training and 30 days of support), or The Shop, a $397 self-paced course. The first 30-minute strategy call is free. He's based in Austin, Texas, and works remotely with US businesses.
Author: Justin McKelvey · Prices as of October 2026
How much does an AI consultant cost?
With me: $2,500 for a written AI plan, from $4,500 for a done-for-you install, or $397 to do it yourself. Fixed fees, published here, no hourly billing.
Strategy call
$0
30 min
A straight answer on what's worth doing. No pitch.
AI Readiness Assessment
$2,500 flat
2 weeks
A 15 to 25 page written roadmap and a 1-hour walkthrough. Credited in full against an install within 90 days.
AI Team Rollout
from $4,500
~2 weeks
Claude, ChatGPT Business, or Copilot installed for your team, with training and 30 days of support. $1,500 deposit, applied to the invoice.
The Shop
$397
self-paced
8-lesson Claude course. Teams: +$97 per teammate, 2 to 25 people. 30-day money-back.
AI Search Audit
$1,500 flat
5 business days
Where you show up in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI, and a fix list.
| Service | Price | Timeline | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy call | $0 | 30 min | A straight answer on what's worth doing. No pitch. |
| AI Readiness Assessment | $2,500 flat | 2 weeks | A 15 to 25 page written roadmap and a 1-hour walkthrough. Credited in full against an install within 90 days. |
| AI Team Rollout | from $4,500 | ~2 weeks | Claude, ChatGPT Business, or Copilot installed for your team, with training and 30 days of support. $1,500 deposit, applied to the invoice. |
| The Shop | $397 | self-paced | 8-lesson Claude course. Teams: +$97 per teammate, 2 to 25 people. 30-day money-back. |
| AI Search Audit | $1,500 flat | 5 business days | Where you show up in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI, and a fix list. Details. |
Prices as of October 2026. Seats for the AI tool are paid to Anthropic, OpenAI, or Microsoft, separately.
Who these AI consulting services are for
A good fit
- ▶Owner-led small businesses with work that repeats every week: proposals, follow-ups, inbox triage, reporting
- ▶Teams of 10 to 200 where people use ChatGPT in a tab and nobody owns a system
- ▶Owners and executives of $1M to $50M businesses, including nonprofits and trade associations
- ▶Managers, department heads, and directors who've been told to "figure out AI"
- ▶Anyone who wants a plan in two weeks, not a six-month transformation
Not a fit
- ▶A 90-day discovery phase with weekly status calls
- ▶Governance theater: policies nobody uses, for software nobody installed
- ▶Automation nobody on your side will own after I leave
- ▶You haven't decided AI is real yet
Ways to work together
Pick the rung that matches where you are. They stack: the Assessment fee is credited against an install within 90 days.
Free strategy call
$0 · 30 minA gut-check on fit. No pitch. Bring the workflow that's eating your week and I'll tell you straight what's worth doing, even if the answer is that you don't need me yet.
Book a free strategy callAI Readiness Assessment
$2,500 flat · 2 weeksTwo weeks inside your business, then a written plan you can run. Workflow audit, an opportunity map ranked by impact and effort, tool recommendations for your stack, and a 30-60-90 day plan, in 15 to 25 pages. A 1-hour walkthrough on day 14.
- ▶Credited in full against any install or build within 90 days
- ▶Capped at 2 to 3 a month, so each one gets real attention
AI Team Rollout
From $4,500 · ~2 weeksA done-for-you install of the AI tool your team already uses: Claude, ChatGPT Business, or Microsoft 365 Copilot. I set up who can see what, teach it how your business works, connect your tools, build one workflow or skill pack, and train your team. About 2 weeks and roughly 3 hours of your time.
- ▶A $1,500 deposit reserves your slot and is applied in full to the install invoice
- ▶30 days of support: if something I set up isn't working, I fix it. No extra invoice.
- ▶Tool seats are paid to Anthropic, OpenAI, or Microsoft, separately from the install
Ongoing help
After a Claude install there's an optional $1,500/month retainer for tuning and new skills, cancel anytime. I only offer it after an install, because a retainer on a system I didn't build is a retainer on guesswork. Fractional CTO work ($5K to $15K a month) exists too, but only with clients I've already done a first engagement with. More on fractional.
The Shop: Claude for Managers and Owners
$397 · self-pacedThe setup I run my own two businesses on, as 8 self-paced lessons. Each one ends with a saved Work Order: your Business Brain, a draft-and-approve workflow, connectors and skills, trust rules, and a 30/60/90 plan. Lesson 1 is free, no sign-in. 30-day money-back guarantee. Team seats are $397 plus $97 per teammate, 2 to 25 people.
AI strategy consulting, without the six-month deck
Most AI strategy work ends in a slide deck nobody opens again. Mine ends in a written plan with owners, a sequence, and numbers, two weeks after we start.
The AI Readiness Assessment is the strategy piece: a workflow audit, every realistic AI opportunity ranked by impact and effort, tool recommendations for the stack you already pay for, governance and data-handling guidance, and a 30-60-90 day plan you can run yourself or hand back to me. It also maps where your next customers come from, because a strategy that only saves hours is half a strategy.
How an engagement runs
-
1
A free 30-minute call
We look at what's eating your week and which tool your team already lives in. You leave with a straight answer on the next step, in writing, not a deck.
-
2
A plan, if you need one
Not sure where AI pays off? The Assessment gives you a ranked list and a 30-60-90 day plan in two weeks. Already know? Skip it.
-
3
The install
About 2 weeks. I decide with you whose login each connection runs under, build the business context, connect your tools, and set up one workflow pack. The rule on every workflow: the AI drafts, a human approves.
-
4
Training and handoff
A training session for your team and a plain-language handoff doc. Then 30 days of async support while it beds in.
What ships, and when
Same numbers as above, side by side.
Assessment
$2,500
2 weeks · roadmap on day 14
- Workflow audit
- Opportunity map, ranked
- Tool recommendations
- 30-60-90 day plan
- Growth and demand map
- 1-hour walkthrough
AI Team Rollout
from $4,500
~2 weeks · ~3 hrs of your time
- Permission check: whose login runs what
- Business context the AI works from
- Up to 5 tools or sources connected
- One workflow or skill pack
- Training + handoff doc
- 30 days of support
The Shop
$397
~4 hrs of reading · self-paced
- 8 lessons, 48 chapters
- A saved Work Order per lesson
- Printable worksheets
- Lifetime access and updates
- Team seats: +$97 per teammate
- 30-day money-back
AI consultant vs agency vs DIY
All three are reasonable. They win in different situations.
| Solo consultant (me) | Agency or firm | DIY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | The person you talk to on the first call | A senior name on the contract, often associates in your systems | You or someone on your team |
| What you get | A written plan or a working install your team uses | Broader capacity: bigger builds, more people, more process | Whatever you build, at your pace |
| Price shape | $2,500 · from $4,500 | Usually quoted per project after a scoping phase | Your time, plus a course or none ($397 for The Shop) |
| Speed | 2 weeks for a plan, about 2 for an install | Depends on their queue and scope | As fast as you make time for it |
| Best when | You want one accountable person and a fixed price | You need a large custom build or many teams at once | You have someone curious with a few hours a week |
Longer version: AI consulting firm vs solo consultant.
Who you'd be working with
I've spent 15 years building products and shipped more than 50 of them. I was CTO at an AI startup and Head of Product at a national sports platform, and before software I ran snowboard and mountain-bike shops in Colorado for 12 years. Both of my businesses run on the same Business Brain and Claude setup I install for clients.
years building products
products shipped
revenue generated for partners and clients
I run this business on the system I install.
This site is not a client's. It is my own business, and the automated content system I built runs it: 273 published posts, 58 of them shipped in the two weeks to September 17 by that system, with me approving. Here is what that did in Google, from Search Console, as of September 18, 2026.
Search Console clicks in the last 28 days
Clicks on September 17, the best day on record
Clicks week over week, 1,161 against 464
Posts shipped in two weeks by the automated system
Google Search Console and this site's own database, read September 18, 2026. When I update the date, I update the numbers.
“Justin doesn't just write code; he thinks like a CEO. He understands the business impact of every technical decision, which is rare in this industry.”
AI consulting services: common questions
- What are AI consulting services?
- Help putting AI to work in your business, from someone who has done it before. Mine come in three forms, in the order most people use them: a $2,500 AI Readiness Assessment (two weeks, a 15 to 25 page written roadmap, a 1-hour walkthrough), an AI Team Rollout that installs Claude, ChatGPT Business, or Microsoft 365 Copilot for your team (from $4,500, about 2 weeks, with training and 30 days of support), and The Shop, a $397 self-paced course if you'd rather build it yourself. The first 30-minute call is free.
- How much does an AI consultant cost?
- Here, every price is fixed and published. The strategy call is free. The AI Readiness Assessment is $2,500 flat. A Rollout install starts at $4,500 (the range is $4,500 to $7,500), and a $1,500 deposit reserves a slot and is applied in full to the install invoice. The Shop is $397, or $397 plus $97 per teammate for a team. No hourly billing, no surprise invoices, no 6-month minimums. Seats for the AI tool itself are paid to Anthropic, OpenAI, or Microsoft separately.
- What is AI strategy consulting, and do I need it first?
- AI strategy consulting is working out where AI will pay off before you spend on tools or builds. Mine is the AI Readiness Assessment: two weeks and a written 30-60-90 day plan, not a six-month deck. You don't need it if you already know the workflow you want handled and the tool your team uses; go straight to an install. If you do start with it, the full $2,500 is credited against any install or build within 90 days.
- Do you work with small businesses?
- Yes. The installs fit anyone from a solo operator up to a $5M owner-led business with repeatable workflows, and I set them up for teams of 10 to 200. The Assessment is built for $1M to $50M businesses, including nonprofits and trade associations, whose team uses ChatGPT ad hoc with no system. I'm based in Austin, Texas, and every call and install is remote.
- How long does an AI consulting engagement take?
- The strategy call is 30 minutes. The Assessment is two weeks, with the roadmap on day 14. An install is about 2 weeks and roughly 3 hours of your time. Strategy calls are usually available within 1 to 2 weeks, and Assessment slots are capped at 2 to 3 a month, so a 2 to 6 week lead time is typical.
- Which AI tools do you work with?
- Claude, ChatGPT Business, and Microsoft 365 Copilot, and I pick by where your team already works. If your team lives in Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint, it's usually Copilot. If they already live in ChatGPT, it's ChatGPT Business. If you want Claude, it's Claude. Same price and timeline for all three.
- Is our data safe? Do you need our passwords?
- No passwords. Your admin grants delegated access and can revoke it in one click. Every rollout includes deciding whose login each connection runs under. The trust rule is the same on all three tools: the AI drafts, a human approves, and nothing reaches a customer without your yes. I'm happy to sign your NDA before kickoff, or I'll send a mutual one.
- Should I hire a big consulting firm or a solo AI consultant?
- A firm makes sense when you need a large custom build or many teams moving at once. A solo consultant makes sense when you want one accountable person, a fixed price, and something working in weeks. With me, the person on the first call is the person doing the work.
Score your AI readiness first.
The AI Readiness Checklist: 30 yes/no questions across data, workflows, team, governance, and execution. You can answer them without an email. Leave one and your score and recommendation are saved.
Or answer the questions first, no email needed. One-click unsubscribe from anything I send.
Read more before you decide
AI Consultant: What They Do, Cost, and How to Hire
Strategy vs implementation, what the market charges, and the red flags.
AI Consultant Services: What to Buy and What to Skip
The services worth paying for, and the ones that aren't.
Small Business AI Consultant: When You Need One
When outside help pays off for a small business, and when it doesn't.
10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an AI Consultant
Ask me these too. Good and bad answers for each.
Start with a plan, or start with a call.
The Assessment is $2,500 and credited toward an install within 90 days. The call is free and takes 30 minutes. I reply to everything within one business day.