Every business buying AI help hits the same problem: the people selling it are the same people explaining it. This page is the checklist that survives that conflict of interest, and the conflict applies here too: I sell exactly this service, which is why the honest move is handing you the scoring sheet and inviting you to use it on me first. No competitor names appear below; the categories and tests do the work.
The four things sold under one label
- Strategy advice. Reports and roadmaps about what you could do; necessary occasionally, sold constantly.
- Enablement. Configuring the tools you already own and training your people to use them.
- Building. Custom automations, agents and software delivered into your business.
- Running. Keeping what was built monitored, secure and improving after go-live.
Most disappointment in this market comes from buying the first when you needed the last three; a deck does not chase an invoice. Ask any candidate which of the four they do with their own hands, and who specifically holds the keyboard.
Pricing models, and what each one incentivises
| Model | What it incentivises | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Day rates | Time spent; quietly rewards slowness | Only against a tightly defined scope |
| Fixed price per deliverable | The supplier scoping honestly | The honest shape for audits and first builds |
| Monthly retainer | Depends: outputs stated monthly, or mere availability | Good for ongoing work with stated outputs |
| Percentage of savings | Sounds aligned; founders on measurement arguments | Rarely survives contact with accounting |
If a supplier cannot state a price for a defined first engagement, they are still selling the strategy phase.
The red flags, from inside the trade
- Slides without systems: nothing live you can try today
- Ghost builders: delivery outsourced to unnamed parties while the brand talks
- Security as an appendix: no written answer to where data goes or what happens when the AI is wrong
- Technology-first proposals: a solution hunting for a problem in your budget
- Lock-in by design: systems only the supplier can operate; exports that never arrive
- Manufactured urgency: in a market moving this fast, always selling pressure, never scarcity
What good looks like
The pattern is checkable rather than charismatic: live systems you can touch and a public record of what was built. A written delivery method, specification-first, with security gates before anything goes live and monitoring after. Honest scoping, including telling you when a cheaper tool or no build at all is the right answer. Measured outcomes: hours returned, error rates, running costs, reported without being chased. And graceful exit: documentation, handover and your ownership of what you paid for, stated up front. The buying questions in the FAQ compress this into five minutes of any sales call.
Where I fit in
This is the part where the disclosure earns its keep. My answers to the checklist are public: the systems are live on the Labs page, the method is written down and shown on the Software Factory page, first engagements are fixed-price Audits and Kick-starters, and what I would refuse to build is stated in the FAQ of the factory page. Bring this page’s questions to a call with me, and to every other supplier you speak to, and the market will sort itself quickly.