Engagement — how you grow

Start small. Grow when it's paid for itself.

Every engagement is a fixed-scope stage in the same plan, and each one leaves you owning more of the system — yours, on your hardware. The ranges below are indicative; the exact price is fixed in your quote after the diagnostic, and it doesn't move after that.

All prices in ZAR, excl. VAT · fixed-fee · no hourly billing

Two minutes — find your starting point

Five plain questions

How many people work in the business?

Where does the business's knowledge live today?

What should AI take off your plate first?

How sensitive is the data?

When do you need it proven?

The stages

Indicative, until the diagnostic makes it exact.

We call this system a Substrate — the four stages below are just how much of it you start with.

Start here

Substrate Proof

R250k fixed · 6 weeks

One painful, high-value workflow, captured and running
Connected to the systems that matter for that workflow
Nothing sends without your sign-off — every action on the record, from day one.
Your starter handover list: the map of how your business fits together, the runbook, the decision log
Yours from minute one, on your hardware.

Proof on your data, this quarter

Begin the diagnostic

Substrate Foundation

R600k–R900k fixed in quote · 8–12 weeks

Everything in Proof, plus:
The full brain for one part of the business
3–5 of your systems connected
The whole team can ask it in plain English
Compliance checks where they matter
Your handover list (v1) and team training

A unit running on it daily

Begin the diagnostic

Flagship

Substrate Practice

R950k–R1.5m fixed in quote · 4–6 months

Everything in Foundation, plus:
One brain across the whole operation
Anything, anywhere in the practice, in plain English
The work done at AI speed, your people's signature on it.
The full handover: every record, runbook, and the valuation pack
Stewardship onboarding

The operating model, changed

Begin the diagnostic

Substrate Federation

By mandate engagements typically beyond R3m

Everything in Practice, per entity, plus:
One system across the whole group, with shared rules
Security review and group compliance architecture
BlitzBox machines on your premises where required
Board-level asset case for the balance sheet
Negotiated scope, negotiated price — priced per mandate

Group-wide, multi-year

Book a scoping call

Every stage ends with you owning more of the system — an asset, not a consulting receipt. Grow when the last stage has paid for itself. Stewardship retainers are available after any handover.

The honest math

Are we worth it?

Run your own numbers — ours would be marketing. Three inputs, conservative assumptions, and the result is your math, not our claim.

What does this team cost you per month? Everyone the system would help — salaries plus overheads, in rand. We've started with a typical number for your stage; change it to yours. How much of their week goes to looking for things and doing them twice? Finding files, retyping the same answer, checking one system against another. Most teams land on 15–30% once they measure it. 20% What you'd pay us Filled in from your stage above — change it to anything.

Time you get back, in money terms (per year — we only count 60% of what you identify)—

It pays for itself in—

Left over after three years (after our fee and 15% a year for upkeep)—

Every R1 you spend brings back—

And this isn't money that disappears into a project. The system is something your business owns — an asset an auditor can put on the balance sheet, and a buyer can pay for one day. Read how that works →

Your estimates, not our promise. We deliberately count only 60% of the time you identify, and we add 15% a year for upkeep, so the result leans conservative. The diagnostic replaces these estimates with your actual workflows and numbers.

Next step

The diagnostic prices it exactly.

Twenty minutes of plain questions about your business. You get the stage, the fixed price, and the first workflow we'd prove — before you commit a rand.

Begin the diagnostic