How we work with Hobart clients
We do not maintain a Hobart office. We are Brisbane-headquartered and we are honest about it. Most modern engineering work happens remote with structured face-to-face for the moments that need it, and pretending otherwise is dishonest. For Hobart engagements, the cadence we typically run is — on-site kickoff workshop with stakeholders to walk the operational map, key milestone reviews in person (one or two during a typical build), remote day-to-day engineering with daily standups and structured async communication, on-site operational hand-off when the build transitions to operate, and ad-hoc travel for sensitive discussions or stakeholder alignment as the engagement warrants. The travel cost is bundled into the engagement, not invoiced separately at month-end.
The Hobart business landscape
Tasmania's economy has five distinctive concentrations that shape AI demand. Aquaculture and seafood production through Tassal, Petuna, and Huon Aquaculture, where operational AI on growout monitoring, predictive maintenance, and supply chain is a real workload. Antarctic and marine research through the Australian Antarctic Division and IMAS, where data-handling AI for ocean and ice-sheet research is well-funded. Tourism through Federal Group properties and the broader hospitality sector, where customer experience and operational AI applies. Forestry and forestry products. Health and aged care through the Tasmanian state health system. Beyond these, a small but growing tech and gaming sector concentrated in Hobart. The state government has been deliberate about AI literacy programmes for the public sector.
Industry mix and AI demand in Hobart
Hobart and Tasmanian AI demand concentrates in workloads where the operational decision is high-value but the operator base is small. Aquaculture and marine work, where the data-handling for animal welfare, production planning, and environmental monitoring sits inside both AU privacy and state-specific environmental obligations — see our energy and utilities or mining pages for adjacent patterns. Research-active institutions, where data sovereignty applies to Antarctic and oceanographic datasets that have international research-cooperation dimensions. Hospitality and tourism, where customer-facing AI and operational decision-support apply. State health, where the same patterns we deliver for healthcare nationally apply, with attention to the Tasmanian state health system's specific obligations.
What we build for Hobart businesses
Same engagement types as our Brisbane and national work, scoped to Hobart operational realities.
- AI agents and automation. Agents that read across your stack, decide, and act. Common for Hobart operators in customer-facing or operational workflows where the team is spending hours per week on repetitive cross-system work.
- Custom software development. Operational tools, customer-facing systems, and internal platforms built around how your business actually runs. Common where off-the-shelf tools don't fit and your team is operating through spreadsheets and email.
- Financial systems. Quote-to-cash, invoicing, reconciliation, board-pack automation. Particularly common for Hobart operators integrating across multiple finance and CRM systems.
- Security audits. Application, infrastructure, cloud, and process audits. IRAP-aware variants for Hobart clients in regulated industries.
- Penetration testing. Adversarial testing against the actual systems your business runs.
- Cloud infrastructure. AWS, Azure, GCP design, deployment, and operation. AU-region by default, with sovereign and IRAP-assessed patterns for Hobart clients in government or regulated industries.
- Bedstone OS. Private internal AI workspace at your own subdomain, connecting every business system you run. Common for mid-market Hobart operators looking for the unified AI surface across their stack.
- Sovereign AI deployment. For Hobart clients in government, defence, or regulated industries where IRAP-aware infrastructure, AU-controlled data, and on-shore inference are non-negotiable.
Why a Brisbane-headquartered AI agency makes sense for Hobart
The Tasmanian market is small enough that no AU AI agency maintains a Hobart office at the scale required to deliver substantial engagements. The operators who choose us over local alternatives or interstate consultancies typically value three things — the depth of practice we run across multiple verticals, the engagement structure that survives a single round-trip to the mainland, and the honesty about what remote delivery can and cannot do. We travel for kickoff and for key on-site reviews. We work remote for the day-to-day, which is also how the operator's own team works most days. The 90-minute flight is part of the engagement cost, not a barrier.
How we engage commercially
Same engagement types we use nationally. Discovery sprint from $15,000 producing a recommended architecture and fixed-price quote for the build. Fixed-price builds from $40,000 (AI agents) or $60,000 (custom software). Monthly retainer from $12,000 per month for continuous build and operate work. Embedded engineering from $25,000 per engineer per month, three-month minimum. Build-operate-transfer where you want eventual ownership but lack the team today. Default payment terms are 100% on signature, with 50/50 staged payment available where procurement requires it. The pricing page covers the full breakdown.
What week one looks like for a Hobart engagement
On-site kickoff workshop in Hobart, typically a full day with stakeholders, walking the operational map of the systems and workflows in scope. Identity integration scoped and validated against your existing identity provider. First system connection completed. Internal test queries running against real data. Pilot user onboarding plan agreed. We leave Hobart after week one with the architecture set, the immediate work scoped, and the cadence for the rest of the engagement agreed. Most of weeks two through eight or twelve are remote. We come back for the key milestone review and the operational hand-off.
Common questions about working with us in Hobart
Is Bedstone based in Hobart?
No. We are Brisbane-headquartered. We deliver Hobart engagements remote-first with on-site travel for kickoff, key reviews, and operational hand-off. We are honest about this because we know operators value honest delivery over local posturing. If you specifically need a Hobart-physically-resident provider for a particular reason, we will tell you we are not the right fit on the first call.
Will senior engineers actually work on my build?
Yes. The engineer who scopes the engagement is the engineer who ships it. There is no SDR layer, no junior backfill after the proposal is signed, and no offshore subcontracting. The depth of practice across multiple verticals comes from senior people doing the actual delivery work.
How often will you be in Hobart?
Typically on-site for kickoff (one or two days), key milestone reviews during the build (one or two trips), and operational hand-off at the end of the build. Day-to-day engineering work runs remote because that is how your own engineering and operations teams work most days. The cadence is agreed during scoping and varies by engagement.
What does an engagement cost?
Engagement cost depends on scope. AI agent builds start at $40,000. Custom software starts at $60,000. Bedstone OS deployments start at $80,000. Security audits start at $15,000. The discovery sprint starts at $15,000. We do not cap engagements at the upper end. The figure for your build is set at scoping. The pricing page covers the full breakdown.
Are these engagements eligible for the R&D Tax Incentive?
Most custom AI agent builds and novel software work qualify. We document the technical experimentation that the RDTI requires contemporaneously. See our R&D Tax Incentive piece for the eligibility detail.