Why there is no price list
We used to publish bands. We stopped, and the reason is not coyness: a single figure was misleading in both directions. It read as a floor to businesses whose build would land well under it, and as a ceiling to groups whose scope was several times larger. Both of those cost somebody something.
What we sell now is scoped to you rather than sold off a shelf. Which modules you turn on, what volume runs through them, how many entities are involved, which systems we integrate against, and how much of it we operate rather than hand over. Those five things move the number more than anything on a list ever could.
So we quote. On the first call you will get a straight answer about the shape and the range for work like yours, from the engineer who would lead the build rather than a salesperson working to a rate card. If we are not the right fit we will say so on that call, which is the part most agencies leave until meeting three.
We will build to what you actually need, not to a package. A stripped-back single module on a monthly subscription and a full multi-entity deployment are both normal here. Reach out and tell us what you are running; we will tell you what it takes and what it costs.
What shapes the price
The biggest determinants of cost in order:
- Number of source systems. Every additional system adds connector work, schema discovery, identity mapping, and rate-limit handling. The first three systems set the baseline. Each system after that adds materially to the build.
- Access control complexity. If everyone in the business can see all of the data, integration is fast. If access scoping has to mirror role-based, field-level, or document-level permissions, integration takes considerably longer.
- Data quality of the source systems. If your CRM is reasonably tidy, building against it is faster. If it has years of accumulated inconsistency, the project includes a data quality pass before the AI work starts.
- Compliance posture. Australian Privacy Act and OAIC obligations apply by default. APRA CPS 234, IRAP, sovereign data residency, and SOC 2 add evidence trails and architectural constraints that increase build time.
- Identity and SSO maturity. If you already run a single clean directory, integration is fast. If identity is fragmented across separate user directories, we factor in a consolidation pass.
- Existing cloud account state. Greenfield deploys to a new account are fastest. Deployments into existing accounts with legacy IAM, networking, and observability already in place take longer because we work around what is already there.
- Model and provider choice. Commercial endpoints are fastest to integrate. Privately hosted models in your own environment require hardware, hosting and ongoing operations work that adds to the build and the retainer.
- Workflow action scope. Read-only agents are fastest. Agents that take actions (create tasks, send emails, update records) require identity-bound API access and reversibility patterns that add to the build.
Engagement types
Bedstone uses four primary engagement types. Most clients move through several of them across the relationship.
Discovery sprint
Two-week paid scoping engagement. The output is a recommended architecture, integration plan, identified risks, and a fixed-price quote for the build. Priced to the breadth of systems to assess. Common starting point when the brief is broad or when the operational environment has not been audited recently. The sprint produces real work product, not just a slide deck. Most clients then commission a build engagement; some take the discovery output to a different agency, which is fine.
Fixed-price build
Defined scope, timeline, and price. Common for AI agents, Bedstone OS deployments, custom software builds, dashboards, and integrations under three months. Both parties know exactly what will be delivered and when. Change orders for material scope additions are agreed in writing. Most of our work fits this type.
Monthly retainer
Continuous build and operate work on a monthly engagement. Common after a successful fixed-price build, when the system is in use and the operator wants ongoing improvement, integration of new systems, retrieval tuning, model upgrades, and incident response. Priced monthly against the engineering capacity reserved. Cancellable with 30-day notice.
Embedded engineering
Senior engineering capacity inside your team for a defined period. The engineer participates in your standups, attends your planning, commits to your repository. Common for organisations growing in-house AI capability or backfilling capacity during a critical build. Priced per engineer per month, three-month minimum, against seniority and reserved capacity.
Build-operate-transfer
We build, we run, we hand back. The build phase is fixed-price. The operate phase is monthly retainer (commonly six to eighteen months). The transfer to your in-house team is a fixed-price knowledge engagement covering documentation, walkthroughs, paired engineering sessions, and a final operational readiness review. Common where you want eventual ownership but lack the team today.
Engagement types compared
| Type | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery sprint | Unclear brief, ambiguous environment, or first engagement with us. | Two weeks before the build begins. Most clients consider that an asset, not a cost. |
| Fixed-price build | Defined scope, clear timeline. Most of our work fits here. | Change orders required for material scope additions. Both parties stay disciplined about scope. |
| Monthly retainer | Continuous improvement, new integrations, ongoing operate work. | Open-ended commitment. Cancellable with 30-day notice, so the lock-in is short. |
| Embedded engineering | You want senior capacity inside your team without a hire. | Higher monthly cost than retainer because the engineer is reserved for you. |
| Build-operate-transfer | You want eventual in-house ownership but cannot hire the team today. | Requires planned transfer engagement. Knowledge transfer is the work, not an afterthought. |
The discovery sprint
Most builds we run begin with a discovery sprint. It is two weeks of scoped work, paid, with concrete output. The sprint typically includes:
- Operational walkthrough of the systems, workflows, and stakeholders in scope.
- Technical audit of the source systems we expect to integrate against, including API surface, rate limits, identity model, and data quality.
- Identity and access mapping. Who can see what. What scoping the AI workflow must respect.
- Compliance posture review. AU Privacy Act, OAIC, sector-specific frameworks (APRA, healthcare, government). What constraints apply.
- Architecture recommendation. Where things sit. How they connect. Which model providers fit the data sensitivity.
- Risk register. What we believe will be hard. Where the unknowns are. What we will discover during the build.
- Fixed-price quote for the build, with assumed scope, deliverables, timeline, and change-order triggers documented.
The sprint is not a slide deck. It is a delivered work product you can hand to another agency if you decide we are not the right fit. The artefacts are yours.
How we quote
For most build engagements, the quote process runs:
- Brief from you via the contact form. As much as you want to share. We reply within 24 hours.
- 30 to 45 minute scoping call. No SDR layer. The conversation is with the engineer who would lead the work. We share by the end of the call whether we are the right fit and why.
- Either a direct fixed-price proposal (where the scope is clear enough from the call) or a discovery sprint proposal (where it is not). Both arrive within three business days of the call.
- Written engagement letter. Scope, timeline, deliverables, price, payment schedule, IP terms, change-order process, termination terms. Nothing material is missing.
- Signature and kickoff. First-week work begins within a week of signature.
Change orders and scope creep
Scope creep is the largest source of agency-client conflict. We handle it by being explicit:
- Small clarifications (a renamed field, a different output format, a minor design adjustment) are absorbed without a change order. We do not run a meter for trivial requests.
- Material additions (a new integration, a new workflow, a new compliance obligation) are quoted and agreed in writing before the work starts.
- Additional time required. If during the build we hit complexity that requires additional time, we tell you straight away, scope the variation, and only bill once you have agreed in writing. No silent overruns, no surprise invoices.
- Reductions (you no longer need a planned deliverable) reduce the engagement value proportionally. We do not pocket the saved time.
Payment terms
Standard payment terms for fixed-price builds. Paid upfront, on purpose: it lets us put senior people on your build from day one, locks in your engineering window, and removes the cash-flow friction that slows engagements down.
- 100% on signature is the default. Engineering capacity is reserved, infrastructure is provisioned, and the build is on the calendar the day payment lands. You get a faster start and our undivided attention.
- 50% / 50% on request. Where client procurement requires staged payment, we accept 50% on signature and 50% on delivery against the acceptance criteria in the engagement letter. Just ask during scoping.
Monthly retainer is invoiced on the first business day of the month, payable within 7 days. Embedded engineering is invoiced on the first business day, payable within 7 days. We are open to alternative payment cadences for client-side procurement constraints.
IP and ownership
You own the work product. All bespoke code, prompts, configurations, infrastructure-as-code, documentation, and operational runbooks produced for your engagement transfer to you on payment. We retain no licence on the bespoke deliverables.
Where we use our own libraries, frameworks, or patterns developed across multiple engagements (for example, the retrieval scaffold underlying Bedstone OS), you receive a perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use them inside the deliverable.
Common questions
What does an AI agency in Australia actually cost?
Production AI agent builds are scoped to the build, with the upper bound depending on system count, workflow complexity, and access control requirements. Bedstone OS deployments are scoped to the modules you turn on. Custom software builds are scoped to the work. Automate Your Role is a tightly scoped, fixed-price engagement. Security audits are fixed-price, scoped to your environment. The discovery sprint is fixed-price. We do not cap engagements at the upper end; the figure for your build is set at scoping.
Do you do hourly rates?
No. Hourly engagements create incentive problems and produce unpredictable bills for clients. We quote fixed-price for defined scope and monthly retainer for continuous work. Senior engineering capacity through embedded engagements is also priced monthly.
What is the smallest engagement you take?
The discovery sprint is the smallest commercial engagement, and it is deliberately affordable. It produces a clear plan and architecture. Many clients begin there and decide on a build engagement afterwards.
Do you work with startups?
Yes, where the work is suited to our practice. We focus on production systems, so we are less useful for very early-stage prototype work. We are well suited to startups that have product-market fit and are now building the operational backbone.
Do you offer fixed-price or time-and-materials?
We default to fixed-price for defined scope. We use monthly retainer for continuous build and operate work. We do not do open-ended time-and-materials because it disincentivises both parties from being efficient.
What happens if scope changes mid-build?
We agree change orders before doing the work. Small clarifications are absorbed without a change order. Material scope additions are quoted, agreed in writing, and added to the engagement. If during the build we hit complexity that requires additional time, we tell you straight away, scope the variation, and only bill once you have agreed in writing. No silent overruns, no surprise invoices.
Who owns the IP at the end?
You do. All bespoke code, prompts, configurations, and infrastructure-as-code produced for your engagement transfer to you on payment. Where we use our own libraries or patterns developed across engagements, you receive a perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use them inside the deliverable.