What is a scoping call?
A scoping call is a structured look at how one piece of work actually moves through your business: who types what into which system, where a job waits for a person, and which spreadsheets quietly hold the place together. Consultants usually charge for this. We do it free because it is also how we find out whether we can help, and the honest answer is sometimes no.
What we look at
- The jobs that are done by hand or typed twice: quotes, job sheets, certificates, delivery notes, invoices, reports.
- The spreadsheets and paper that hold the business together, and what happens when the person who owns them is away.
- Where information waits: for a signature, a phone call, a print-out, a trip back to the office.
- What your current software costs each year, and where your team works around it rather than with it.
- Which of those should be automated, which should be handed to an AI agent, and which should be left exactly as they are.
What you get
- A one-page plan naming the changes that would save the most time, in priority order.
- An honest estimate of the hours each would save every week, and what that is worth in wages.
- A fixed price and a timeline for anything we would build, in writing. Never an hourly rate.
- Our plain view if the right answer is to buy something off the shelf, or to do nothing yet.
What does it cost?
Nothing. The call is free and comes with no obligation to work with us afterwards. If we do go on to build something, small automations start from £1,500 and most projects land between £2,000 and £15,000, always as a fixed price agreed in writing before any work starts. All prices exclude VAT. Most projects go live in two to six weeks; a first AI agent in about two.
Who is it for?
Owner-managed firms with roughly five to a hundred staff: manufacturing, engineering, lifting and inspection, trade services, professional services and the family businesses that keep the North East working. We run scoping calls by video anywhere in the UK, and on site across Teesside, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and North Yorkshire.
How it works
- Book a slot using the form on our homepage, or call George on 07802 514415. Tell us roughly what the business does and what is driving you mad.
- Before the call we read anything you want to send: a quote template, a job sheet, a screenshot of the spreadsheet. Nothing is required.
- On the call we walk through one job from enquiry to invoice and note every place a person re-types, waits or works around.
- Within two working days you get the one-page plan. If there is something worth building, it comes with a fixed price and a start date.
What a scoping call found at Durham Lifting
Durham Lifting in Middlesbrough test, inspect and certify lifting equipment. Scheduling the inspections, producing the certificates and building the job packs were three separate jobs held in three separate places, and a missed renewal meant a customer with equipment they could not legally use. The planner we built puts all three in one system and flags every renewal before it lapses. It went live in March 2025 and saves the business about £42,000 a year in admin hours and inspections that are no longer missed.
Questions
Do I need to prepare anything?
No. It helps to have one real example of a job in mind, from the first phone call to the invoice, but we can find one together on the call.
Will you try to sell me something?
We will tell you what we would build and what it would cost, in writing, at a fixed price. If the honest answer is that off-the-shelf software or no change at all is right for you, the plan says so.
We already have software that half works. Is that a scoping call or a rescue?
Both start the same way. We look at the existing system, say what is worth keeping, and quote either a rescue or a rebuild. We will not take on a broken project blind and then surprise you with costs.
Is our data safe?
Yes. We sign a non-disclosure agreement on request before we see anything. Anything we build keeps your data encrypted at rest and in transit, with access limited by role and logged, in UK or EU data centres by default.
Is it really only twenty minutes?
For the call, yes. The written plan takes us longer, and that part is on us.