Pricing
How we price custom AI systems
Vantage Systems prices every engagement as a fixed scope with a fixed price for each phase, agreed in writing before any work starts. Custom AI (artificial intelligence) pricing depends on how many systems we connect, how clean the data is and how many workflows the first phase covers, never on hours billed.
Key facts
- Pricing model
- Fixed scope and fixed price per phase. No open-ended hourly billing.
- Who it is for
- Operators with real scale: private equity backed companies, mid-market and enterprise operators, machine builders, and Gulf holding companies and contractors.
- First step
- A conversation, then a written scope for the first phase with its price, timeline and what you will have at the end.
- After launch
- We keep the system running. Running costs and the services underneath the system are part of the written scope.
What does a typical engagement look like?
Most engagements run in three parts. Discovery maps the workflow, the systems involved and the data, and ends with a written scope. A first build phase puts one system into daily use. Then we run it, and each further phase is scoped and priced on its own once the first one is earning its keep.
Phasing keeps the risk on a short leash. You never commit to a year of work on the strength of a slide deck, and each phase ends with working software your team uses, not a report. You can see how a first phase is sequenced in our 90-day implementation plan.
What drives the cost of a build?
Integration work is usually the biggest variable. A voice agent that books into one field service platform is a different job from one that reads three systems and writes to two. The same holds for a custom CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) that has to sync with a loan origination system and an accounting package.
- The number of systems we read from and write to, and whether they have usable application programming interfaces
- How clean and complete the data is today, and how much has to be fixed before anything is built on it
- How many workflows, call flows, document types or dashboards the phase covers
- Users, roles and approval steps, and the audit trail the business needs
- Regulatory and data residency requirements, such as keeping data inside Saudi Arabia
- Languages, for example English and Arabic documents or calls
- Hardware, such as sensors and cameras for predictive maintenance
- The support level after launch: business hours or around the clock
What does it cost to run after launch?
A live system has running costs as well as a build cost: the services underneath it, such as cloud hosting, model usage and phone minutes, and the work of keeping it monitored and improving. We keep the systems we build running, and the written scope sets out what running it involves before the build starts.
Ask for running costs early in any proposal, ours included. A build that is cheap to make and expensive to run is not cheap.
How does building compare with buying software?
Buying wins when an off-the-shelf product fits your workflow without heavy customization. Building wins when the workflow is the advantage, when per-seat fees grow faster than the business, or when you need the system to work across several companies you own. We say so when an existing product is the better answer.
Two articles go deeper: how much a custom CRM costs and build versus buy for AI agents. For portfolio-wide work, see AI for private equity portfolio companies.
What a fixed price includes
A written scope
What we build, what it connects to, what you will have at the end of the phase, and what is out of scope.
Working software every week
A weekly demo of the real system on your data, so the direction can change early and cheaply.
Integration and data work
Connections to the systems named in the scope, and the data cleanup the phase depends on.
Launch
Rollout to your team and the people who will use the system every day.
How an engagement works
Start a conversation
Tell us what is slowing the operation down. Mohamed replies within one business day.
Discovery
We map the workflow, systems and data, then write the scope and price for a first phase.
Build
Fixed scope, fixed price, working software every week until the phase is live.
Run and extend
We run and improve the system, and scope the next phase only when the first one is paying back.
Frequently asked questions
Do you publish prices?
Not as a menu, because two builds with the same name can differ by an order of magnitude in integration work. Every engagement gets a written, fixed price for each phase before work starts, and most are scoped in the tens of thousands of dollars and up.
Do you bill by the hour?
No. Each phase has a fixed scope and a fixed price, agreed in writing before the work starts.
What does discovery produce?
A written scope for the first phase: the workflow, the systems and data involved, what the phase delivers, its timeline and its fixed price.
What happens if the scope changes mid-phase?
The change is written down with its effect on price and timeline, and nothing changes until you approve it.
Who owns the system at the end?
Ownership of the code, the data and the work product is set in the contract before the build starts. Client data stays in the region agreed with the client.
Can a portfolio share the cost of one build?
Yes. A private equity owner can build once and roll the system out across portfolio companies, with each rollout scoped and priced on its own. See portfolio-wide rollouts.
Related
- ProgramImplementationVantage Systems runs AI (artificial intelligence) implementation from assessment to production: ranking use cases by payback, fixing the data, building the systems and running them.
- ProgramPrivate equityVantage Systems builds AI for private equity portfolio companies once, then rolls it across the portfolio with shared metric definitions and a 100-day plan fit.
- InsightHow much does a custom CRM (customer relationship management) cost?A custom CRM costs what its engineering time costs. See the cost drivers, published seat prices, five-year ownership math and when a build pays back.
- InsightBuild vs buy for AI agents: a decision framework for operatorsBuy an AI agent when your workflow looks like everyone else's; build when it is yours alone. A six-factor framework, a comparison table and the real cost lines.
- WorkThings we've shippedSystems we designed, built and run for operators in four countries.
- SolutionsAll solutionsEverything we design, build and run.
Built for operators with real scale. Most engagements are scoped in the tens of thousands of dollars and up.
Start a conversation.
Tell me what's slowing your operation down. I read every message myself and reply within one business day.