Custom AI/AI Automation Agency
Founder-led · Fixed price · Live in 4-8 weeks
AI automation agency for small businesses, run by the person who builds it.
I find the busywork in your business (the invoices, the reconciliation, the repeat support questions, the Friday report) and automate it. Fixed price, quoted after a short scoping chat with me. Most automations are live in 4-8 weeks, and you own everything I build.
Mark Austen, Founder: 18+ years shipping software, 50+ projects shipped
What an AI automation agency actually does
Three very different things get sold under the AI label. Knowing which one you are buying saves a bad quarter.
Sells one product
A chatbot vendor
You get a widget that answers questions. Useful, but it stops at the conversation. The invoice still gets typed in by hand, the report still gets built on Friday afternoon.
Builds what you spec
A dev shop
You bring a specification, they write code to it. If the spec misses the real bottleneck (first specs usually do), you find out after the invoice.
Owns the outcome
An AI automation agency
Finds the busywork in how your business actually runs, automates it end-to-end, and maintains it after launch. The deliverable is hours back, not a feature list.
AI Makers is the third kind. The engagement starts with where your team’s hours go, not with a product demo. It ends with an automation running in production, maintained, that you own. The custom AI development page covers the full service; this page is the automation-specific version.
What I automate
The recurring shapes across shipped projects. Typical automation projects go live in 4-8 weeks. Fixed price, quoted after a short scoping chat with me.
Invoice processing
Invoices arrive by email, get read, coded, matched and entered into your accounting system. Exceptions go to a human, everything else just flows.
Bank reconciliation
Transactions matched to invoices and entries automatically, with a short exception list instead of a monthly reconciliation slog.
Customer support
AI that answers the repeat questions on email, web chat and WhatsApp and takes action in your systems. The hard cases go to your team with full context.
Reporting
The numbers your team compiles by hand every week, pulled together and sent automatically. The same report, without the Friday afternoon.
Data entry
Orders, forms, documents and emails read and entered into your CRM, ERP or database. The retyping between systems stops.
WhatsApp workflows
Bookings, quotes, order updates and follow-ups handled on the channel your customers already use, and connected to your real systems instead of a standalone bot.
Want to know how the quote is built? See how pricing works. Back-office work specifically is covered on the AI for operations page.
How the engagement works
Four steps from first contact to an automation running in your business. No retainer before anything is built, no procurement theatre.
Step 01
Short scoping chat
Where the manual hours go, which automation pays back fastest, and whether the project makes sense at all.
Step 02
Written fixed-price quote
A one-page scope of exactly what gets automated, with a fixed price. Usually within a few days. Sit on it as long as you like.
Step 03
Build
Most automations are live in 4-8 weeks, with working software demos along the way, so you steer while it is being built.
Step 04
30 days post-launch support
Included. I watch it run in the real world and fix what surfaces. After that, an optional managed plan keeps it maintained and improving.
The founder-led difference
Most agencies put a sales layer between you and the people doing the work. Here there is no layer.
The person you talk to in the scoping chat is the person who scopes your automation, builds it, and answers for it after launch. I’m Mark Austen, with 18+ years shipping software and 50+ projects shipped for small and mid-sized businesses.
That structure has practical consequences. Nothing gets lost between a salesperson’s promise and a developer’s ticket. Scope conversations happen with someone who knows what the change costs. And when something needs fixing, you message the builder directly, not a support queue.
Weighing an agency against hiring your own AI developer? The trade-off is broken down honestly in AI agency vs in-house hire.
How pricing works
Every project is a fixed price for the agreed scope, quoted after a short scoping chat with me. The written quote spells out what’s in and what’s out, and you own the code. Projects take one of three shapes.
2-4 weeks
Single-channel automation
One conversation channel automated end-to-end: a support or intake chatbot on web or WhatsApp, connected to your knowledge and calendar.
4-8 weeks
Cross-system automation
One workflow automated across the systems it touches: invoices, reconciliation, reporting, data entry. This is the typical small-business project.
2-4 months
Automation platform
Several workflows and departments on one system, with dashboards, roles and an API, delivered in phases.
There is no retainer before anything is built, and the first 30 days after launch are included. Check the payback before you sign: hours per week, times your loaded hourly cost, times 52, against the fixed quote. The pricing page explains how the quote is built, and the custom AI development cost guide breaks down what drives the number. Clients are remote across the US, UK, EU and APAC; US specifics are covered on the custom AI for US companies page.
How to choose an AI automation agency
Five things to check before you sign with anyone, including me. Any agency worth hiring passes all five without flinching.
They ask about your workflows before they pitch tools
A good agency wants to know where the hours go in your business. If the first call is a tool demo, they are selling a product, not solving your problem.
You meet the person who will build it
Ask who writes the code. If the answer is a team you will meet after signing, expect your project to be explained to the builders second-hand, and built second-hand.
Fixed written quotes, not open-ended retainers
Automation projects have a definable scope, so they can carry a fixed price. Agencies that only sell monthly retainers before anything is built are billing for time, not outcomes.
You own what gets built
Code, prompts, integrations and accounts are in your name at handover. If leaving the agency means losing the automation, you are renting, not buying.
They can say no
Some processes are not worth automating yet. An agency that tells you a spreadsheet plus a checklist covers it is the one to trust with the projects worth doing.
Want to run that checklist against the wider market? The best AI automation agencies for SMBs compares seven firms on automation specifically. The best custom AI development companies comparison profiles eleven real firms, including where each one beats me. Automation is mostly connection work. Connecting an AI assistant to your business tools sets out what each connection costs and how these systems break in month one.
Recent projects, real clients
AI-accelerated mobile and web apps: 40% faster development, 30% cost savings.
Warehouse management across 3 islands, with 99.9% inventory accuracy.
Full booking platform with AI tour content and a customer chatbot.
AI automation agency FAQ
How much does an AI automation agency cost?
Scope drives it: a single-channel chatbot is a smaller build than one workflow automated across several systems, or a platform covering several departments. Fixed price for the agreed scope, quoted after a short scoping chat with me. The written quote spells out what's in and what's out, and you own the code.
Do I need an agency, or can I set it up myself?
If the work runs inside one tool, use its own automation first. If it links two tools with a standard connector, Zapier or Make may be enough. An agency earns its fee when the work spans several systems or needs judgement.
Should a small business hire an agency or build in-house?
For most small businesses the honest answer is agency, at least for the first project. An in-house AI hire costs a full salary before anything ships, and good ones are hard to hire and harder to keep. An agency gets you a working automation in weeks for a fixed price. You own the code, so you can take it in-house later if the volume justifies a hire. There is a full breakdown of the trade-off on the blog.
How long until an automation pays for itself?
Do the arithmetic before you sign anything: hours the task takes per week, times loaded hourly cost, times 52. Set that against the fixed quote. If the arithmetic does not work, I will tell you in the scoping chat.
Do you work with smaller companies?
Small businesses are the deliberate focus, not the fallback. I build for 10-500 person companies: teams big enough to have real busywork and small enough that nobody has time for a six-month IT project. Founder-led means no minimum retainer and no enterprise procurement theatre.
What happens if the automation breaks?
The first 30 days after launch are covered, included in the fixed price with no extra invoice. After that, an optional managed plan covers monitoring, fixes and improvements as your business changes. If you would rather run it yourself, you can, because you own the code and the documentation. Either way you are never stuck.
Does the current software have to be replaced?
No. The whole point of automation is connecting the tools you already run. Your accounting system, CRM, inbox and WhatsApp stay where they are; the automation moves the work between them. I help you avoid migrations; I don't sell them.
Find out what your busywork is costing you
A short scoping chat with me: where your hours go, which automation pays back fastest, and a written fixed-price quote if it makes sense. If it doesn’t, you’ll hear that too.
Prefer email? Use the contact page. I reply within one business day.