We get asked this regularly: what does a $375 paid audit actually buy you? Reasonable question. AI audits get pitched at wildly different price points and depth from different practices. Here's exactly what ours covers and what it doesn't, so you can decide whether it's the right thing for you to start with.

The short version

You pay $375 up front. You fill out a short pre-call questionnaire. We meet for a 60-minute working session, either remote or at your office in the Portland metro or Southwest Washington. Within five business days, you get a written report that covers:

What we saw in your operation
Three specific AI opportunities ranked by impact and effort
A clear recommendation for what to tackle first

The report is yours. You can implement it with us, hire someone else, do it yourself, or sit on it. We don't try to lock you in.

What happens before the call

Once you pay, we send you a short pre-call questionnaire. Six or seven questions, takes maybe fifteen minutes. The questions are designed to get the information we need without making you summarize your whole business:

What software does your team use day to day?
What are the three tasks that take the most time and produce the least joy?
Who on your team would actually use new tools (and who wouldn't)?
What have you already tried with AI, if anything, and how did it go?
Are there compliance or confidentiality constraints we should know about?

Answer honestly. Vague answers produce vague reports.

What happens during the 60 minutes

The session is structured but conversational. We typically spend it like this:

First 10 minutes: business context. What you do, who your customers are, what the rhythm of the work looks like across a typical week or month. We're trying to feel the shape of your operation.
Middle 30 minutes: workflow tour. We pick the workflows you flagged in the questionnaire and walk through them in detail. What software is involved. What the manual steps look like. Where the time goes. Where the frustration lives.
Last 20 minutes: framing. We share what we noticed, ask follow-up questions, and start naming candidate AI opportunities. Not yet ranking them. Just surfacing.

If we're meeting at your office, we often spend part of the time watching the work happen rather than just hearing about it. Watching a front-desk person handle calls for ten minutes tells you more than an hour of them describing it.

What the written report covers

Within five business days, you get a PDF (and a Google Doc if you'd prefer) with the following sections:

Section 1: What we saw

Two to three pages summarizing your business, your stack, your workflows, and the specific time sinks we identified. This is reflection, not recommendation yet. We want you to read it and recognize your own operation.

Section 2: Three opportunities

The core of the report. Three AI implementations we'd recommend you consider, presented in a consistent format:

What it is: plain-language description of the workflow change.
Why it fits your business: specific to what we saw, not generic.
What it would take: scoped estimate of implementation hours and any required tooling.
What you'd get back: realistic estimate of time saved or quality improved.
What could go wrong: honest read on the risks and constraints.

Three is intentional. Five becomes unfocused; one feels arbitrary. Three lets us rank.

Section 3: Recommendation

One of the three opportunities, named as the recommended first step, with the reasoning. Sometimes it's the highest-impact opportunity. Sometimes it's the lowest-effort one because we think you need a quick win to build internal momentum. We say which and why.

Section 4: What we'd skip

Often the most useful section. We name the AI-adjacent ideas we considered and rejected, and explain why. "Customer-facing AI chat" sounds appealing but doesn't fit your tone. "Full appointment automation" would alienate your highest-value clients. Naming what not to do saves you from chasing it later.

When an audit is the right starting point

An audit fits when:

You suspect AI could help your business but you don't have a clear sense of which workflows to target first.
You want a written, structured read on opportunities rather than a verbal pitch.
You're considering whether to bring in a consultant, hire someone, or build internal capability, and you want a neutral basis for that decision.
You want a document you can share with a co-owner or business partner to align on next steps.
You have an internal champion pushing for a specific AI project and you want a second opinion on the fit.

When an audit isn't the right starting point

Skip the audit and go straight to a project or training engagement when:

You already know which workflow you want to automate and just need it built. We'd rather you spend the $375 on the implementation itself.
You already have AI tools and the team just needs training. The audit won't tell you anything new.
You're in the exploration phase and not ready to act on a report. The free 30-minute consult is the right starting point.

How an audit compares to a free consult

The free consult is a conversation. It's good for figuring out fit, getting a verbal read, and deciding whether to engage further. It's not enough to act on.

The paid audit is structured work that produces a document you can act on. It's appropriate when you've moved past "should we do anything with AI" and are at "what specifically should we do first."

Most clients start with the free consult. About a third of those go on to a paid audit. The rest either jump straight to a small implementation project or decide AI isn't the right fit and we shake hands.

Common questions

Can I just hire someone else to implement what the audit recommends? Yes. The report is yours and includes enough detail that another consultant or an internal champion could execute it. We'd prefer you implement with us, but the report doesn't depend on that.

Is the $375 credited against future work? No. The audit is its own deliverable and stands on its own. We've considered crediting it but in practice it ends up favoring people who would have engaged anyway and penalizing people who genuinely just want the report.

How long is the report valid? Realistically, six to twelve months. The underlying AI tools change fast. The diagnosis of your operation stays valid longer; the specific tool recommendations may need updating after a year.

Do you do larger audits? For practices with twenty or more employees and multiple workflows, we sometimes scope a larger engagement. That's quoted separately. For most small businesses, the $375 audit is the right size.

If you want a paid audit, request one here. If you want to start with the free consult first, book a 30-minute call. No pitch, no upsell pressure.

What does an AI audit actually look like?