Know What It Costs Before You Call

Most consultants won't give you a number until they've sized you up. I'd rather you knew up front. Here's what everything costs, what you actually get, and where most businesses should start.

The fixed prices below cover a single location with up to about 20 people, which is most of the businesses I work with. Larger operations, multiple sites and international programs are quoted individually. Tell me what you're dealing with and I'll put a number on it.

Start Here. It Costs You Nothing If You Continue.

Before you spend real money, it's fair to want proof I can see something you can't. That's what this is for.

Find Out Where the Money Is Going

A review of a boarding kennel business running across multiple locations uncovered more than $1M a year in waste. Nobody inside was counting it.

The Leak Audit
$1,950 one-time

Two to three days of work across about two weeks, going through the numbers, the schedule, the stock and the process. Diagnosis only. I tell you what's wrong and what it's costing you.

What you get
  • A written report naming every leak I find, ranked by size
  • Dollar figures wherever the number can honestly be calculated
  • A session walking you through it, so you understand it rather than just own it
  • Findings you can act on yourself, with or without me
Book the Leak Audit →
Most complete
Leak Audit + Fix Plan
$3,500 one-time

Everything in the Leak Audit, plus the part most reports skip: exactly what to do about it, in what order, and what it should be worth. You execute. This is the roadmap you execute from.

Everything above, plus
  • A sequenced plan: what to fix first, who does it, what it costs, what it returns
  • Process documents and templates for the top priorities, ready to hand to your team
  • A follow-up within 30 days of delivery, on site or by phone, to see what actually got done and unstick what didn't
  • A plan built for the team you actually have
Book Audit + Fix Plan →
Why these are fixed and not "starting at". A price you have to call to find out isn't a price. These two are a defined piece of work for a single location with up to about 20 people, so the number holds. Bigger than that and the job is genuinely bigger, so there's a separate version of it below rather than a vague promise to talk.
For larger operations
The Multi-Site Diagnostic
from $10,000 one-time

For several locations, more than about 20 people, or a few different operations running under one roof. Same method as the Leak Audit, scaled to the size of the operation: two to four weeks on the ground across your sites, a written report ranking every leak by size, and a sequenced plan for fixing them.

What's different
  • Every site, not a sample. Problems usually live in the gaps between locations, which is exactly what a single-site look misses.
  • Your managers included. At this size the operation runs through a layer of people, and that layer is usually where the answer is.
  • A plan your team can run. Sequenced, costed, and handed to named people rather than to the business in general.
How pricing works
  • $10,000 is the floor.
  • The final number depends on sites, headcount and how many distinct operations are involved.
  • You get the real figure before anything starts, and it doesn't move afterwards.
Talk About a Multi-Site Diagnostic →

When You Need Someone Who Stays

A plan only works if someone owns it. If you don't have the time or the person in-house, this is where I stop advising and start running.

Fractional COO Light
from $2,500 / month

About a day a week. I drive one or two operational priorities at a time and hold the business to them. This is what turns a fix plan into work that actually gets done.

How it works
  • A weekly check-in that moves specific things forward, not a status meeting
  • Reachable in between when something needs a decision now
  • One or two priorities held at a time, finished before new ones start
  • Does not manage your staff or own day to day operations
Talk About Light →
Fractional COO Embedded
from $6,500 / month

Two to three days a week, owning operational outcomes rather than advising on them. Functionally your part-time COO, with a seat at the table and responsibility for the result.

How it works
  • Owns outcomes, not recommendations. The number is mine to move
  • Builds the systems your business will run on after I've gone
  • Manages the people doing the operational work
  • For businesses past the point where one owner can hold operations and growth at once
Talk About Embedded →
Why "from". Retainer pricing depends on scope: how many days, how many people, how much I'm accountable for. The numbers above are the floor for each level. Bigger remit, bigger number. I'll quote you a real figure once I know what I'd actually be responsible for, and it won't move after that.

What You Get No Matter Which One

👤
Me, Not a Junior

You're hiring one person and you get that person. No analyst doing the work while a partner takes the meetings.

💬
Plain English

Findings you can read without a glossary. If I can't explain why something is costing you money, I haven't finished thinking about it.

🔒
Confidentiality

Everything I see stays between us, in writing, before I set foot in the building.

📄
A Fixed Number

Agreed before we start. No hourly creep, no surprise line items, no invoice that doesn't match the conversation.

The Questions People Actually Ask

Do I have to start with the Walkthrough?

No. If you already know something is wrong and you want it found, go straight to the Leak Audit. The Walkthrough exists for people who aren't sure yet, and who shouldn't have to spend $1,950 to find out.

What if you don't find anything?

Then you'll have written, outside confirmation that your operation is tight. That's worth knowing, and almost nobody can honestly say it about their own business. It hasn't happened yet. I won't invent findings to justify the invoice. If the honest answer is "this is running well, here are two small things," that's what the report will say.

Are the prices negotiable?

The scope is. The price for that scope isn't. If $1,950 is more than the business can carry right now, start with the $750 Walkthrough. That's exactly what it's there for. I'd rather do a smaller piece of work properly than discount a big one and cut corners to make the numbers work.

What if my business is bigger than that?

Then the number goes up, and you'll know it before anything starts. Several locations, a few hundred staff or operations running across countries is a bigger job than a fixed price can cover. That work is what I did for a living. I've been Chief Operating Officer and President of International Operations at Starlings in Seoul, then COO at The Damned in London, running teams across three continents. Tell me the shape of it and I'll quote you properly.

How long before I see anything back?

The Walkthrough summary lands within a few days. The Leak Audit runs about two weeks end to end. Whether the findings turn into money depends on you acting on them, which is exactly why the Fix Plan and the retainers exist.

Do you only work in New Jersey?

On-site work happens within about two hours of Newton, New Jersey, because being in the building is the whole point. The retainers and the Fix Plan work anywhere. I've run operations across the US, UK and South Korea, and most of that was not done from the same room.

What kind of businesses is this for?

Businesses with real operations: staff, stock, schedules, moving parts. Trades, hospitality, retail, clinics, service businesses, small manufacturers. If you're pre-revenue or still figuring out what you sell, paid consulting probably isn't your next step yet. Say so and I'll tell you what I think is.

Not Sure Which One You Need?

Tell me what's going on and I'll tell you which of these fits, or that none of them do. No sales pitch, no pressure, and an answer within 24 hours.

Start the Conversation →