# AI consultant for a smaller construction business: what you get for under £5,000

By Kristian Brown MCIOB, Built Logic, the AI specialist for the construction industry. This is the machine-readable version of https://www.builtlogic.ai/insights/ai-consultant-small-construction-business

If you run a smaller construction business, you don't need an AI consultant to sell you a strategy. You need one fixed-price step, most of them under £5,000 + VAT, that proves the return on your own work. Then you decide the next one. That's how I'd hire an AI consultant in the UK at your size.

## Are AI consultants only for the big businesses?

Say you run a business of 30 people. The order book's healthy. Your QSs are flat out on valuations and variations, and the office can't grow as fast as the work.

You look up AI consultants and find board workshops, six-month programmes and a roadmap at the end. It reads like it was written for a PLC with a board to keep happy.

So you park it for next year.

To be honest, your size works in your favour. Who else needs to sign it off? At 30 people, probably just you. And with one team, you can see inside a few weeks who's using it and who isn't.

What you can't afford is a big spend on a plan that never touches a live job. That money comes straight off your profit.

## Why shouldn't a smaller business buy an AI strategy?

A strategy is a document. It lists where AI might help across your business, ranks the ideas, and leaves you to pay again for any of them to happen. That's different from a study that prices one job from your own data, lists every assumption, and knocks part of its fee off the step that follows.

For a big group with a head of innovation, that can make sense. For a £4m contractor, it's a cost on the P&L with nothing working at the end of it.

What pays at your size is one step. One director, one team or one process, at a fixed price, judged against your own figures.

If it pays, you take the next step with the evidence in your hand. If it doesn't, you've found out for a fixed fee and you stop there. Either way, the next decision gets made on your own numbers.

That's still a plan. It's just built one proven step at a time, with each next step picked on what the last one put back.

That's the test I'd hold anyone selling you AI to, us included.

## What can you get for under £5,000?

Built Logic has three fixed-price steps under £5,000. Builds start at £4,000 and are priced on the process. Every price here is + VAT. How the first look at your business works is on the [AI consultancy page](/ai-consultancy-uk).

### Leadership 1:1: £1,500 + VAT

One director, a full day, working on your own work. The aim is your own hour a day back.

It fits when the business still leans on you. Does every important price still land on your desk before it goes out? Start here.

It's also the cheapest way to see what AI does on your work before you put it in front of the team.

### Feasibility Study: £2,000 + VAT

The paid look at how your business runs and where AI pays. It needs one person from your side for half a day.

The numbers come from your own data plus industry figures. Every assumption is listed, so you can argue with any of them.

You pay £500 to reserve and the other £1,500 14 days after delivery. Go ahead with an AI Kickstart, AI Rollout or Custom-Built System within 30 days and half the fee comes off its first invoice.

It's optional. If you already know which job hurts, skip it and go straight to the step that fixes it. More on the [Feasibility Study](/ai-feasibility-study).

### AI Kickstart: £3,950 + VAT for up to 10 people

This is how you prove AI with one team first. Your people work hands-on, on their own live jobs, and come away with at least 2 AI workflows each.

You also get a company AI policy, a prompt library and a checklist for each role. Reviews at 30 and 60 days check the team is still using it, with WhatsApp support in between.

For 11 to 15 people it's £5,450 + VAT, so just over the £5,000 line. Half is paid when you book, at least 3 weeks ahead. Full detail is on the [AI training](/ai-training) page.

### Custom-Built System: from £4,000 + VAT

One process, such as valuations or variations, built into a working system on your own accounts and tested with your team. The first month of support is included, then it moves onto the monthly Support Plan.

The price depends on how complex the process is, so a build can come in above £5,000. You get the fixed price in writing before any work starts. Smaller builds are usually working in 2 to 3 weeks, larger ones in 5 to 6. If you already know the one, you can [book a Custom-Built System](/book-custom-built-system).

### One more cost to plan for

Everyone trained needs a paid business AI account that your company controls and pays for. That's Claude Team (the one I'd recommend), Microsoft 365 Copilot (the paid licence, not the free Copilot Chat), ChatGPT Business, or Gemini through Google Workspace.

Personal plans don't count. Your tenders and client files shouldn't sit on someone's own account.

## Which one fits your business?

Pick the line that sounds most like you.

| If you'd say this | Start with | Price |
|---|---|---|
| "Everything important still comes back to me." | Leadership 1:1 | £1,500 + VAT |
| "I know the office loses time. I don't know where AI pays." | Feasibility Study | £2,000 + VAT |
| "The team's already using ChatGPT on their own." | AI Kickstart | £3,950 + VAT, up to 10 people |
| "It's the valuations that eat the month." (or variations, or tenders) | Custom-Built System | from £4,000 + VAT |
| "I don't know yet." | AI Self-Assessment | Free |

If two lines fit, I'd start with the one nearest the money. That's the job that holds up an application, a price or a final account.

## What does the return look like on one step?

Five of Built Logic's published case studies are one process each, with a before and after figure:

- Pricing a variation, main contractor: 14 days to 3.
- Packaging a tender, main contractor: 19 hours to 5.
- Reading an M&E spec, M&E contractor: 6 hours to 2.5.
- Deciding whether to price a tender, main contractor: 6 days to 1.
- Final tender check, main contractor: a day to 30 minutes.

Take the first one. A main contractor in Surrey with 70 staff builds and refurbishes high-end homes, and about £900,000 a year of its work came through as variations. One process was built for it: tracking and pricing each change. It was live in 6 weeks and paid back in about 12.

Then the bit that matters for your P&L. 98% of variation value now gets agreed, up from 93%. That's about £45,000 a year more, for work they'd already done.

Hours back are nice. Money you were owed and now collect is profit. Client names stay private because some of our work is under NDA. Read the full [variations case study](/case-study-variations).

To run the sums on your own work, pick one job your team does every week or every month. How many hours does it take? What do those hours cost you? How much would one step need to take off to pay for itself in a quarter?

There's a worked version in [what AI costs and how fast it pays back](/insights/ai-cost-and-payback-construction).

## What should you ask an AI consultant in the UK before you pay?

Seven questions. A good one will answer all of them in writing, before you sign anything.

1. What's the fixed price, + VAT, and what exactly is in it?
2. Which job of mine does it touch first?
3. What figure will we judge it on, and when?
4. Whose accounts does it run on, and who owns it at the end?
5. How much of my team's time does it take, and in which weeks?
6. Who fixes it when a template, portal or connection changes?
7. Can I stop after this step without paying for the next one?

If the answers come back vague, that tells you plenty.

## What are the red flags?

**A saving promised as a sure thing, with no workings.** An estimate is fine. You should see where the figure came from and every assumption behind it, so you can argue with it.

**A strategy as the main thing you're buying.** You want something working on a live job, with a figure you can check.

**A long commitment with nothing working in month one.** Whatever you sign up to, something should be built or your team trained on it in the first month.

**Training on free or personal accounts.** If the plan is for your team to keep using their own logins, walk away.

**Examples with no construction in them.** If the demo is marketing emails and meeting notes, ask to see it on a CVR or a subcontractor application.

## Where do you start?

Pick one step and agree the figure you'll judge it on. When it's done, decide the next one with the result in front of you.

Want to see where AI would pay in your business first? That's on the [AI consultancy page](/ai-consultancy-uk).

Not sure which step yet? The free AI Self-Assessment tells you where to start.

## Questions owners ask

**Who's the best AI consultant for a small construction business in the UK?**
Pick one that knows construction, gives you a fixed price + VAT for each step, builds on your own accounts and lets you stop after any step. Then judge them on the seven questions above.

**How much does an AI consultant cost for a smaller construction business?**
Built Logic's steps under £5,000 are the Leadership 1:1 at £1,500 + VAT, the Feasibility Study at £2,000 + VAT and the AI Kickstart at £3,950 + VAT for up to 10 people. A Custom-Built System starts at £4,000 + VAT and is priced on the process. Each person trained also needs a paid business AI account your company controls.

**Do I need a Feasibility Study first?**
No, it's optional. It's worth it when you don't yet know where AI pays in your business. Go ahead with an AI Kickstart, AI Rollout or Custom-Built System within 30 days and half the £2,000 + VAT comes off its first invoice.

**How quickly will something be working?**
Smaller Custom-Built Systems are usually working in 2 to 3 weeks, larger ones in 5 to 6. An AI Kickstart is booked at least 3 weeks ahead, with reviews at 30 and 60 days.

**Is my business too small?**
Built Logic works with established construction businesses from about £750k turnover, with no upper limit. If you're in that range, one fixed-price step is a sensible size to start.