ApproachHow we engage · How we work · How we charge

Fourteen days from hello to shipped work.

Most firms spend three months "discovering" before showing you anything. We spend the first two weeks building. By Friday of week two there is something in your operations you can use, even if you decide to stop the engagement there.

The engagement timeline

Four moves, in fourteen days.

This is the default cadence for every engagement, regardless of practice. Capital raises, AI agents, lease reviews, payroll migrations: same shape, same dates, same accountable partner.

Day 0 · Discovery call

Forty-five minutes with a partner.

No deck, no pre-call form, no junior taking notes. The partner who would run your engagement is the partner on the call. We map the surface area of your business: revenue, headcount, current providers, what's broken, what's already working. By the end of the call we'll tell you whether we think we can help, and roughly what shape the engagement would take. If we can't help, we tell you who to ring instead.

Day 5 · Fixed-fee proposal

One page. One number. One partner named.

In your inbox by Friday of the discovery week. One page describing what we'll do, how we'll measure it, who will lead it, and exactly what it costs per month. No discovery fee. No "subject to scope clarification." If the number is wrong because we under-estimated, that's our problem to absorb. If your scope changes, we re-quote and you decide before any new work starts.

Day 14 · First work shipped

Something working, in front of you, on the second Friday.

Two-week sprints across every engaged practice. By the second Friday there is something tangible: a draft model, a working agent in a staging environment, a renegotiated lease offer on the table, a clean trial balance reconciled for the first time in three quarters. If we haven't shipped by then, we'll tell you why on a call, not in an email.

Ongoing · Quarterly review

A written note every three months.

One ninety-minute review per quarter, all practices in the room, a written note circulated forty-eight hours after. Flat monthly fee invoiced in arrears. Cancel with sixty days notice. Most clients don't.

What we won't do

Seven things you'll never see us bill for.

These are not strategic differentiators. They're failure modes of the consulting industry that this firm exists to fix. If you've worked with a Big Four firm or a single-discipline boutique, you'll recognise every one.

"Discovery phase" billed against undefined scope

If we don't know what we're doing, we shouldn't be charging you to figure it out. The discovery call is free and exists for exactly this reason: so neither party signs a proposal under uncertainty. If we can't write a one-page fixed-fee scope after one call, that's a signal to walk away, not a signal to bill more discovery hours.

Partner pitches, juniors deliver

The partner you meet on the discovery call is the partner who signs your proposal, leads your engagement, and shows up at your quarterly review. If they leave the firm, we'll tell you within seven days and offer to terminate without penalty.

"Centers of Excellence" or methodology slides

If a deliverable cites a proprietary methodology with a capitalised name, that deliverable has consumed time you paid for and produced nothing you can use. Our deliverables are the work itself: a working agent, a signed lease, a filed BAS, a board pack you can present on Tuesday.

Time-and-materials billing with surprises

T&M billing rewards us for being slow. Fixed-fee aligns us with you. If we under-quote, that's our problem; if scope changes, we re-quote, you approve, no work starts on the new scope until both parties sign.

Exclusivity clauses

You can run a parallel proposal at any time, hire a second firm for a second opinion, or move the work to a competitor mid-engagement. We'll cooperate with whoever takes over. Lock-in is a confession that the work doesn't speak for itself.

Padding the invoice

Invoices are itemised. Hours, capped at the fixed fee. Out-of-scope items only appear with a separate purchase order you've signed in advance. We have never billed a client for "review meetings" or "internal coordination."

Mandatory "transformation" framing

If you only need your BAS filed and your year-end finalised cleanly, we'll do that and stop. Not every engagement needs to be reframed as a "digital transformation" or a "growth journey." Sometimes the work is just the work.

How we charge

Two pricing shapes.

Monthly retainer: a flat monthly fee — a single fee for one practice, or a blended fee for the unified retainer (two or more practices). Invoiced in arrears. Sixty days notice to cancel.

Fixed-fee project: one-off engagements (AI pilot, capital raise, lease portfolio review, R&D claim, freehold acquisition). Quoted on the one-page proposal, invoiced in two tranches: 50% at signing, 50% at delivery.

Engagements that genuinely belong on hourly billing (e.g. expert-witness consulting, ad-hoc legal-adjacent work) we decline and refer.

Book the discovery call.

Forty-five minutes with a partner. No deck, no pre-call form. If we can help, you'll have a one-page proposal by Friday. If we can't, you'll know who to ring instead.

Book a consultation Book a consultation