What does an AI audit for a UK law firm typically cost? +
Most reputable AI consultancies charge £3,000–£15,000 for an AI audit in 2026, depending on firm size and scope. Formulaic's AI Readiness Diagnostic is £3,500 / $4,500 for a 2-week engagement covering up to 6 stakeholder interviews and a 15–25 page readiness report. Free audits exist but are usually a sales mechanism for a larger upsell. Detailed breakdown at /guides/how-much-does-ai-audit-cost-law-firm.
How do AI consultancies typically price projects in 2026? +
The boutique tier (Formulaic, Morningside, Tectome) prices fixed-fee by deliverable, with paid discovery up front. The SME tier (Elevate AI, Ampliflow) prices similarly but at lower entry points (£500–£5k). Enterprise consultancies (Neurons Lab, Faculty AI, BCG) use hybrid models — fixed-price PoC then time-and-materials or dedicated team. Hourly billing is dying at the boutique tier because AI compresses task time — efficient consultants get penalised.
Why fixed fees instead of hourly? +
Hourly billing punishes consultants for getting faster. We use AI internally to compress delivery time — if we billed hourly, that would reduce our margin every quarter. Fixed fees align incentives: you pay for the outcome, we get paid to ship efficiently. You also know your budget before you sign.
Do you offer hourly or day rates? +
No. Every engagement is fixed-fee with a defined deliverable. If you need ad-hoc advisory time, the closest fit is the Partnership tier.
Is it cheaper to hire a freelance AI consultant? +
On day rate, yes — UK freelance AI consultants charge £400–£1,200/day in 2026. But you carry the scoping, project management, integration, and delivery risk. A productised firm absorbs those costs into a fixed fee. The right answer depends on whether you have internal capacity to manage a freelancer.
What does the diagnostic actually produce? +
A 15–25 page report covering your current systems, the top 5 AI opportunities ranked by ROI, implementation sequencing, and build-vs-buy recommendations for each. Plus a proposal for the build, sprint, or partnership engagement if you want to proceed.
Is the diagnostic fee really deducted from the next engagement? +
Yes. If you sign a build or partnership engagement within 30 days of the diagnostic delivery, the full fee is credited against your first invoice. The Production Sprint is separate — it is delivery, not assessment, and is not credited.
What's included in the build price — just the development? +
Development, deployment, documentation, team training, and a 60-day post-launch warranty. Infrastructure costs (LLM APIs, cloud hosting) are passed through at cost separately — we don't mark them up.
Can we start with a build without doing the diagnostic first? +
Yes, if you already know what you want built. We'll run a shorter paid scoping phase to define the spec. But most firms find the diagnostic or the Production Sprint surfaces opportunities they hadn't considered.
What happens at the end of a partnership? +
You own everything. Source code, documentation, credentials. We hand it all over. If you want to bring operations in-house or switch providers, you can — nothing is locked to us.
Do you work with firms outside the UK and US? +
Our team is in the UK; our client work runs across UK and US. Time-zone overlap and data residency requirements determine what's practical for other markets.