AI project cost estimator

Work out what your AI project will cost

Answer a few questions about the work and see which Tenhaw engagement fits, its published fixed price and what to budget beside the fee. The result is written up for an approval paper, with the team, the payment schedule and the terms.

Free · about two minutes · result on this page and by email

AI project cost estimatorStep 1 of 4

Start with your work email

Start with your work email

Then answer the questions. Your cost estimate appears on this page as soon as you finish, and we email you a copy to keep or forward. You only give it once: the other tools will not ask again.

We use your email to send your result and to follow up about it. We do not add you to a mailing list. Read our privacy notice.

the prices

Every price the estimator can return

These are the published prices, the same ones on the pricing page. The estimator picks the one that fits your answers and writes it up with the detail an approval paper needs.

Published engagement prices at Tenhaw
DoorEngagementPriceTime
LearnLeadership day£8,500 fixedOne day
LearnTeam working-method programme£24,000 fixedSix weeks
ProveOne-workflow proof of concept£20k–£55k fixedTwo to four weeks
ProveWhole-organisation readiness audit£44,000 fixedFour weeks
DeliverTwo-practitioner programme£120,000 fixed90 days
DeliverThree-practitioner programme£180,000 fixed90 days
After day 90Optional continuation£70k–£85k a monthMonth to month
IndependentProgramme & Delivery Management£18k–£35k a monthProgramme duration

All prices exclude VAT, pre-agreed expenses at cost, and model or platform use on your own accounts. The day rates behind them are on the pricing page.

If the right engagement is already clear from this table, thirty minutes with James Rooney turns it into a rough scope and a budget range.

Talk it through
what you get back

A write-up you can put in front of a finance committee

The result is laid out in the order an approval paper is usually read.

  1. 01

    The engagement and its price

    Named and priced exactly as it is published, with how long it takes.
  2. 02

    Where in the band

    For a proof of concept or programme management, where the work is likely to sit in the published band and what moves it.
  3. 03

    The team and the working

    Who turns up. For the 90-day programme, the day-rate illustration behind the fixed fee, role by role.
  4. 04

    Payment and terms

    Instalments or milestones, the 30-day payment term, how either side can end the work, and the supplier details for a purchase order.
  5. 05

    What to budget beside the fee

    VAT, expenses, your own people's time, and model and platform use on your accounts.
  6. 06

    What your sector changes

    The calendar around the work, which is what regulation moves. The fee stays the same.

Would it help to see how this reads for your own workflow before you run it? Ask James on a 30-minute call and he will talk you through one.

Talk it through
how it works

How the estimator reaches its answer

There is no hidden formula. The estimator applies four rules that are already published on this site.

What you need decides the engagement

Testing one workflow points to the Agentic Proof of Concept. Putting one workflow into production and use points to the 90-day outcome programme. Deciding where AI should start points to the AI Readiness Audit. Learn and Programme and Delivery Management cover the other two cases. They are separate choices, not a compulsory sequence.

A proof of concept moves with two things

The complexity of the workflow and the state of the data underneath it. A well understood workflow with its data in one place sits nearer £20,000. A tangled workflow with scattered data sits nearer £55,000. The estimator says where your answers put you and why, and James confirms the fixed price in writing before anyone starts.

Your sector changes the calendar

The published prices carry no regulated-sector premium. In financial services, procurement and supplier onboarding realistically add 8–12 weeks before anything starts, so the result tells you to budget the elapsed time and not a bigger fee.

A fixed fee is a fixed fee

The estimator never multiplies a day rate by a guess at the days. Where we publish the day-rate working behind a fee, as we do for the 90-day programme, the result shows it as an illustration beside the fixed price.

If your work does not fit any of these, say so on a 30-minute call. James will tell you what it would take, including when a contractor or a larger firm would suit it better.

Talk it through
book a call

Bring the estimate, or bring the question.

Thirty minutes with James Rooney. If you have run the estimator, your answers arrive with the booking and the call starts from them. If you have not, describe the work and leave with a rough scope and a realistic budget range.

Free · 30 minutes · James confirms call requests personally.

// pick a slot · cal.com/tenhaw/professional-servicesLIVE CALENDAR

No time that suits? Email hello@tenhaw.com. Calendar not loading? Open it on cal.com.

Describe the work

Describe the work in a paragraph. James replies with a rough scope and budget range within two working days.

Send James a paragraph about the work

We use these details to respond to your enquiry. Read our privacy notice.

Questions about the estimator

What does the AI project cost estimator work out?

It works out which Tenhaw engagement fits the work you describe and what that engagement costs at our published prices. You answer a few questions about what you need to do, and for a proof of concept or a 90-day programme a couple more about the workflow, the data or the team. The result names the engagement, its fixed price or band, how long it takes, who turns up, how it is paid and what to budget beside the fee.

It does not invent a price. Every figure it returns is already on our pricing page.

Is the estimator's result a quote?

No. It is a rough scope and a budget range built from published prices, which is enough for an approval paper or a budget line. The binding price and scope are the ones in your signed Statement of Work.

For most engagements the published price is the price: the AI Readiness Audit is £44,000 fixed and the 90-day outcome programme is £120,000 or £180,000 fixed. A proof of concept is agreed at one figure inside its £20,000 to £55,000 band before anyone starts.

Does the estimator produce a statement of work?

It produces the outline a statement of work is written from: the engagement, the deliverables, the team, the phases, the payment schedule and the terms for ending the work. You can copy it, print it or forward the link.

The statement of work itself is the document both sides sign, and it is where the binding price, the scope and the acceptance evidence are recorded. We write that with you after a call, from your actual workflow.

Why does the estimator ask for a work email?

So the result reaches you at the organisation it is about, and so James knows who to follow up with. You give the address before the first question. The result appears on the page as soon as you finish, and a copy is emailed to you with a link you can forward to a colleague.

We do not add you to a mailing list. Every price the estimator uses is also published on this page and on our pricing page, with no email needed to read it.

How does the estimator place a proof of concept in its price band?

By the two things our proof of concept page says move the price: how well understood the workflow is, and what state its data is in. A well understood workflow with its data in one place sits nearer £20,000. A tangled workflow with scattered data sits nearer £55,000, because it needs a second engineer, a longer build or both.

The estimator tells you where your answers put you and gives the reason. It does not show a point price, because the price is agreed in writing with you before the work starts.

Why does the estimate not change for a regulated sector?

Because our published prices carry no regulated-sector premium. An AI Readiness Audit is £44,000 fixed in a bank exactly as in a retailer, and a proof of concept is priced from the same band.

What regulation changes is the calendar around the work. In financial services, procurement and supplier onboarding realistically add 8 to 12 weeks before anything starts. The estimator's result says what your sector changes, so you can budget the elapsed time.

What does the estimate leave out?

Four things, and the result lists them. VAT, which every published figure excludes. Pre-agreed expenses, charged at cost. Your own people's time working alongside ours. And model and platform use on your own accounts, which covers model inference, the platform, storage and search, evaluation and monitoring, and human review time.

Tenhaw does not resell or mark up models, platforms or licences, so none of that last line is revenue for us.

Can I book a call from the estimator's result?

Yes. A calendar sits under the result. When you book from it, your answers and the result travel with the booking, so James opens the call already knowing what you asked and you do not have to explain it again. The call is 30 minutes and free.

If you would sooner write, the form beside the calendar starts with your result filled in, and James replies with a rough scope and budget range within two working days.