How much does an AI consultant actually cost?

Because 'AI consultant' covers everything from a senior engineer charging $300/hr to McKinsey charging $2M for a 6-month engagement. The skills, deliverables, and outcomes are wildly different. For most $1M-$20M revenue businesses, the right tier is independent practitioner ($1,500-$5,000 for an assessment, $5K-$15K/mo for fractional). Big-firm consulting is overkill at that scale and rarely produces shipped systems.

An AI Readiness Assessment from an independent practitioner: $1,500-$3,000 for a 2-hour session + written roadmap. BKND's is $1,500. We've seen as low as $500 for a 1-hour conversation, but at that price the deliverable is verbal advice, not an actionable written plan. The $1,500 tier is where you get real value — written deliverable, prioritized opportunities, model recommendations.

Three scenarios. (1) You're a Fortune 500 with a board that requires branded validation for major AI investments. (2) You're a regulated enterprise (banking, insurance, healthcare) with compliance teams who need 'big four' certification. (3) You have a legitimate $1M+ AI strategy budget and need parallel workstreams across 5+ business units. For most SMBs, big-firm consulting is dramatically over-credentialed for the actual work.

Fixed fee, almost always. Hourly billing creates incentive misalignment — your consultant benefits from longer projects. Fixed fee aligns interests: consultant ships fast and well to maintain margin. Reputable practitioners offer fixed-fee engagements at every tier (assessment, working day, project, fractional retainer). If your consultant only bills hourly, that's a soft signal of either inexperience or extraction risk.

Mostly yes, for the strategic direction. ChatGPT (or Claude) can produce a coherent AI roadmap if you describe your business well. Where consultants add value is implementation knowledge: which model for which workflow, what integration costs run, where compliance gotchas hide, which vendors to avoid. The strategic outline you can DIY — the implementation reality requires someone who's shipped it before.

Four. (1) Pricing that doesn't reflect business value — $50K for pure strategy with no implementation. (2) Vendor lock-in disguised as recommendation (only ever recommends one platform, has commission relationship). (3) No shipped AI case studies — only management-consulting backgrounds. (4) Same five recommendations regardless of client. Real consultants give bespoke advice based on your actual operation.

Hire if: you have 12+ months of full-time AI work, can find someone with the right experience ($250K+ all-in for senior AI engineers in 2026), and want ongoing in-house ownership. Consult if: you want to identify the right opportunities first, you need outside perspective, you'd rather buy outcomes than manage another full-time hire. Most $1M-$20M businesses are better off consulting first and hiring later, after the roadmap is established.

AI Readiness Assessment: $1,500 (2-hour session + written 48-hour roadmap). AI Working Day: $5,000 (full day on-site, 2-3 working AI systems built). Fractional AI Operator: $5,000-$15,000/month (embedded weekly retainer). All fixed-fee. We don't bill hourly. Detailed page at /ai-consultant.

Ask for three things. (1) Written sample of a similar engagement deliverable (redacted). (2) Three references from clients in your size range. (3) Description of one AI system the consultant has personally architected, with specific technology choices and reasoning. The consultants who can produce all three within 48 hours are usually the right ones. The consultants who give you marketing decks are not.

AI Readiness Assessment deliverable: 48 hours after the session. Working Day deliverable: same day or 24 hours. Fixed-scope project deliverable: matches contract milestones. Fractional retainer: weekly working session output. If a consultant takes 2-4 weeks to deliver a roadmap from a 2-hour session, that's a process problem — they're either over-engineered or under-resourced.