AI Operations Retainer

You are not hiring a person.
You are installing an AI operations layer.

It runs the recurring work of a role - reporting, sales follow-up, AP, onboarding, scheduling - with an embedded engineering team that keeps building it. You own the Cockpit and the agents from day one. It runs around the clock.

Scope it in 60 seconds See the calculator
43 days
Median to first workflow live
$7,500/mo
Starting price
100%
Blueprint credit to retainer
24/7
Availability (no PTO, no sick days)
AI Scoping Assistant

Tell us about the business.

Describe the operation in plain language - size, what you want off your plate. The assistant sets the calculator and recommends a tier.

Shoofly Scoping Assistant
Sets the calculator automatically
Shoofly Assistant
Tell me about the business - revenue range, how many locations or entities, and what recurring work you want gone. I will scope the right tier and set the calculator.
Running in offline mode - using local keyword parser. Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY to enable full AI chat.
Tier Calculator

What does your operation look like?

Select the roles whose recurring work you want covered. The recommendation updates live.

Business Profile

2 to 3 entities is Pro at minimum. 4 or more triggers Enterprise scope.

Roles to Cover

Select every role whose recurring work you want Shoofly to run. Scope = the roles selected. New role = tier moves up. New task inside a covered role = we absorb it.

ROI Inputs (editable)

These drive the year-1 value estimate. Adjust to match your reality. All figures are illustrative; final numbers come from the Operating Blueprint.
Estimate total staff hours spent on this work today.
40 hrs/wk
Salary + benefits + overhead. $60 is typical for SMB ops staff.
$60/hr
Annual dollars you can name: leads not followed up, missed collections, delinquent invoices. Only enter what you can actually point to.
Conservative: 50% of hours actually recaptured in Year 1 due to adoption lag. Adjust.
50%
How much of the named leakage gets recovered in Year 1.
50%
10% discount on the Year-1 retainer when paid upfront. Blueprint billed separately.
No - billed monthly
Select at least one role to see a tier recommendation.
Three Tiers

How much of the operation do you want us to run?

The single question that scopes the engagement. Price follows scope - not hours, not workflow counts.

Starter
$7,500 / mo
Embedded Engineer
One role's recurring work, fully covered. Live in 30 to 60 days.
Replaces
Ops coordinator: $72K to $117K loaded. 60 to 89 days to fill. 3 to 6 months to ramp. Same money as the coordinator, live in weeks not quarters, and you own the platform.
+ One role's work owned end to end
+ 1 to 2 named KPIs vs agreed baseline
+ Cockpit + agent platform, client-owned day 1
+ Monthly exec readout
+ Shared AI engineer + account manager
+ Next-business-day SLA
+ 12-month term, months 1 to 3 lock-in
Start with Blueprint
Most Common
Pro
$10,000 / mo
Embedded Pod
2 to 4 roles across one department, plus the data layer and the manager's reporting.
Replaces
Ops manager: $101K to $247K loaded plus $30K in tooling. The one person who could build what we build costs more than Pro on their own - and takes 89 days to find.
+ 2 to 4 roles across one department
+ Manager's reporting + data layer
+ 4 to 6 KPIs vs agreed baselines
+ Biweekly working session + QBR
+ Dedicated AI engineer + Growth expert
+ Same-business-day SLA + incident response
+ 12-month term, months 1 to 3 lock-in
Start with Blueprint
Enterprise
$18,000+ / mo
Embedded Department
Multiple departments or entities. Exec scorecard. Weekly session. Dedicated engineers and architect.
Replaces
Automation engineer ($113K to $169K loaded) plus AI engineer ($182K to $241K loaded). The one person who could build what we build costs more than Pro on their own and takes 89 days to find.
+ 5+ roles, multiple departments or entities
+ Full company scorecard (5+ outcomes)
+ Weekly working session + monthly readout + QBR
+ Dedicated engineers + Growth expert + architect
+ 4-hour response SLA during business hours
+ Scoped from Operating Blueprint (floor $18,000)
Start with Blueprint
Two honesty rules - always
1. Every workflow carries a named KPI or it does not count. No workflow ships without an agreed baseline and a metric that says it worked.
2. The monthly readout shows exactly: workflows live, workflows shipped that month, knowledge base entries added. No vanity metrics. No activity theater.
Hire vs. Shoofly

The comparison that actually matters.

We anchor every tier against the builder - the person who would have to build what we build - not the coordinator. Here is what the honest comparison looks like.

Dimension Hiring a person Shoofly embedded team
Time to fill the role 60 to 89 days (coordinator)
89 to 150 days (AI engineer)		 0 days - already embedded
Time to first output 3 to 6 months to ramp (coordinator)
3 to 6 months (AI/automation engineer)		 30 to 60 days (Starter)
45 to 90 days (Pro)
3 to 6 months (Enterprise)
Loaded cost (Year 1) $72K to $117K (coordinator)
$182K to $241K (AI engineer)
+ $30K tooling (ops manager)		 $90K (Starter)
$120K (Pro)
$216K+ (Enterprise, scoped)
Availability 40 hrs/wk, 5 days/wk. PTO, sick days, holidays. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Platform ownership None - knowledge and workflows leave when they do Client owns Cockpit + agents + platform from day 1
Key-person risk High - one resignation resets the clock None - embedded team, no single point of failure
Scale One role at a time. New hire for new function. New role = tier move, not a new hire cycle
What you own at end of term The person's muscle memory. Good luck documenting it. A fully documented, running AI operations layer
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, Robert Half 2026 Salary Guide, Indeed September 2026, Glassdoor 2026, SHRM 2025. Loaded cost = base salary x 1.3x. Time-to-fill from SHRM 2025 average days open.
Real Deployments

What we have actually shipped.

Real clients, real results. Client names shown only where cleared. Others shown as industry plus initials per our NDA policy. Onboarding clients are not presented as results.

Every result below has a named KPI and a sourced number. If we do not have the number, we say so.
Delivery Shape

How a 12-month engagement progresses.

The first three months are the build window. After that, the retainer roadmap drives continuous expansion. Time-to-value is conditional on credentials delivered at kickoff.

Starter - $7,500/mo - Embedded Engineer
Month 1
Cockpit live
Core systems connected. First workflow in test. KPI baseline set. Credentials must be delivered by end of week 1.
Month 3
First workflow live
One role's recurring work running. Monthly readout delivered. Client signs off on pilot success criteria.
Month 6
Roadmap expanding
2 to 4 workflows live. Knowledge base growing. Second role identified for next phase or tier move.
Month 12
Full role covered
4 to 8 workflows running. Documented runbooks. Renewal or tier upgrade decision with QBR data.
Pro - $10,000/mo - Embedded Pod
Month 1
Cockpit + data layer
All department systems connected. First workflow live. Biweekly cadence starts.
Month 3
First 2 roles running
2 roles covered. Manager's reporting automated. 4 to 6 KPIs tracking vs baselines.
Month 6
Full department live
3 to 4 roles covered. First QBR delivered. Cross-role data layer driving exec view.
Month 12
Department autonomous
6 to 12 workflows running. Knowledge base mature. Adjacent department scoped for Enterprise or expansion.
Enterprise - $18,000+/mo - Embedded Department
Month 1 to 3
Foundation across departments
Systems mapped per entity. First department live. Executive scorecard framework set.
Month 4 to 6
Second department live
Cross-department data layer running. Weekly cadence mature. First QBR with full scorecard.
Month 7 to 9
Full operation covered
3 to 5 departments running. Exec scorecard automated. Roadmap driving continuous expansion.
Month 10 to 12
AI-native operation
10 to 20+ workflows live. Knowledge base covers all entities. Year-2 roadmap built from QBR data.
FAQ

Questions we always get.

You do not buy hours. You buy a role's recurring work covered and a team that keeps growing it. We do not track, report, or bill by the hour. What you own at the end of the engagement is a fully running, documented AI operations layer - not a timesheet. The ROI comparison in the calculator uses hours as a proxy for labor cost, but that is an input for your math, not our billing unit.
A role is a named job function with recurring work: reporting analyst, AP clerk, onboarding coordinator. The Operating Blueprint identifies the recurring tasks under each role and turns that list into the scope. If a new task shows up inside a covered role, we absorb it. If a new role shows up (someone in your org whose full job function we are now covering), the tier moves up. This is the clearest answer to "what do we get" - the Blueprint lists it.
Pricing is scoped from the Operating Blueprint, which is credited in full against the retainer. The Blueprint is not a cost - it is an investment that zero-outs on retainer start. The only published discount is 10% for Year-1 prepay. Multi-year pricing is scoped case by case.
Starter: first workflow live in 30 to 60 days. Pro: first role covered in 45 to 90 days; full department in 60 to 120 days. Enterprise: first department live in 3 to 6 months. All of these are conditional on client credentials delivered within 5 business days of kickoff. If access is blocked, delivery pauses and we notify in writing. Based on actual deployments: median first-workflow date across three confirmed clients was 43 days.
New task inside a covered role? We absorb it - that is what the retainer is for. New role (a function we are now running end to end)? That is a tier move. Starter to Pro: $2,500/mo more. Pro to Enterprise: $8,000/mo more (scoped). This is cleaner than an hourly model because you always know what is in scope.
The first three months are a lock-in (the build window). After month 3, the engagement is on 30-day notice. You keep everything - Cockpit, agents, platform, runbooks - it is all yours. The knowledge does not walk out the door.
First Step

Start with the Operating Blueprint.

$6,000
through December 31, 2026
The Operating Blueprint is the on-ramp. It runs before the retainer, scopes the engagement across every system and role, and produces a prioritized build roadmap. It is credited 100% to the retainer price when you sign. It is not a cost. It is a deposit that zeroes out.
Steps to $10,000 on January 1, 2027.
Book the Operating Blueprint