This is what a typical first year looks like when a UK business automates properly: five phases, each with a fixed scope, a UK-market cost, and a decision point where you can stop. No six-figure first invoice, no lock-in, and nothing automated that a human should still approve.
Each phase stands alone. Foundations are skipped when your systems are already sound, and the bigger builds only happen after the smaller ones have paid back.
Phase 0 · Weeks 1–2
£499(credited against any build)
A fixed-price audit of one part of your business. We map how the work actually flows today, count the hours it costs, and hand you a written plan with confirmed build costs for the first project.
Decision point: You decide whether to build. The £499 is credited against any build that follows.
Phase 1 · Weeks 3–6
£4,000–£12,000
Only needed if the audit finds your data lives in inboxes and spreadsheets. We connect the systems the process touches — email, accounts, CRM, job management — so information flows into one place before any AI touches it.
Decision point: Skipped entirely if your foundations are already sound — the audit tells us.
Phase 2 · Weeks 5–12
£6,000–£15,000
One well-scoped automation, built end to end: reading enquiries, preparing quotes, chasing paperwork, or weekly reporting. A human approval step is built in at every decision that carries consequence.
Decision point: Go / no-go on expanding, based on the pilot numbers.
Phase 3 · Months 3–6
£15,000–£35,000
For the biggest bottleneck: an agent that handles a whole workflow — qualifying enquiries, updating records, drafting quotes, chasing customers — escalating to your team whenever it isn't confident.
Decision point: Only started once Phase 2 has proven the maths.
Phase 4 · Ongoing
£300–£1,500/month
Monitoring, tuning and support for what's live, plus the next process from the audit plan. Each build should pay for itself faster than the last because the foundations are already there.
Decision point: Cancel any time. Everything built is yours.
Most failed AI projects fail in predictable ways. These are the five we see most, the warning sign for each, and where in the roadmap it's handled.
Warning sign: AI gives confident but wrong answers because the inputs live in someone's inbox.
How it's handled: Phase 1 exists precisely for this — no AI touches a process until its data lands in one system.
Warning sign: "Automate our operations" instead of "automate enquiry follow-up". Projects die of breadth, not depth.
How it's handled: Every phase builds one process. The audit picks the one with the clearest payback.
Warning sign: A wrong quote or a compliance miss goes straight to a customer.
How it's handled: Anything carrying spend, safety or compliance consequence keeps a named human approver. Non-negotiable.
Warning sign: The system works but everyone keeps doing it the old way.
How it's handled: The 30-day pilot runs with your team before any expansion, and the audit interviews the people who do the work today.
Warning sign: The automation project turns into a software-migration project and stalls.
How it's handled: We connect what you already use rather than replacing it. Migration is only ever a separate, deliberate decision.
Payback comes from four places. The first is the easiest to count; the other three are usually worth more. A well-chosen first process typically pays back in 6–12 months.
Hours recovered
10 hrs/week at £25/hr loaded cost
≈ £13,000/yr
Faster response
Quotes out in hours, not days — higher win rate
Varies by pipeline
Errors removed
No re-keying between systems, fewer credit notes
Often 5–15% of admin cost
Capacity freed
Same team handles more volume without hiring
One hire deferred ≈ £30k+
Run your own numbers in the AI Automation ROI Calculator — it uses the same maths with figures from real Forth platforms.
From first audit to a live first automation, typically 8–12 weeks. The audit itself is two weeks, foundations (when needed) run weeks 3–6, and the first automation is built and piloted by weeks 5–12. Larger bespoke agents follow in months 3–6, once the first project has proven its numbers.
£499 for the audit (credited against any build), £4,000–£12,000 for foundations if needed, £6,000–£15,000 for the first automation, and £15,000–£35,000 for a bespoke agent tackling a major bottleneck. Most businesses spend under £25,000 in year one and recover it in hours saved within 6–12 months.
For a well-chosen first process — high volume, low judgement — payback is typically 6–12 months. Ten hours a week recovered at a £25 loaded hourly rate is roughly £13,000 a year, which covers a £6,000–£15,000 first build within the year, before counting faster quotes or avoided hires.
Automating before the data is ready — AI working from inputs that live in inboxes and spreadsheets produces confident nonsense. The second biggest is scoping too wide. Both are designed out here: foundations come first, and every phase builds exactly one process.
No. Every phase ends with a decision point. The audit stands alone, the £499 is credited if you build, and you can stop after any phase with everything built so far being yours. Nothing is a lock-in.
The AI Readiness Score tells you which phase you'd actually start at. A high score means straight to the audit and a first automation; a lower score means the first project is foundations. It's a two-minute way to locate yourself on this roadmap.
The two-minute AI Readiness Score tells you which phase your business is actually ready for — then the Process Automation Workshop turns your weakest process into a costed plan.
LIVE PROJECT
Kerbco went from an eleven-step manual permit chain to one enquiry form. Walk the same five phases with the real work inside each one.
Related: 2-Minute AI Opportunity Scan · ROI Calculator · What does AI automation cost in the UK?
