The two questions every owner asks
Sebas asked me the two questions every business owner asks: "Cuanto sale, como cobras." Claudio, a partner at a wealth management firm running 45+ real estate funds, asked it more directly: "Vos como trabajas. Cobras tanto e implementas lo que sea."
Both wanted a real number before the conversation could move. Here it is.
The real number
A fractional Head of AI in 2026 sits between $4K and $10K per month on a monthly retainer, no lock-in, no annual contract.
For comparison, the mentor advising one of my $14B wealth advisory clients benchmarked a full-time AI director at $200K to $300K per year, plus benefits, plus the year it takes to hire one. The retainer is roughly a quarter of that and starts the same week. See the Fractional Head of AI engagement for what the role actually does.
Phased pilot tiers
Most engagements begin with a phased pilot.
Solo operator or small practice
Door-opener pilot: $1K to $2.5K one-time. Follow-on retainer: $99 to $500 per month so the operator can keep building. Joy of Impact, a nonprofit consulting practice, started at this tier and then upgraded once the first deliverable was running.
Mid-size company
Pilot: $2.5K to $5K. Retainer settles around $4K per month. This is the tier most $5M to $100M firms land on after the first phase.
$1B+ firm with an embedded AI lead
Phase one: $12K to $24K. Retainer: $6K to $10K per month. This is the level for firms where I am embedded as the AI lead.
Why phased delivery
I price by phase for one reason. Every business that has been burned by a six-month build wants proof first.
Concreto's four-week pilot produced a working contract assistant before we discussed phase two. Today they are on month nine. Joy of Impact started at the door-opener tier and then upgraded once the first deliverable was running. The pattern is the same: phase one earns phase two.
What the retainer includes
What is included in the retainer is the part that matters more than the number. I build custom Skills inside Claude for your team's actual workflows, I keep the CLAUDE.md operating file current as your business changes, I run monthly training so adoption holds, and I report time saved at every execution.
You own all of it. If you stop the retainer, the Skills, the files, and the workflows stay with you. See everything is yours for how the handoff works.
I do not pitch on cold outreach. If you want a real number for your situation, send me what your team does in a normal week and I will tell you which phase fits.