How to Read a Fixed-Fee Proposal for an AI or Automation Project

How to Read a Fixed-Fee Proposal for an AI or Automation Project

Fixed-fee pricing gives you cost certainty, as long as the scope is clear. Use this checklist to read any proposal, including ours.

Last reviewed: November 2026.

Scope and deliverables

1. Is each deliverable named? Pages, workflows, integrations, chatbot topics and reports listed specifically.
2. What is excluded? Good proposals list what is not included, such as content writing, third-party subscriptions or extra integrations.
3. What counts as done? Acceptance criteria you can check.

Costs

1. What is the total, and when is it paid? Deposit and milestones.
2. What are the running costs? Hosting, subscriptions, AI usage and support after launch.
3. What does a change cost? How change requests are priced and approved.

Timeline

1. What is the schedule, and what does it depend on? Usually your content, access and decisions.

Ownership and handover

1. Who owns the code, accounts and content?
2. What documentation and training are included?

Quality and risk

1. How will it be tested? With your real cases?
2. Where does a person stay in charge? See human-in-the-loop AI.
3. How is data handled? Providers, storage and training use.

After launch

1. What support is included, and for how long?
2. Is there a long-term contract?

Compare like with like

Line up proposals on the same items. A lower price with a vague scope often costs more in the end. Our pricing models comparison explains fixed-fee, hourly and retainer pricing, and how to choose an AI automation agency lists more questions.

How we price

Our published fixed fees start at $1,997 for a focused website and go to $12,000 and up for custom AI agents and workflow automation, in Canadian dollars with taxes extra. See pricing.