Hiring “an automation person” can save you dozens of hours a month — or it can quietly become a money pit. The difference is whether you buy a tool, a tangle, or a system.
What you’re actually buying
You’re not paying for Zapier/Make/Zoho configuration. You’re paying for:
- Process design (what should happen, when, and why)
- Data quality (clean inputs and reliable handoffs)
- Failure handling (retries, alerts, audit trails)
- Documentation (so you aren’t dependent on one person)
The three tiers of “automation help”
1) Enterprise consultancies
Strong governance, big teams, big price tags. Great if you need compliance-heavy programs — unnecessary for most small businesses.
2) Regional IT/managed service shops
Often capable, but they may optimize for ongoing retainers, not for simple, durable workflows. Ask how they avoid “custom code forever.”
3) Specialists
Best fit when you need fast ROI, lean builds, and practical tooling. The risk: some “specialists” ship brittle zaps and disappear.
Non‑negotiables to demand before you pay
- Scope in writing: what’s included, what’s not, and what “done” means.
- Ownership: your accounts, your credentials, your documentation.
- Monitoring: what happens when an automation fails at 2am?
- Security basics: least privilege, no shared passwords, and clear access removal.
- Change control: how updates get tested before going live.
Questions that expose fluff fast
- “Show me a workflow map of what you’ll build (before you build it).”
- “How do you handle duplicates, missing fields, and bad form submissions?”
- “What’s the rollback plan if an update breaks production?”
- “Where will logs live, and who gets alerts?”
- “What’s the handoff package I’ll receive?”
Pricing reality
If someone quotes a flat fee without understanding your data sources, your handoffs, and your edge cases, they’re guessing. Good automation work is priced on:
- Number of systems
- Complexity of logic/branching
- Data hygiene and normalization needs
- Compliance/security constraints
Red flags
- They won’t document anything.
- They want admin access everywhere “for convenience.”
- They can’t explain failure handling beyond “it should work.”
- Everything is “custom code” even when a platform can do it.
If you want to avoid overpaying, the goal is simple: build the minimum system that stays stable, then iterate.
Want this built for you?
Book a free 30-minute automation audit and we’ll map the highest-ROI workflow to automate first.