FAQ
If you're trying to figure out whether this is worth your time, these are the things owners actually ask on the first call. Pricing is published, the process is three steps, and we'd rather tell you not to build something than sell you a system you don't need. If your question isn't here, email us at hello@alpenglowai.com and we'll answer it straight.
Section 1 — Getting started
We're a workflow automation consultancy. We find the two or three places your business is quietly losing time and money — the call that went to voicemail, the quote sitting in someone's truck, the invoice nobody sent — and then we build the systems that stop those leaks. We work inside the tools you already run. We don't sell software, we don't put you on a platform you can't leave, and we don't hand you a forty-page report and a bill.
Mostly local service businesses on the Colorado Front Range: HVAC, plumbing, roofing, landscaping, electricians, painters. We also work with small marketing agencies and e-commerce operators who have the same underlying problem — work that depends on someone remembering to do it. Typical size is two to fifty people. If you're bigger than that, you probably need a different kind of firm.
Businesses without a defined process yet. If the way a job gets handled changes every week depending on who picks up the phone, automating it will just make the mess run faster — fix the process first, then call us. We're also a poor fit for pre-revenue startups still figuring out the business model, for companies over a hundred people, and for anyone who mainly wants strategy slides rather than something built and working.
Yes. We're based in Colorado Springs and a lot of our work is on the Front Range, but the audit and the builds both happen remotely. Being local matters for some owners and not at all for others. If you'd rather do the kickoff in person and you're within driving distance, we'll come to you.
Section 2 — Pricing and process
Three published numbers, no sales call required to hear them. The Clarity Audit is $750, one time. A Quick Build — one focused workflow, scoped from your audit — runs $2,500 to $5,000. Ongoing support, if you want it, is $1,000 to $2,500 a month and you can cancel anytime. Most owners start with the audit and stop there for a while. That's fine.
Because a free call produces free advice, and free advice is worth about what it costs. The audit is two weeks of real work: we map how your business actually runs, put a dollar figure on each leak, and rank the fixes by payback. That takes time, and charging for it means we can tell you the truth — including "don't build this" — without needing to sell you something on the back end. You keep the plan either way, whether you hire us for the build or take it to someone else.
A one-page plan you can act on. It names the two or three places you're losing the most time and money, what each one is costing you in dollars, what it would take to fix, and which one to do first. It also tells you where automation isn't worth it. It's written to be handed to anyone — us, another shop, or the person on your team who's handy with this stuff.
The audit is two weeks. A Quick Build is another two to three weeks after the scope is agreed. So from first conversation to a working system is usually about five to six weeks, assuming we can get time with the person who actually knows how the work happens today. That last part is the usual bottleneck, not the building.
No. There's no commitment attached to the audit and no pressure at the end of it. Some owners run the audit, take the plan, and fix the first thing themselves. Some wait a quarter. Some hand it to their own IT person. The plan is yours. We'd rather you do the right thing at the right time than sign a build you weren't ready for.
Section 3 — The work itself
Almost never. We build inside what you already run — your phone, your CRM, QuickBooks, Jobber, Housecall Pro, whatever's already working. The point is that nobody on your team has to learn a new system for this to pay off. If we do think a new tool is worth adding, we'll tell you what it costs and why, and you can say no.
You do. All of it. The accounts, the workflows, the documentation, the logic. There's no platform you're renting from us and no version where cancelling means the system stops working. If you fire us six months from now, everything we built keeps running and you can hand it to anyone.
That's the goal. We build things your team can actually operate, and we walk them through how it works before it goes live — not with a video to watch later, but with the people who'll be using it. You'll be able to make small changes yourself. For anything bigger, you can call us or call someone else.
Then we'll say so. Some processes change too often to automate. Some don't happen enough to be worth the build. Sometimes the honest fix is a forty dollar tool and an hour of your Tuesday, and sometimes it's hiring a person instead of building a system. Telling you that costs us a project and keeps the relationship, which is the trade we'd rather make.
Section 4 — Before you commit
Most owners don't, exactly. They know the week feels heavy and things slip, but not where. That's what the audit is for — you don't need a diagnosis before you call, you just need to be able to describe how a job moves through your business from the first phone call to getting paid. We'll find the leaks from there.
Yes. The leak calculator takes five questions and gives you a real number for what the gaps are costing you each month. No email required, nothing gets sent to us. If the number is small, that's a legitimate answer and you should go spend your money somewhere with better payback. If it's not small, that's the conversation.
Email hello@alpenglowai.com. A person answers, usually within one business day.