Hire vs AI agency calculator
Hire someone for this work, or hand the system to an AI agency? Twelve months compared on your own numbers.
Enter the work at stake and your assumptions for a hire. The agency side uses the published prices. The calculator lays both over the same twelve months, counts the hours that stay on your desk while each one gets going, and says which costs less. Sometimes it is the hire.
Every line of the sum, with your numbers
- The work: 15 h a week × 4.33 weeks × $250 = $16,200 a month. Until someone takes it, that time stays on your desk, and the tool counts it on both sides. The 15 hours and the $250 rate are the Leverage Scorecard defaults.
- Hire, recruiting: $0 in fees and 20 hours of your time, $5,000 in all. Then the loaded cost for the 9 months after the start: $60,000 ÷ 12 × 9 = $45,000. Managing, 2 h a week × 4.33 weeks × 9 months × $250 = $19,500.
- Hire, the work left: 3 full months before the start, then 3 months in which their share grows evenly, 4.5 months in all × $16,200 = $72,900.
- AI agency, Standard terms, Leverage Program: build $15,000 and 12 monthly fees of $5,000 = $75,000. Flash waives the build for a 12-month commitment, two personal introductions and a signed case study at month 6. The alignment share is left out, since it is paid only out of growth, and the Leverage Assessment, at $999, is credited in full if you continue.
- AI agency, your time and the work left: your named lead approves 2 h a week × 4.33 weeks × 12 months × $250 = $26,000. The work stays with you for the first 2 months, then the agents take 60% of it, the cautious share, or all of it: $97,200 or $32,400.
- Under the Leverage Program, a 90-day guarantee applies: if the indicator agreed at the Leverage Assessment has not improved by at least 10% and your side of the conditions is met, you leave without paying the build.
Once up to speed, the hire takes all of the work; the agents are held at 60%, with all of it shown as the best case. The salary counts in full: if the person also takes other work, the hire is worth more than this shows. The agency fee is set for the firm, not for this work alone. Computed from the terms on the pricing page, the Scorecard rate and the numbers you entered. Prices exclude tax.
Before you decide
The hidden line in a hire: the months before it works
A salary starts on the first day. The work leaves your desk later: after the search, the notice period and the months it takes someone to learn your clients and your way of working. You pay for those months in your own hours, at your own rate, and they often weigh more than the recruiting fee.
When hiring is the right call
When the work fills most of a week, keeps growing and needs judgement on the spot, a person who stays is worth more than a system. With enough hours at stake and a quick hire, the calculator puts hiring ahead, and that is the answer to follow.
Where an AI agency gets ahead
When the work is spread across several people, comes back every week and follows rules you can write down, an agency gets it running in about 2 months and keeps it running. The fee is set for the firm, not for one task, and your named lead approves every draft before anything is sent.
Questions owners ask
Should I hire someone or use an AI agency?
Hire when the work fills a role on its own and you can manage that person. Use an AI agency when the work repeats, is spread across the team and should be running within 2 months. This calculator puts both on your numbers, over twelve months.
Is an AI agency cheaper than hiring?
Not always. For a small firm, the published fees often sit below a loaded salary. For a larger firm or a light workload, a hire can cost less. The result turns on the hours at stake, the hiring delay and the share of the work the agents take.
Why does the calculator count my own hours?
Because the work does not wait. Until a hire is up to speed or the first workflow runs, it stays on your desk, and an hour of yours has a value. The calculator uses the Scorecard rate, $250 an hour, which you can change.
What does the risk line compare?
For a hire, what happens if the person leaves: the search and the ramp start again. For the agency, the dependence on a supplier: the fee runs as long as the system runs, and at the end of the contract you get a full export of your data and of everything built for you.
How do I check these numbers on my own firm?
Prepare the free brief: your figures go into it, and Loïc reads it before the 30-minute call. The Leverage Assessment, at $999 excluding tax and credited in full if you continue, then measures the work on your own files.