How much does business automation cost in the UK in 2026?
Real price ranges for audits, integrations, AI pilots and custom software, and what drives the cost up or down.
In the UK in 2026, a process audit costs £4,000–£12,000, connecting two systems such as Procore and Sage £8,000–£30,000, an AI pilot £8,000–£25,000 and custom software from £40,000. The price depends mostly on your data, the number of systems involved and how many people must sign off.
Those ranges are wide on purpose. Two firms asking for “the same” integration can end up with quotes three times apart, and usually both quotes are honest. This guide shows where the money goes, what pushes a project up or down the range, and how to check whether the spend pays back before you sign anything.
Business automation prices by type of project
Most automation work falls into six types, and each has its own typical scope, price and payback. Start by placing your project in one row; it tells you more than any day rate.
| Project type | Typical scope | Price (£, ex VAT) | Duration | Typical payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operations audit | Map one or two core processes, find where time and money leak, cost the options | £4,000–£12,000 | 2–4 weeks | Pays back through the decisions it prevents |
| System integration | Connect two systems so data is entered once, e.g. Procore and Sage, or a practice management system and the accounts | £8,000–£30,000 | 4–10 weeks | 6–12 months |
| AI pilot | One use case, such as contract review or reply sorting, tested on your own documents with a measured result | £8,000–£25,000 | 4–8 weeks | Decides whether to scale, not a saving in itself |
| Process automation | Approvals, reminders, reports and hand-offs automated around the tools you already use | £10,000–£40,000 | 6–12 weeks | 6–12 months |
| Custom application | A system built for a process that no product fits, with its own users and data | From £40,000, usually £60,000–£120,000 | 3–6 months | 12–24 months |
| Support and change | Monitoring, fixes and small changes after go-live | £1,000–£4,000 per month | Ongoing | Protects the original saving |
Prices exclude software licences you already pay for or will need to buy. Ask any supplier to show those separately, because they recur every year while the project fee does not.
What makes automation cheaper or more expensive
Four things decide where a project lands in its range: data quality, the number of systems, approvals and security requirements. Technology choice matters less than most buyers expect.
Data quality. If cost codes, matter types or customer records are entered three different ways, someone has to agree one way before anything is automated. On a construction reporting project we worked on, the first job was getting commercial and finance to agree what “committed cost” meant. That work is cheap compared with automating the mess and fixing it later.
Number of systems. Each extra system adds a connection to build, test and maintain. Two systems talking to each other is one interface. Four systems that all need the same project data can be six.
Approvals. A process with one decision-maker is quick to design. A process that crosses commercial, finance, site and the board needs time for each group to agree the rules, and those meetings are part of the cost.
Security and compliance. Law firms handling client money, contractors on higher-risk buildings and anyone processing personal data need audit trails, access controls and sometimes a data protection impact assessment. Budget for them from the start. Adding them afterwards costs more.
Fixed price or time and materials
Fixed price suits work you can describe before it starts; time and materials suits work you can’t. The trick is to make the uncertain part small and short, then fix the price of the rest.
That’s how we work. A short paid discovery, such as an operations audit or a design sprint, turns an open question into a written scope with every option costed. Once you choose an option, we deliver it at a fixed price and timeline. You carry the risk only during the discovery, when the sums are small.
Be wary of two things. A fixed price quoted without seeing your data usually hides a large contingency. And open-ended time and materials with no agreed outcome tends to grow until the budget runs out.
Payback examples from real projects
Payback depends on the leak you fix, not on what you spend. These three projects are published on our site with their figures.
- Construction, Germany. One connected system for costs, variations, timesheets and month-end. Cost leakage fell by 68%, claimed variations rose by 340% and month-end close went from three weeks to three days. The firm reached its return on investment in seven months, against a twelve-month target. Read the case.
- Fit-out contractor, UK. COINS and Procore connected. Month-end reconciliation went from three days to under four hours, and the firm absorbed a 40% rise in project volume without new headcount. Read the case.
- SaaS company, UK. A payment chasing platform on Xero and QuickBooks data went live in five months, built by two developers, with AI-assisted delivery cutting development effort by about half. Read the case.
Notice what the first two have in common. The target was written down before any software was chosen, so everyone knew when the project had paid for itself.
How to estimate your own case
Put a number on the leak first, then compare it with the price ranges above. If a project can’t plausibly pay back within two years, start with something smaller.
Our free calculators take about two minutes each and need no email:
- Variation leakage calculator for UK contractors and subcontractors.
- Fee leak calculator for UK law firms.
- Runway leak calculator for startup and SaaS founders.
If the yearly leak is, say, £120,000 and you could realistically win back a third of it, a project in the £40,000 range pays back in about a year. That’s the sum worth checking before you ask anyone for a quote. All three are on our free tools page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an automation audit cost?
Usually £4,000 to £12,000 for one or two core processes, over two to four weeks. An audit maps how the work actually moves today, finds where time and money leak, and costs the options to fix it, including doing nothing. The written result should be useful even if you never automate anything with the supplier who wrote it.
How long until automation pays for itself?
It depends on the size of the leak you fix. On our published projects, a construction firm reached its return on investment in seven months against a twelve-month target. Set the payback target before you choose any software, and measure against your own starting figures.
Is it cheaper to buy SaaS or build?
For standard processes such as payroll, timesheets or a basic CRM, buying is almost always cheaper over five years. Building pays off only when the process sets you apart and no product fits it. Integrating the tools you already own is often cheaper than either, so check that first.
Do you work on fixed price?
Yes. We start with a short paid discovery that turns the question into a written scope with costed options. Once you choose one, we deliver it at a fixed price and timeline, so the risk of overruns sits with us, not with you.
Why do quotes for the same project differ so much?
Suppliers price the risk they can't see. One may assume your data is clean and quote low, then raise change requests. Another may add a large contingency. Ask each supplier what they assumed about your data, your systems and your approvals, and compare those assumptions, not just the totals.
Business problem first. Technology second.
Want a price for your own process? Book a 30-minute call