AI strategy and implementation services for architecture and engineering firms
We help firms decide where AI fits and what to do first, and we build and put into production the tools and automations that follow. Prices are listed below, from a free 30-minute session to a fixed-price discovery sprint, a monthly retainer, and per-project builds. Operations of one to ten people can ask us about hourly work and custom pricing.
Services and pricing
Each engagement is scoped to your firm.
Free AI strategy session
A 30-minute conversation about your firm: what you run today, where AI might apply, and what to do first. No obligation.
- A read on where AI applies in your workflows and where it does not
- Questions answered on data privacy, client confidentiality, pricing, and training effort
- A recommended first step, whether or not it involves us
AI strategy discovery and definition
A one-month assessment of where the firm stands on AI and a roadmap for what to do about it. Provider and platform agnostic. You are not required to use AEC Hub or any vendor for what follows.
- Stakeholder interviews and a review of workflows, tools, data, and governance
- A current-state AI assessment and an opportunity register linked to evidence
- Opportunities ranked by business value, feasibility, and risk, with candidate metrics
- Technology recommendations: buy, configure, integrate, build, or defer
- A sequenced roadmap with quick wins, foundational work, pilots, and decision gates
- A final strategy report and executive readout
AI strategy retainer
A standing advisor for AI decisions: the firm's roadmap, build or buy calls, vendor second opinions, and a monthly leadership session. Scaled to the involvement your firm needs.
- Monthly working session with leadership: what to build, buy, or stop
- Answers to tool, vendor, and implementation questions within a business day
- Quarterly review of your stack against the 500+ tools we track
- Vendor evaluations and contract second opinions before you sign
- AI evaluation and testing: side-by-side tests of tools on your own documents and policies
- Help getting one workflow into production each quarter
- Billed monthly, three-month minimum, then month to month
Smaller operations
The prices above are set for firms with staff to train and systems to connect. For operations of one to ten people we also work on an hourly rate. Tell us what you need and we will quote it against what you actually have.
- We scope the work to the size of the operation, which usually means one workflow rather than a firm-wide program.
- We quote either a fixed price for that scope or an hourly rate, depending on how well the work can be defined up front.
- You get the same people and the same method that larger engagements get.
- We tell you when a free tool or an afternoon of setup would do the job, and we do not take the work.
Implementation and enterprise applications
We configure, build, and put into production the tools and automations that follow from the strategy. Scoped and priced per project after the strategy session.
- AI harness setup: Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot configured on the firm's own context
- Foundations for AI: a data lake of cleaned, governed firm data, with dashboards
- Automation, such as an assistant that drafts client replies from firm data
- Enterprise applications, such as pursuit and proposal generation or detail search
- A proof of concept, $1,000: a working prototype in days to validate an idea or test an integration
- Training for the people who will use what we build
Case studies
Examples from recent projects in custom AI tooling, data research, and implementation strategy.
We run a small woodshop and design studio in San Francisco. We had been using ChatGPT, and while it helped, it was not saving us real time. Within a few days Nate built a custom agent trained on ten years of our email history and connected it to our calendar, booking system, and Google Docs. It drafts customer replies in our voice, with links to the right pages, checked against our availability and policies. Customer service email has gone from hours a day to minutes.
I knew the technology existed. I just needed an AI wizard to make it work for our business.
Custom AI Customer Service Agent for Wood Thumb, a San Francisco Woodshop
Wood Thumb, a San Francisco woodshop and design studio, was evaluating off-the-shelf customer service chatbots running $79-$165/month, tools that weren't purpose-built for their business and required ongoing SaaS subscriptions. Our team designed and built a custom AI agent integrated with their website and Gmail, using the Anthropic API with a FastAPI backend. The agent handles customer inquiries, appointment context from their scheduling system, and common questions about services and lead times: all trained on the shop's actual voice and offerings. The result: a purpose-built solution for roughly $5-20/month in API costs, with full ownership of the tool and no vendor dependency.
Plumbing Takeoff Tool for a Mechanical Engineering Firm
A mechanical engineering firm was taking off plumbing by hand: tracing each sheet for pipe runs, reading sizes off the callouts, and tallying lengths by system into a spreadsheet, a job that ran for weeks across a project. We built a takeoff tool that reads the plan PDF, extracts every pipe segment as a vector with its length and size, reads the callouts, and totals the runs by system, such as sanitary waste, grease waste, and hot water. The extracted lines sit over the original drawing, the engineer clicks any pipe, callout, or junction to inspect it, and segments the tool cannot classify are held out for review rather than rolled into a total. The engineer's time on each sheet now goes to reviewing the extraction rather than tracing it.
Aané: AI-Powered Architectural Detail and Material Search
Partnered with Aané (aane.io), an early-stage AEC software company building an AI-powered architectural detail and material search platform. The core problem: architecture firms were losing institutional knowledge when project teams turned over, and spending hours re-researching details and materials they'd already solved. We contributed to product strategy and ICP positioning: helping the team articulate why 'reduce research time by 80%' is the right lead metric, and how to sequence onboarding to demonstrate value before asking for firm-wide adoption. The platform now serves architects, interior designers, and engineering firms as a searchable knowledge repository with AI-enabled design intelligence.
Visit aane.ioAEC Hub Data Intelligence Platform
Built and maintain 7 live data dashboards pulling from BLS, FRED, Census Bureau, FHWA, and USAspending.gov, covering construction employment, material prices, building permits, bridge conditions, federal infrastructure spending, site risk, and AEC salaries across 44 occupations and 393 metro areas. Each dashboard is validated against source data, updated automatically, and built to serve real decisions, not just display numbers. The platform now attracts AEC professionals, researchers, and firms using it as a primary reference for market intelligence.
The case studies page adds six examples across the Microsoft and Google ecosystems and two tools you can see.
See all examplesThe first call is free and takes 30 minutes.
Book a free AI strategy sessionHow we work
Four steps from the first call to handoff.
We find out where technology or data is helping your firm and where it is not, and we tell you whether we are the right fit.
A two-page scope document that names the engagement, the timeline, the deliverables, and the price.
Focused collaboration with regular check-ins. Deliverables on schedule. Scope changes flagged early.
You walk away with something actionable, a report, roadmap, dashboard, or working tool. Retainer available for ongoing support.
The first call is free and takes 30 minutes.
Book a free AI strategy sessionWho does the work
AEC Hub started as an independent list of tools. Firms kept asking which one was right for them and how to use it, so we added advisory. Every engagement is run by the two people below.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose the right AI tools for my AEC firm?
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Start with a free 30-minute AI strategy session. We talk through your workflows and your current tools, and we point you to candidates from the 500+ tools we track. You leave with a first step whether or not you work with us.
Can a small architecture firm afford AI consulting?
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The strategy session is free. The discovery and definition sprint is $5,000 fixed, the retainer starts at $1,000 a month, and a proof of concept for a custom application is $1,000. A five-person studio and a five-hundred-person firm get the same analysis.
What does the AI strategy discovery and definition sprint include?
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One month of work at a $5,000 fixed fee: stakeholder interviews, a review of workflows, tools, data, and governance, a current-state assessment, an opportunity register ranked by business value and feasibility, technology recommendations that name buy, configure, integrate, build, or defer options, a sequenced roadmap, and a final report with an executive readout. Recommendations are provider and platform agnostic. Payment is half on signing and half at the final presentation.
What does the AI strategy retainer include?
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From $1,000 a month, a standing advisor for the firm's AI decisions. That covers a monthly working session with leadership on what to build, buy, or stop, answers to tool and vendor questions within a business day, a quarterly review of your stack, second opinions on contracts before you sign, AI evaluation and testing on your own documents, and help getting one workflow into production each quarter. The involvement scales with what the firm needs. Billing is monthly with a three-month minimum.
What does an enterprise application cost?
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Applications such as a proposal generator, a detail search, or a client email assistant start at $5,000 and are scoped per project after the strategy session. A proof of concept is $1,000: a working prototype built in days to validate an idea or test an integration before you commit to a full build.
What is AI evaluation and testing?
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Firms spend time comparing AI outputs without a method. We run side-by-side tests on your own documents and policies, for example Notion AI against Copilot on how accurately each answers questions about firm policy, score the results, and write them up so the decision rests on evidence rather than demos.
How do the services fit together?
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Most firms start with the free strategy session. Firms that want a plan before choosing tools take the discovery and definition sprint. The retainer keeps an advisor on hand afterward, or stands alone for firms without a technology lead. Implementation and applications are scoped separately once the workflow to change is defined.
Book a free AI strategy session
Whether you are evaluating your first AI tool, rolling out AI workflows across your team, or trying to get more from the data you already have, the first call is free.