How to hire an AI consultant
Hire an AI consultant the way you’d hire a contractor for your building: agree on one job with a fixed price and a finish date, get it in writing, and make sure you hold the keys when it’s done.
The questions below apply to me too, so my own answer sits beside each one.
By Alex Smith, founder of spktr · Updated September 25, 2026
Do you need an AI consultant?
You need one when you can name work that repeats every week and eats hours, and nobody on staff has the time or the skills to automate it. If you can’t name that work yet, the AI readiness checklist is a free place to start.
If the problem is computers, email or security, your IT company is the right call, and an AI agency can suit a large build that needs a team. The comparison of AI consultants, agencies and IT companies lays out who does what.
Questions to ask before you hire
Ask who does the work, what will be different when it’s done, what it costs, who owns it, where your data goes and who fixes it when it breaks.
Who will do the work?
A good answer
A named person, the same one you met on the first call. If a subcontractor builds it, you should know who.
My answer
I will. spktr is one person: the person on your intro call writes the proposal, builds the tool and answers when it needs a fix.
What will be different when you’re done, and by when?
A good answer
One workflow, a result you can check and a date.
My answer
The written proposal names one workflow, the result and the finish date before any work begins.
What will it cost, and can that number change?
A good answer
A fixed price for a defined piece of work, or an hourly rate with a cap.
My answer
A first project is a fixed price from $10,000, set in the proposal before work starts. Ongoing work is a flat fee from $5,000 a month.
Whose accounts will it run in?
A good answer
Yours. You should hold the admin logins for every account the tool uses.
My answer
Yours. The code, the documentation and admin access are handed over as each piece ships, and everything lives in your own accounts.
Where does our data go?
A good answer
A plain answer that names the tools, says whether the AI provider trains on your data, and sets rules for sensitive information up front.
My answer
It stays in tools and accounts you control. I pick models and settings that don’t train on your data, and before I touch anything sensitive, you and I agree on the rules for handling it.
Who fixes it when it breaks?
A good answer
A named person, and documentation good enough that someone else could fix it without them.
My answer
I do: the person who built it answers when it needs a fix. Everything is documented and lives in your accounts, so another developer or your IT provider can pick it up if I’m unavailable.
Will my team be trained on it?
A good answer
Yes, with time for it in the plan.
My answer
Yes. Every build ends with your team trained on it.
Can I talk to someone you’ve built for?
A good answer
Yes, or a clear reason why not.
My answer
Ask me. Whether to talk about the work is each client’s call, so I ask them first.
What a good first engagement looks like
A good first engagement is one workflow, at a fixed price, with a named result and a finish date. It runs in four steps.
- 1
A first conversation
The consultant learns how your business runs, ideally by watching the work. Mine is a free 45-minute call, or an hour at your place of business.
- 2
A written proposal
What the project covers, the price and the finish date, in writing before you commit.
- 3
A small working version
Something that does real work on your own data, usually within a few weeks, so you can judge it early.
- 4
Handover and training
The finished tool, its documentation and admin access, and a team that knows how to use it.
Here is one I built. A Chester County manufacturer takes custom orders that begin with a customer’s logo, and getting that logo into a file the production machines could use took someone two to three hours by hand. The tool does it in about five seconds and sends the customer a 3D mockup to approve from a link.
How to tell whether the work was done right
The work was done right if it does the named job on your own data, your team uses it without the consultant in the room, and someone else could maintain it from the documentation. Check these:
- You’ve watched it do the job named in the proposal, on real work from your business.
- You hold the admin logins for every account it runs in.
- The documentation says what the tool does, where it runs and how to change it, in words your IT provider could follow.
- Your team uses it in an ordinary week without calling anyone.
- You know what it costs to run each month.
For a second opinion, pay another developer to review the code and the documentation. With your own admin access, you can give them everything they need.
Who fixes it when it breaks
The person who built it should fix it, and the documentation should let someone else fix it if they can’t. Software breaks for ordinary reasons: a vendor changes its API, a form gains a field, an AI model is retired and replaced. Ask for the plan in writing before you sign.
With me, you call the person who built it. For 14 days after a first project is handed over, I correct anything that doesn’t do what the proposal named, at no charge. During ongoing work I’m at your office for three hours every week. Hiring one person carries its own risk, since you need someone else to be able to take over if I’m unavailable. The documentation and your own admin access are how I cover that.
Red flags when hiring an AI consultant
The biggest red flag is a project with no finish line: no named result, no date, and hours that run until the budget does. Watch for these too:
- Hourly billing with no cap and no end date.
- A plan with nobody named to build it.
- The tool runs in the consultant’s accounts, so you’d need them to get in.
- A vague answer about where your data goes.
- Promises of hours saved or revenue gained before they’ve seen how your work runs.
- A first project that tries to automate the whole business at once.
- “I’ll handle it” as the whole plan for when it breaks.
- An explanation of the tool you can’t repeat in your own words.
If my answers hold up against this list, book the free call and ask me the rest in person.