Illustrative cost

£5,000 to £13,000 ex VAT

Typical: £8,000
Duration: About 3 weeks
Effort: 10.5 to 18 days

Illustrative estimate, not a quote. Real prices vary.

Worked out from UK freelance contractor day rates in job adverts, with no consultancy or agency margin added. Consultancies and agencies usually charge more.

Source: IT Jobs Watch. Rates read on 15 November 2026; costs computed on 15 November 2026.

What is included

Preparation interviews and an idea long list
One or two facilitated workshops
Scoring for value, feasibility and risk
A one-page brief for the top idea

Deliverables

Scored shortlist
One-page brief for the first project
Workshop write-up

Assumptions

Up to 12 participants per workshop
Ideas come from the client team; the consultant brings examples

Not included

Technical design
Building a prototype

Project plan

Phases run one after another, about 3 weeks in all.

Phases, their length and main tasks
Phase	Weeks	Main tasks
Preparation	1	Interview key staff; Draft the long list; Prepare examples
Workshops	1	Run workshops; Capture ideas and constraints
Scoring and shortlist	1	Score ideas; Sense-check feasibility; Write the brief

Who does the work

Person-days per role in each phase, low and high effort.

Days by phase and role
Phase	Role	Days (low to high)
Preparation	AI consultant	2 to 3.5 days
Workshops	AI consultant	3.5 to 5.5 days
Workshops	Business analyst	2 to 3.5 days
Scoring and shortlist	AI consultant	2 to 3.5 days
Scoring and shortlist	AI architect	1 to 2 days

How the cost adds up

Cost by role: low, typical and high, before rounding
Role	Low (days × 25th percentile)	Typical (days × median)	High (days × 90th percentile)
AI consultant	7.5 × £500 = £3,750	10 × £575 = £5,750	12.5 × £717 = £8,964
Business analyst	2 × £425 = £850	2.75 × £500 = £1,375	3.5 × £662 = £2,317
AI architect	1 × £549 = £549	1.5 × £650 = £975	2 × £850 = £1,700
Total, rounded	£5,000	£8,000	£13,000

How these estimates are worked out

Effort: for each phase we estimate how many days each role works, as a low and a high case. These are our estimates for a typical project of this kind, not measured data.

Rates: each role's daily rate comes from UK contract job adverts over the last six months, as published by IT Jobs Watch. These are freelance contractor rates as advertised, not what was paid, and not what a consultancy or agency charges.

Low end: the low-effort days at each role's 25th-percentile rate. We use the 25th percentile, not the 10th, because the lowest effort at the cheapest rates gives a floor few buyers would ever meet.

Typical: the mid-point between low and high effort, at each role's median rate.

High end: the high-effort days at each role's 90th-percentile rate.

Totals are rounded to the nearest £500 below £10,000 and the nearest £1,000 above, and exclude VAT. Phases run one after another.

Not included:

Software licences, model and hosting fees
Travel and expenses
Your own staff's time
A consultancy's or agency's margin, overheads and risk

Real prices vary with the supplier, the state of your data and systems, how much of the work your own team does, where the work happens and how much risk the supplier carries. Consultancies and agencies usually charge more than these contractor rates, and a fixed price usually costs more than time and materials because the supplier takes the risk.

Sources

Source: IT Jobs Watch: UK contract job adverts quoting a daily rate, 6 months to 15 November 2026. Each role's page was read on 15 November 2026. Published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Day rate sources, one row per role, read on 15 November 2026
Role	IT Jobs Watch page	Rates quoted	25th percentile	Median	90th percentile
AI consultant	Artificial Intelligence Consultant	68	£500	£575	£717
Business analyst	Business Analyst	1,394	£425	£500	£662
AI architect	Artificial Intelligence Architect	148	£549	£650	£850

AI use-case prioritisation workshops for a mid-sized construction contractor