What should AI automation actually cost a small trade business?

Published pricing for AI automation aimed at small trade businesses ranges roughly $2,000-$12,000 for setup and $50-$600 a month ongoing — a wide enough range that the number alone doesn't tell you whether it's a fair price for what you need, or a package price for what the vendor sells everyone.

Why the range is so wide

Two businesses paying wildly different amounts can both be paying a fair price, because they bought different things. A pre-built chatbot template costs less because it's the same product sold to hundreds of businesses. A system built around your actual quote process, your actual job-management software, and the one task genuinely eating your week costs more because someone had to look at your business specifically before building anything.

What a quote before a proper scoping conversation is worth

Not much. A price quoted before anyone's asked what's actually manual in your business is a guess dressed up as a number — usually a package price for a generic build, regardless of whether it fits what you need. The honest sequence is: understand the actual task first, then price the actual build.

Questions worth asking before signing anything

• Has anyone actually looked at how my business currently handles this task, or is this price for a template?
• What happens to the system if I stop paying the monthly fee — do I keep anything, or does it stop working entirely?
• Is the monthly cost a real running cost (hosting, API usage) or mostly margin on a tool I could use directly?
• What's the honest answer if the task isn't actually worth automating — will they tell me that, or just build it anyway?

That last question is the real test. A vendor who's willing to say "this isn't worth automating" on a free call is pricing against your actual problem. One who isn't is pricing against their own product line.