Business Consulting FAQ

Most of our clients have between 5 and 120 employees. We work best with owner-managed firms where the decision-maker is directly involved in the engagement. If you run a sole-trader operation, we can still help with financial planning or pricing strategy, but our operational reviews are designed for businesses that have at least a small team and some internal processes to examine.

We quote fixed fees for every project, agreed before work starts. A two-day diagnostic typically costs between £1,200 and £2,000. Larger projects that include implementation support range from £4,000 to £15,000, depending on scope and duration. We never bill by the hour, so there are no surprises on the invoice. If the diagnostic shows that you do not need further consulting, we will tell you that and you only pay for the diagnostic itself.

The initial diagnostic takes two working days on site. A full operational review usually runs three to five weeks, including staff interviews, process mapping, and report writing. Growth strategy projects can take six to ten weeks because of the market research involved. We agree a timeline with milestones before we start, and if something is going to take longer than planned, we flag it early rather than letting the project drift.

Our office is in West Marks, and about 60% of our clients are in South and West Wales. But we take on projects across England too. For businesses outside a two-hour drive, we do the initial diagnostic on site and then handle follow-up sessions over video calls. We have worked with firms in Bristol, Birmingham, and London on this basis without any drop in quality.

We are generalists by design. Our six consultants have backgrounds in manufacturing, retail, logistics, food production, healthcare services, and professional services. We find that many operational problems, such as unclear job roles, poor cash-flow visibility, or ad-hoc pricing, appear across sectors. When a project requires deep industry-specific knowledge, for instance food-safety regulations, we bring in a specialist partner and coordinate their input within our project plan.

On day one we spend the morning with the business owner or managing director, reviewing recent accounts, organisational structure, and the main pain points you want to address. In the afternoon we walk the floor or shadow key staff to see how work actually flows. Day two involves short interviews with three to five team members, chosen to give us a cross-section of roles. We close with a 90-minute debrief where we present initial observations and a recommended next step. Within five working days you receive a written summary report.

Both options are available. Some clients only need the diagnostic and report because they have the internal capacity to act on the recommendations. Others want us to stay involved, train staff on new processes, set up reporting templates, or attend management meetings during the transition period. We price implementation support separately, and you can decide after reading the diagnostic report whether you want it.

At the start of every engagement we agree on two to four measurable targets with the client. These might be a percentage reduction in dispatch errors, a specific improvement in gross margin, or a reduction in debtor days. We track these metrics at quarterly check-ins for 12 months after the project ends. If a target is not being met, we discuss what is blocking progress and adjust the plan. There is no extra charge for the quarterly check-ins; they are included in the project fee.

Every project has a written engagement letter that sets out the scope, fee, timeline, and deliverables. You can end the engagement at any milestone point. If you stop mid-project, you pay only for the work completed up to that milestone. We have never had a client stop early because of dissatisfaction, but the option is there so you are never locked into something that is not working for you.

Yes. After a project wraps up, some clients want a lighter form of support: a monthly call, access to our team for ad-hoc questions, and attendance at one board or management meeting per quarter. We offer this as a retainer at £600 per month, with a three-month minimum commitment. About a third of our project clients move to a retainer arrangement because they value having an outside perspective in regular planning discussions.