What is repetitive computer work really costing you?
Four numbers. You'll see what the busywork costs you each year, and how a hire, an agency and a fractional AI manager stack up against it.
Results update as you move the sliders. Nothing is sent unless you choose to send it.
Before you start
"Repetitive computer work" means the stuff that follows the same steps every time: answering the same emails, typing the same data into two systems, building the same report, sending the same reminders. Count anyone who spends part of their week on it, including you.
For hourly cost, use wage plus taxes and benefits. If you're guessing, $30 is a fair small-business starting point. For your own time as the owner, use what an hour of your attention is worth to the business, which is usually more than you think.
Your busywork costs
AI agents could take back
$120k to $150k+
A year, plus benefits. Makes sense once you have a big, technical AI roadmap.
Varies
Good for a single big build. Each new task is usually a new quote.
From $5,988
A year, starting at $499 a month. Your list, every week, checked by me.
Want to sanity-check these numbers with me?
Send me this breakdown and I'll reply personally within one business day. Or call my AI agent: (314) 970-4001.
How we calculate this
No black box. These are the formulas behind every number above.
- Annual cost = people × hours a week × hourly cost × 50 working weeks
- Reclaimable = annual cost × the share you chose
- FTE = reclaimable hours ÷ 2,000 (a full-time year)
- Payback days = $499 ÷ (reclaimable value ÷ 365), for the first month
Worked example with the default settings: 3 people × 10 hours × 50 weeks = 1,500 hours a year. At $30 an hour, that's $45,000. At a 50% share, agents could take back $22,500 a year (750 hours, about 0.4 of a full-time employee). $22,500 ÷ 365 is about $62 a day, so $499 is covered in about 9 days.
These are estimates. Your real number comes from looking at your actual tasks, which is what the first weekly call is for. If you'd rather start from a task list than from hours, use the Task Audit.
Reading the three comparisons
Each option is right for somebody. Here's when.
Hire a full-time AI person
$120,000 to $150,000+ a year, plus benefits and months of recruiting. Makes sense once you have a big, technical AI roadmap and enough work to keep one specialist busy every day.
Agency or project consultant
Varies by project. Good for a single big build with a clear finish line. The catch for small businesses is that each new task is usually a new quote, and nobody is watching the work after launch.
Fractional AI manager
Starting at $499 a month ($5,988 a year). Your whole list, every week, with AI agents doing the work and a person checking every piece. Best when the work is ongoing and varied.
What a fractional AI manager does →Questions about the calculator
Why 50 working weeks?
It leaves room for holidays and vacation. It's a round, slightly cautious number that makes the math easy to check.
What share should I pick?
50% is a cautious starting point. Well-defined tasks like data entry, reminders and reports sit at the high end. Work that needs judgment sits at the low end.
The calculator says it may not pay off. Is that right?
It might be. If agents would take back less than about $6,000 a year of work, a fractional AI manager probably isn't worth it yet. The Task Audit can help you find bigger hours, or the AI Readiness Score can show what to fix first.
How do I measure whether it actually paid off later?
Track the hours a task took before and after, plus the things that change downstream (faster lead replies, fewer late invoices). I wrote a full guide: How do I measure the ROI of AI automation?
Want to sanity-check your numbers with me?
Book a 30-minute call and bring your totals. We'll look at which hours are realistic to hand off first. No pitch.