Where every engagement starts
Before we build anything, we find out what's actually broken.
A diagnosis, not a pitch.
45 to 90 minutes. We map how your business runs today, find where the work leaks, and hand you a written report of what we'd fix and in what order.
$250 — credited 100% toward any build. If nothing needs building, we'll tell you that.
What we actually change
Under 60 seconds from lead submitted to a personal reply — on our own live system.
An Architecture Assessment is a 45–90 minute working session where we map how your business operates today and identify the highest-leverage improvements. You leave with the Architecture Assessment Report: what's breaking, what it's costing you, and the prescriptions in priority order. It costs $250, credited 100% toward any build you decide to do.
What this session is — and isn't
It is a working session. You talk, we map. We ask how a job actually moves through your business — who touches it, what gets typed where, what breaks when someone is on vacation. We write it down as a picture of your operation, and we show it to you before the call ends.
It isn't a sales call with a diagram at the end. There's no deck. Nobody is going to walk you through a package. If you ask what something costs, we'll tell you plainly, and if you don't ask, we won't bring it up.
What you leave with: the Architecture Assessment Report — the current-state map, the specific breakdowns we found, what each one appears to cost you in hours or money, and what we'd fix first, second, third. It's yours whether or not you ever hire us.
And if nothing needs building, we'll say so. That has happened. We count it as a win, because the alternative is selling somebody a system they didn't need — which is the thing we exist not to do.
How it works
- 1. Map the current state. We walk one real job end to end — from the moment a lead arrives to the moment you get paid — and write down every handoff, tool and manual step along the way.
- 2. Find the leaks. Where does work get re-typed? Where does something sit waiting on a person? Where does a job fall through when someone is out? These are the places time and money escape.
- 3. Report and prescribe. You get the written report: what we found, what it appears to cost, and the fixes ranked by leverage — including the ones you can do yourself with tools you already pay for.
- 4. You decide. No obligation, no follow-up sequence you have to escape. If you want us to build something, the $250 comes straight off the price. If not, you keep the map.
What it costs, and why it isn't free
The Assessment is $250, credited 100% toward any build. If you hire us for anything afterward, the $250 comes off the first invoice. If you don't, you've bought a professional diagnosis of your own operation for $250, which is roughly an hour of most trades' billable time.
We charge for it on purpose. Giving the diagnosis away attracts people who want a free afternoon, and it quietly turns the session into a sales call — because when the diagnosis is free, the only way it pays for itself is if it sells something. The fee is a filter, not a profit line. It keeps your calendar and ours full of people who actually intend to fix something.
What operators actually walk away with
Found that every estimate was being built by hand and then typed a second time into accounting — about 37 minutes each. The fix connected two systems they already paid for. Estimates now take about 29 seconds to prepare.
The lead problem is usually not a lead problem. Businesses convinced they need more leads often discover that the leads they already get go unanswered for hours. That's a follow-up leak, and it's cheaper to fix than a marketing budget.
Occasionally we map an operation and find it working. In that case the report says so, and it lists the two or three settings worth turning on in software you already own. Then we're done.
Is this for you?
It fits if…
- You run a service business — trades, contracting, professional services — doing roughly $1M to $30M.
- You have somewhere between 5 and 30 people, and the business still depends on you to keep moving.
- You're losing hours to work that a system should be doing, and you can point at roughly where.
- You've been burned by an AI or automation promise before and you're deliberately skeptical. That's the right posture.
It doesn't fit if…
- You want someone to run your marketing. That's a different job and we'll point you elsewhere.
- You're pre-revenue or solo with no repeatable process yet — there isn't enough operation to map.
- You're in regulated healthcare handling patient data. We don't have a compliant offer for that yet, and we'd rather say so than take the work.
- You want a tool installed without changing anything about how the work flows. Tools on top of a broken process just make it faster.
Questions operators actually ask
Do I have to buy anything afterward?
No. The report is yours either way. If you do decide to build something, the $250 comes off the price. If you don't, nothing happens — there's no sequence you need to unsubscribe from.
In person or remote?
In person anywhere in the Kansas City metro, and we'd rather do it that way — you see more standing in the room where the work happens. Everywhere else in the US, remote, which we've done since day one.
Who actually runs it?
Christopher Sharkey, who founded the company. Before this he spent a decade as a healthcare Performance Improvement Specialist, which is the job of finding what's broken in an operation and fixing the root cause rather than the symptom. Same work, different industry.
What if my tools are fine?
Then we'll tell you that, and the report will say which settings in the software you already own are worth turning on. We've ended sessions recommending nothing be built. It's a better outcome for you and it's how we'd want to be treated.
How long does it take, and what do I need to prepare?
45 to 90 minutes, depending on how many moving parts you have. Prepare nothing. Don't clean anything up first — we need to see the operation as it actually runs, not as it looks when it's tidy.
Is this going to turn into a long contract?
No. We build in phases with a 90-day proof point, and the relationship continues because it's working, not because you're locked in. If something we build stops earning its keep, we'd rather turn it off than keep billing for it.
The Sharkitect Standard
The AI Transformation Agency — an agency that refuses to upsell.
A contrarian truth in an industry that profits from confusion.
Find out what's actually broken.
45–90 minutes, a written report, and an honest answer — including when the honest answer is that you don't need us.
$250 — credited 100% toward any build. If nothing needs building, we'll tell you that.