We learn the job before we build the software.
Two weeks inside your business. A ranked list of what AI would actually save you. Then a fixed price to build the top one.
Westringia Labs builds AI into Australian businesses of about ten to two hundred people. We also run our own. Lomandra answers the phone for Australian small businesses, and we carry the pager for it.
01 · Where things actually stand
Almost nobody has done this yet.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics counted it. Just 12% of Australian businesses used AI in 2024–25, and around 11% of small and micro businesses. Nine in ten have not started. abs.gov.au ↗
Of the ones that do start, most get nothing back. MIT's 2025 study of enterprise AI found 95% of generative AI pilots delivered no measurable impact on the P&L. aigl.blog ↗ Gartner expects more than 40% of agentic AI projects to be cancelled by the end of 2027, on cost, unclear value and weak risk controls. gartner.com ↗
It is usually not the technology. The Australian Industry Group asked 182 businesses what was stopping them. Workforce capability came first at 51%, then not knowing what the products actually do at 48%, then unclear return at 27%. Cost came last, at 21%. australianindustrygroup.com.au ↗
One number is worth sitting with. Small businesses that had done any kind of innovation in the year adopted AI at 19%. Those that had not: 4%. The gap is not budget. It is having someone who can work out what to build. abs.gov.au ↗
Every figure on this site links to its primary source. Where we could not verify something, we say so.
02 · The work
Three kinds of work.
We work out where AI fits.
Two weeks. We sit with your people and watch the work – the quoting, the scheduling, the paperwork, the phone. You get a ranked list of five to eight things AI could take off you, each with the hours it would save and what it would cost to build. And a written recommendation on which one to do first, or whether to do none of them.
We build the thing.
One workflow, properly, end to end. Connected to the systems you already run, whether that is Xero, MYOB, ServiceM8, Simpro, Class Super, BGL, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Tested before it goes live. Handed over with written procedures and a walkthrough video, not a slide deck.
We keep it working.
Models change. Your business changes. Vendors switch things off – OpenAI is shutting down its own evaluation platform on 30 November 2026. developers.openai.com ↗ Somebody has to watch that. Monthly review, monitoring, tuning, and a written record of what your AI does, because from December 2026 you may need one.
03 · Method
What actually happens.
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Weeks one and two – we watch.
A half-day workshop with whoever runs the work, then three to five sessions sitting with the people who do it. We are not there to be shown a process diagram. We are there to see what really happens when the fourth job of the day runs late.
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End of week two – you get a document and a decision.
A ranked shortlist of five to eight opportunities, each scored on hours saved, cost to build, and how likely it is to break. A written recommendation. And a fixed-price quote for the top one. If our honest answer is "do not do this yet", you get that in writing, and the diagnostic fee is the only money you spend.
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Then we build one thing.
Fixed price, fixed scope, half up front and half when you accept it. Before it goes near a customer we write down what "working" means in numbers. Not "it feels faster", but "eight out of ten quotes go out without anyone editing them". We test against that with real jobs from your business, not made-up ones.
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Then we measure.
Before and after, on the same measure. There is a good reason for this. Researchers ran a controlled trial with sixteen experienced developers on 246 real tasks. They were 19% slower using AI tools, and still believed afterwards that AI had sped them up by 20%. metr.org ↗ People cannot tell. So we count.
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Then we hand it over, and stay if you want us.
Working software, written procedures, a walkthrough video for each workflow, and a plan for what to do when it goes wrong. The code sits in your repository and the credentials sit in your accounts. The monthly retainer is optional and you can leave on 30 days' notice.
04 · Money
What it costs.
A Big 4 AI scoping engagement is publicly benchmarked in Australia at A$120,000 to A$400,000, before a line of code is written. sandlabs.com.au ↗ Contract AI engineers in New South Wales run A$800 to A$1,150 a day. Robert Walters Salary Guide 2026 ↗ Here is what we charge, so you can work out whether to call us without calling us.
| Engagement | What you get | Time | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it fits | Ranked shortlist of five to eight opportunities, written report, 90-minute readout, fixed quote for the top one | 2 weeks | A$4,500 |
| One workflow, live | A single workflow built end to end, one system integration, tested and documented | 2–3 weeks | A$9,000 |
| Implementation sprint | One measurable outcome, several integrations, a set of tests you keep, handover and training | 3–6 weeks | A$12,000–28,000 |
| Run it with us | Monthly monitoring, tuning, model upgrades, re-testing, office hours, quarterly review | ongoing | A$3,500–7,500/mo |
The diagnostic fee comes off the build. Start a build within 90 days and you pay A$4,500 less for it. That makes the diagnostic free to anyone who goes ahead, and honest for anyone who does not.
Under 20 people? Skip the diagnostic. A twelve-person business does not need A$4,500 of looking. One call, then a fixed quote for one workflow. If it is not worth building, we will say so on the call and it costs you nothing.
05 · Reason to believe
We ship our own software.
Lomandra is ours. It answers the phone for Australian small businesses. It takes the call, works out what the caller wants, books the job or takes a message, and puts a plain-English summary where you will see it.
It is not a demo. It runs on real phone lines, with its own SIP trunking, so a business keeps the number it already has. It does real-time voice, with per-business setup, and it warm-transfers to a human when a call needs one. It has published prices, GST-compliant invoicing and a billing system.
We built it on the same stack we would put into your business. When a model changes, we feel it before you do. When a vendor switches something off, we have already moved a production system through it.
That is the whole argument for hiring a small firm. There is nobody between you and the people who have done this.
We have no client case study to show you yet. When we publish one it will name the client, the number and the method. Until then, judge us on the product you can open right now.
06 · Honesty
When not to hire us.
If your diary is already full.
Automating the phone cannot create capacity. If you cannot take more work, answering more calls will not make you money. Fix the bottleneck that is actually binding.
If your software already does it.
Simpro and AroFlo already pull live supplier price files. Xero already reconciles most of what it sees. Do not pay us to rebuild something sitting unused in a product you own. We will tell you during the diagnostic.
If you want a generic compliance document.
A Safe Work Method Statement has to be specific to the site and prepared with the crew. safeworkaustralia.gov.au ↗ Anyone selling you generically generated SWMS is selling you a compliance problem.
If you want customer information typed into a public chatbot.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner recommends organisations do not enter personal information, and particularly sensitive information, into publicly available generative AI tools. oaic.gov.au ↗ If that is the brief, we are the wrong firm.
If you want a day rate.
We do not sell days. If we find a way to do the job in half the time, hourly billing would punish us for it. Fixed price means we get paid for the result, and you know the number before we start.
07 · Field notes
Things we check so you do not have to.
We keep a small number of reference pages current and dated. Every figure links to the primary source. Where we could not verify something, there is a section that says so.
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Which AI models can actually run in Australia
→Most "hosted in Australia" claims do not survive a look at the settings. This is a table, with dates.
Last checked 8 August 2026
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What Australian law actually requires of your AI
→There is no Australian AI Act. There are rules that already apply and already have teeth.
Last checked 8 August 2026
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What the AI vendors are switching off, and when
→Tools your system may depend on have shutdown dates. If nobody has mentioned them, ask why.
Last checked 8 August 2026
08 · Who
Who you would actually be working with.
We are small. That is the offer, not the apology. The people who scope your work are the people who build it. There is no account manager, no bench, and nobody more senior you never meet.
For comparison, the New South Wales government publishes the staffing shape it expects from large consultancies: 62% of billed days at Manager level and below. nsw.gov.au ↗ That is not a criticism. It is how those firms are built. It is simply not how we are.
Australian owned. Australian based. Named on the contract.
Tell us what's slow.
Describe the part of your week that takes too long. You will get a reply from a person, usually the same day.
Or email hello@westringia.com directly.