Should you hire someone — or build a system?

A 30-second calculator that compares the real cost of adding staff vs. automating the work they'd be doing.

Weekly administrative grunt work: 40

How many hours per week is your team spending on repetitive admin tasks?

Loaded hourly cost of staff: $30

Loaded cost = hourly wage + benefits + payroll taxes + overhead. (Usually 1.3–1.5× wage)

Expected system lifespan:

How long do you expect to keep using this operational system?

Manual work is costing you:

$62,400

per year, totaling $187,200 over 3-Year period.

Savings with Build

$182,200

Payback Time

1.0 mos

You'd recover the cost of a custom build in 1.0 months and save $182,200 over 3 years.

Comparing your operational options

Here is how a custom automated application stacks up financially against alternative paths over the chosen period.

Operational Option	Up-Front Cost	Total 3-year Cost	Business Impact
Hire one more admin	~$0	$180,000	Adds recurring payroll commitment, payroll taxes, and training management.
Pay for off-the-shelf SaaS	$0	$12,600	Generic features, user licensing fees ($200/u/mo), doesn't fit your processes.
Build a custom system	$5,000 (one-time)	$5,000	Fully tailored to your business, 100% code ownership, zero license trap.

We will walk through your workflows together during a 45-minute video call and build an exact financial model for your company.

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