What AI agents cost a benefits agency, and what you get for it

How does DoBetter price an AI agent build?

Every DoBetter build is a fixed fee, scoped after discovery. It works in four steps:

1. A free intro call. It takes 30 minutes.
2. A $1,500 paid discovery. Half is credited to your first month, and it’s a full refund if I can’t help.
3. A fixed fee build.
4. Optional monthly support.

Nothing is billed by the hour. I’m Chris Cordon, a 17 year benefits producer, and I run discovery myself. I run my own work on a team of AI agents built on Claude: an executive assistant, a research agent, an inbox agent, a business coach, and a shared memory they all read. I haven’t built an agent team for a benefits client yet. Discovery is where I’d tell you exactly how I’d build yours.

What makes an AI agent build cost more or less?

The biggest driver of an AI agent build is how many jobs the agents take on. One research agent that writes meeting briefs is a smaller job than an executive assistant that hands work to four other agents.

Other things that move the price:

How many inboxes it reads.

My inbox agent reads 10 mailboxes. One shared inbox is simpler.

How much the memory has to know.

Loading your plans, your clients’ renewal dates, and your standing decisions takes more sorting when they live in scattered files.

How many systems connect.

Email alone is simpler than email plus your agency management system and your calendar.

How many approval steps you want.

Every “a person signs off here” is a rule that gets written and tested.

How much the agent needs to learn your voice.

“It takes a long time for me to train a reply agent.” A reply agent that sounds like your agency takes rounds of drafts and corrections.

What does it cost to run AI agents every month?

The monthly cost of AI agents depends on how often they run and which AI plan pays for them. My background agents run on a flat monthly Claude plan, and I keep the metered, pay per use account out of them on purpose. The note taking after every conversation uses the smallest, cheapest model that can do the job. Discovery sizes the running cost for your agency before you commit to a build.

What does it cost to work without AI agents?

Working without AI agents costs the same minutes every day. Before I built a 4 level business brain, “I would have to spend about 10 extra minutes at the beginning of each session with my agent, explaining what happened yesterday and what I wanted today to look like.” Every session started with a recap, and the recap was me.

Meeting prep cost me in a different way. “I would literally Google the business about 15 minutes before the meeting, scratch down a couple notes, and then wing it.” Now a research agent builds the brief in about 5 minutes, with six questions to ask before I leave the meeting. Winging it never shows up on an invoice, which is why it lasts so long.

Forgotten decisions cost the most, and they’re the hardest to count. “The things that it forgot that I had already decided on prior to an organized memory system are so many that I can’t even think of just one.”

Quick answers

Is there a refund?

Yes. If discovery shows I can’t help, the $1,500 comes back.

Can I start small?

Yes. One research agent or a shared memory is a common first build.

Is there a monthly fee?

Only if you want ongoing support. The build itself is a fixed fee.

Do you charge per agent or per seat?

No. The fee is set by the scope of the build.

Why isn’t the build price on the site?

Because it depends on your inboxes, your systems, and how many jobs the agents take on, which discovery sorts out.