A working practice · AI & automation for operations

Good operations are built, not bought.

The Mechanic Group is a principal-led engineering practice. We work inside your operation, find where the hours actually go, and install AI and automation that holds up after we leave — measured against a baseline frozen in writing, priced on the result.

Start a diagnosticHow we work
Method · the whole engagement at a glance

Diagnose. Build. Hand back.

Three stages, roughly ten weeks end to end, one price that doesn't move. This is the entire engagement:

STAGE 01 · WEEKS 1–3

Diagnostic

We sit inside your operation and put a measured cost on every manual process — in writing.

  • Ranked list of what to automate
  • The baseline, frozen in the SOW
  • A build plan you own either way
STAGE 02 · WEEKS 4–9

Build

Installed on your systems: software that reads, drafts, routes, and double-checks — graded daily.

  • Working systems in production
  • A daily quality report you can read
  • Progress shown in your own numbers
STAGE 03 · WEEK 10 + DAY 90

Handback

Your people run it without us — and we return at day ninety to prove it still holds.

  • Runbooks & a trained owner
  • The 90-day inspection, included
  • The exit, written into the contract
Where it applies · in plain terms

Anything with a pattern can be improved

You don't need to arrive knowing what's possible — that's our job. But it helps to know how wide the territory is. One experienced engineer with today's tools does what took a team of five only a few years ago, and the same tools apply to nearly every corner of a business:

RECORDS & COMPLIANCEAudit-ready by default

Contracts, certificates, permits, insurance — tracked, current, and findable in seconds, with renewals and expirations flagged before they become problems.

SALES & OUTREACHNo inquiry goes cold

Every quote request acknowledged promptly, the follow-up written with the full history in front of it, and the ones going quiet flagged before they're lost.

OPERATIONSPaperwork that assembles itself

Work orders, schedules, status updates, and intake records built from information your business already holds — instead of retyped between systems by hand.

CUSTOMER SERVICEAnswered correctly, every time

Whoever replies sees the whole relationship — every order, every conversation, every commitment — so the answer is right the first time, even on day one of a new hire.

BACK OFFICENothing waits to be chased

Invoicing, record-keeping, and reporting that happen on time without anyone standing over them — and flag their own exceptions to a human instead of hiding them.

LEADERSHIPThe numbers, without asking

What came in, what went out, what's stuck, and what changed — on your desk each morning, drawn from your own systems, so decisions stop waiting on someone to compile a report.

If a task follows a pattern — even a subtle one — it can now be done faster, more accurately, and around the clock. The diagnostic exists to tell you which of those tasks are worth the money, in your numbers, before you commit to anything.

Pricing · published, fixed, and aligned

The numbers, up front

Hourly billing rewards slowness, so we don't sell hours. The fee is fixed before work begins; the upside is shared only when the measured result holds.

01 · DIAGNOSTIC

Operational diagnostic

$7,500
fixed · 2–3 weeks

Embedded assessment of your workflows. You receive the ranked candidate map, the measured baseline, and the build plan — yours to execute with anyone.

Fully credited against a build that follows.

02 · BUILD

Production build

Fixed in the SOW
quoted from the diagnostic · 6–10 weeks

Scoped precisely from the diagnostic and priced before work begins: a number, in writing, that doesn't move.

Includes handback and the 90-day inspection.

03 · PERFORMANCE SHARE

Paid on results

10%
of measured gain · first two years · no cap

Computed against the frozen baseline from your own system of record, for the first two years after handback. If the needle doesn't move, nothing is owed.

You keep 90% of a gain that didn't exist before.

The flagship

Institutional Memory

An artificial mind for your business — private, installed for you, owned by you. It knows everything you want it to know about the firm, keeps itself current as the work happens, and shows you where the opportunities are while they're still opportunities. Automation tunes the operation. This upgrades the institution.

See Institutional Memory
Principles · why the practice runs this way

Working principles

IThe baseline cannot move

Every metric, its measurement method, and its window are frozen in the SOW before work begins. Nobody relitigates the scoreboard after delivery — in either direction.

IITime is the wrong unit

A fixed fee plus a share of the measured result keeps our incentive identical to yours: the outcome, promptly. The meter never runs.

IIIDeparture is a deliverable

An engagement that never ends is a job, not a service. Your team's ability to run the work without us is specified in the contract, and we build to it.

IVIf it isn't measured, it isn't done

Every AI surface ships with a graded test suite that runs daily. Quality that can't be measured can't be maintained — so we make it measurable first.

Intake open · engagements scheduled in order of fit

Start with a conversation

Bring us the process your team complains about. The first conversation costs nothing — and if we don't believe the numbers are there, we'll tell you that before you've spent a dollar.

Read by the principal, answered by the principal. No list, no sequence.

Prefer email? info@memduo.com

The Mechanic Group · New York · on-site or remote