Make AI useful.
Get your time back.
Deckhand helps small teams find where work gets delayed, repeated or depends too heavily on the owner. We recommend where AI and automation are worth using, create a practical plan, and can build and maintain the solution.
“Now the invoice goes out before I'm even at the site.”
Two ways to work together
Know what to improve firstAI consulting
Know what to improve, which tools to use, and what to do first. Deckhand examines how your team works and gives you a written plan to act on.
Practical recommendations. A clear plan for the first project. Put the plan to workAutomation systems
Have the solution built, connected to your existing software, and looked after. Handle quoting, scheduling, invoicing and follow-up with less manual work.
Built, tested and looked after.Not sure which you need? That is what the free hour is for.
- Business value firstrecommendations based on how your business works
- A clear investment decisionunderstand the value, effort and risks
- One person, start to finishthe person advising you also builds it
Understand the work. Choose what helps. Make it useful.
Every engagement starts with your business and the result you want. Sometimes the answer is a better process or a tool you already own. Sometimes it is a system worth building.
Start with the real question
Where is time going? What has the team tried? What would make the week easier? The first conversation is free.
Know what to invest in
Deckhand examines the work, compares possible improvements and recommends what to do first. You receive a written plan explaining the tools, costs, steps and how to check the results.
Help that carries through
Learn to use the tools with confidence, or have the solution built and tested. If Deckhand runs a system for you, ongoing monitoring and support are part of the plan.
What changed for our clients.
The systems are running in vet practices, livestock operations and trades shops. The owners are the ones worth listening to.
I was doing invoices at ten at night after a day of house calls. Now the invoice goes out before I'm even at the site, the schedule looks after itself, and the local vet clinics get their follow-up without me having to remember. I didn't have to change any of the tools I use currently. Neil built the whole thing remotely. I never stopped taking appointments for it. I get almost a full day back a week, and I spend it with families instead of a laptop.
We were live in under two weeks, which is the part I tell people about. And the time it gave back went into the HR and admin work that had been sliding for months because nobody had the hours for it. Same team, same length of day. We just stopped spending it on document reviews and email responses.
Interactive example
The decision comes to you.
Review and approve where you already work.
1 of 3 · Request in Slack
Sample data. Nothing is sent. Your channels and approval rules are agreed during setup.
Everyday work, handled from start to finish.
Each of these is a chain of small jobs that currently needs a human to carry it from one system to the next. That carrying is the part that goes.
Quote to invoice to paid
The quote goes out, the job gets scheduled, the invoice follows the moment it's done, and the reminders go out on their own. Nobody re-enters the same job three times, and nothing sits unbilled for a fortnight because the week got away.
How it runs, step by step →Scheduling and dispatch admin
Bookings, confirmations, reminders, reschedules and the phone tag around them, handled against your real calendar and crew availability, in your job software, not a new one.
How it runs, step by step →The follow-up nobody gets to
Cold quotes, service recalls, review requests, the customer you meant to ring back in March. All of it on a schedule, in your voice, and it stops the moment they reply.
How it runs, step by step →Once the first one has earned it
- Records and handoffsIntake, notes and files moved between systems without retyping.
- Capturing work as it arrivesCalls, forms and messages turned into a job record, not a voicemail.
- Something only you doThe screening, compliance check or dispatch logic nobody sells off the shelf. Scoped and quoted per job.
It asks permission until it has earned the right not to.
Handing your admin to software is only frightening if it acts before you trust it. A deckhand doesn't take the helm on day one: this starts by asking permission for everything, proves itself against work you have already done, and only then gets to act on its own.
It watches
Jobs, quotes, invoices, forms, email, bookings. One loop across every system work moves through, with a record for each job and where it has got to.
It asks
Anything customer-facing or irreversible reaches your phone as a one-tap decision first. It confirms where it had to guess, never where you already told it.
It proves
We test it using your past jobs and invoices, then run it with you reviewing each action until it meets the standards we agree on together.
It runs
Only then does it act unsupervised, and it goes back to asking automatically the moment it slips. You get a short daily digest, not another dashboard to babysit.
Works with the software you already use.
You already bought the software. The problem isn't that you're missing a tool. It's that moving work between the ones you have is a person's job, and that person is you, at night.
- Jobber
- ServiceTitan
- Housecall Pro
- ArboStar
- SingleOps
- Service Fusion
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- Sage
- Wave
- FreshBooks
- Square
- Stripe
- Moneris
- Helcim
- e-Transfer
- DocuSign
- PandaDoc
- Jotform
- Google Forms
- Your own PDFs
- Google Workspace
- Microsoft 365
- Outlook
- Dropbox
- Calendars
- Text messages
- Mailchimp
- HubSpot
- The phone
Not seeing yours? There are hundreds of these and no list is complete. If your software has a way in, and almost all of them do, it can be plugged into. And when there is nothing to plug into at all: plenty of good businesses run on email, a whiteboard and one long-suffering spreadsheet. That works too. The system reads what is actually there rather than making you buy something first.
Start with the hours you could get back.
If repetitive admin is the problem, this gives you a rough starting point. It is an estimate of time value, not a promise of cash savings.
Still deciding what to tackle? Explore AI consulting →
What the desk work is costing you
Estimatehours a month back
at your own rate
Assumes a system handles about 60% of the work you'd hand to an assistant: the typing, the chasing, the copying between systems, and reading what people sent you in their own words. The decisions stay with you. A scoped assessment can replace this starting estimate with evidence from your workflow.
A clear scope. A price before we start.
Consulting is priced around the parts of your business we examine and the questions you need answered. Automation has a one-time build cost and a monthly plan to keep it running. All prices are in Canadian dollars.
AI consulting
Scoped and quoted up frontA review of how work gets done, recommendations on what to improve and which tools to use, and a written plan for the first project. Your proposal explains what you receive, when it will be ready, and the fixed fee.
See the consulting deliverables →Building an automation system
One time · quoted against a written scopeA first automation project starts with one job taken off your desk, scoped tightly and built in weeks. Each system after it is quoted against a written scope, and costs less to build than the first, because the hard plumbing is already done.
The scope is written down before anything starts, and anything added later is a change order you approve first.
Running your system
Monthly · licence, support and changesOne system, running quietly.
- Licence and support on one invoice
- 3 hours of changes or repairs a month
- Monday to Friday coverage
- Automated health monitoring
For when the second system is on its way.
- Everything in Essential
- 6 hours of changes or repairs a month
- Next-business-day response
- A 30-minute review call every month: what it handled, and what to take off your desk next
- 10% off your second system
For when it runs a real share of the business.
- Everything in Standard
- 10 hours of changes or repairs a month
- Extended hours, weekends on critical, and a tight response target on anything urgent
- A quarterly planning session
- 20% off every new system, and yours go to the front of the build queue
You will do this arithmetic anyway, so here it is done properly: a first system plus twelve months on a plan.
Prepay the year and it is eleven months for twelve, so those become $2,650 and $4,300. Year two is the plan only. The build does not repeat. Move up or down a plan as the business changes, and if you ever want to take the system in-house there is a buyout figure in the contract from day one.
The questions owners ask first.
What do I receive from an AI consulting engagement?
You receive a written review of how the agreed parts of your business run, a ranked list of improvements, tool recommendations, and a plan for the first project. The plan explains what would change, the estimated costs, who does what, and how to check the results. We agree on the work, timeline and fixed fee before starting. Building the solution is a separate decision, with Deckhand or your chosen provider.
Where does my data live?
In the software you already use. The system works through your job software, your books and your inbox rather than replacing them, so your customers and invoices stay where they are now. Where the data can't leave the building, as in clinics and firms, it runs on hardware in your building instead of the cloud. Which one is decided per client and written into the scope.
Will it send anything to a customer without my say-so?
Not until it has earned it. Anything customer-facing or irreversible reaches your phone as a one-tap decision first. It only acts on its own after it has been tested against months of your real jobs and has run live with you confirming everything, up to a bar we agree on in advance.
What happens when it gets something wrong?
It goes back to asking. The moment it slips, it stops acting on its own and puts decisions in front of you again until it is right. Health monitoring is included on every plan, and so are hours each month for changes and repairs, so Deckhand handles the fixes.
Why not just hire someone?
Sometimes you should, and the free hour will tell you if that is the answer. What a system does well is the carrying between tools: the retyping, the reminders, the invoice that should have gone out on Tuesday. It does not need training or holiday cover, and the cost is agreed up front. Most clients keep the same team and put the hours back into the work that needs a person.
Why not set it up myself in Zapier?
If you enjoy it and have the evenings, go ahead. Where do-it-yourself usually stalls is after the build: the odd cases, the automation that quietly stops working when an app changes, and the asking before acting that most home-made setups skip. The monthly plan exists so that part is looked after.
Do I have to change software, or retrain the crew?
For automation, Deckhand starts with the tools you already use and looks for ways to reduce retyping and passing information between people. If new software or training would help, we discuss that before committing. Consulting can also focus on helping your team use AI tools confidently.
What if I want to stop, or take it in-house?
You can move up or down a plan as the business changes. If you ever want to take the system in-house, there is a buyout figure in the contract from day one, so you know the way out before you start.
Are you local?
Based in Victoria, BC, and working with businesses across Canada. Deckhand offers in-person visits where needed and works remotely over a call and a shared screen.
Request a free consultation.
Tell us what you would like help with. We will arrange a free hour to understand your needs and agree on a useful next step.
What happens during the call?
- Tell us what brought you here. An AI question, a tool decision, or work you want to improve.
- Talk through how things work today. Your team, existing tools, and the result you need.
- Agree on the next step. If paid work would help, you receive a proposal with the scope, timeline and price.
The conversation is free. Detailed analysis and a written plan are part of paid consulting.
You will speak directly with Neil. No presentation needed and no pressure to commit. Bring an example of the work if it helps.