You may be comparing an AI automation agency with a freelancer, or with a studio like ours. The first call is where you judge them.
These 8 questions work for all of them, and we answer each one below with our own work.
3About who owns it
3About whether it works
2About who stays
Who owns it
Ask these 3 first, before the price. They decide what the price buys.
Who owns the code and the accounts it runs on?
A good answer is you, from the first day. The accounts sit in your name, and the builder works in them as a guest. We handed the Eddie George Celebrity Golf Classic over with the keys in the partner's name.
What happens the day we stop working together?
A good answer lists what you keep, and it includes a system that still runs. Matrix Academy's content engine runs on the institute's own servers. Nothing in it depends on us.
Where does my data go, and in which country is it stored?
Every AI system sends some text to a model. A good answer names the model provider and the region. It also says what never leaves your server.
Read it in full
For the shop ACIS Consulting serves, the drawings and the database stay in the customer's own country.
1
The team picks the videoA person signs
2
Script
3
Voiceover
4
Cut
5
Reels, carousels and posts
Does it work
The next 3 test the build before you pay for it. A builder who has done this before answers them in plain words.
Which step will a person still check?
A good system keeps a person at the step where a mistake costs money. In the quoting engine for ACIS Consulting, the owner approves every quote before it goes out. Each line also says how sure the system is.
How will we know it works, in 1 number?
Agree on the number before the build starts. For ACIS Consulting it was the time to quote a job: 2 to 3 hours before, about 5 minutes after.
What will it cost to run each month?
The build is paid once. Model calls and the server are paid every month, and they grow with use. Ask for a monthly range in writing, and for a log of what each run costs.
Time to quote
Before2 to 3 hours
AfterAbout 5 minutes
Drawn in minutes, at the middle of the range.
Who stays
The last 2 are about the months after the launch. That is where a system lives or dies.
Can I see a system you built that still runs?
Ask for one that has run for at least 3 months, and ask who uses it. A demo only shows how the first day went.
Read it in full
Since May 2026 the Eddie George Celebrity Golf Classic has run on forms we built. Its founder came back for 3 more engagements.
Who do I call in month 4?
Ask for the name of that person. With us, a named person stays on as your AI team after the build, with the whole studio behind them.
Good signs
Accounts in your name
1 number agreed before the build
A person approves the costly step
A monthly running cost in writing
A system you can open that still runs
Warning signs
Their accounts and their servers
A demo in place of a number
Full autopilot from the first day
A build price with no running cost
Screenshots and no live system
Where Longtri stands
We build web apps and AI agents on accounts you own, with the automations and the setup under them. Then someone stays on as your in-house AI team.
Our partners are in North America and India. We work with businesses anywhere, by call.
The first step is a 30 minute call. You get a fixed price within a day, and builds start at $500.