The agent, running in your environment
Not a notebook and not a demo. It runs on your infrastructure against your real data, with logging you can read.
What does it cost to build a custom AI agent? $2,000 to $5,000, delivered in 2 to 4 weeks.
You get an agent that does the actual job in production, with the guardrails that stop it from doing the job wrong, and the source code to run it without me.
A scoped custom AI agent costs $2,000 to $5,000 and takes 2 to 4 weeks. That covers the agent itself, the tool integrations it needs, the verification gates that catch bad output before it ships, and full documentation. The quote is fixed before work starts, and you own all the source code at handoff.
What is this actually costing you today?
You have said some version of this
- "We built a demo agent that worked once, and we have never trusted it since."
- "Every answer it gives has to be checked by a human, so we are paying twice."
- "The agency quoted $40,000 and would not say what we would actually own."
- "It works until an edge case, and then it fails silently and nobody notices."
What it costs while it stays unfixed
- Twice the labour cost, when every AI output still needs a human to re-check it by hand.
- Silent failures an agent with no verification gate fails quietly, so you find out from a customer.
- $40,000+ typical agency quote for work that is genuinely a 2 to 4 week scoped build.
What do you actually get at the end?
Verification gates that catch bad output
The difference between an agent you trust and one you re-check by hand. Every output passes a programmatic check before it reaches a human or a customer.
Tool and API integrations
The agent connects to the systems you already run, whether that is a CRM, a database, an internal API, or a spreadsheet somebody refuses to give up.
Full source, docs, and a recorded walkthrough
You own everything. Nothing is held hostage behind a retainer, and a different developer can pick it up.
Does any of this actually work?
These are my own numbers, on my own systems, with the measurement date and instrument named so you can re-run them. They are not client case studies, because I will not put a testimonial on this page before I have one worth quoting.
4,247 lines in a production agent I run with my own money at risk
A live trading bot with monitoring, kill switches, and evidence gates on every parameter change. I do not build agents for clients that I would not run against my own capital.
2 to 4 weeks from scoping call to a running agent
Measured across my own delivered builds, not an aspirational timeline. Scope is fixed in writing first, which is the only reason the estimate holds.
How does this compare to the alternatives?
| This engagement | A typical AI agency | A no-code agent platform | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | $2,000 to $5,000, fixed | $25,000 to $60,000 plus change orders | |
| Time to a running agent | 2 to 4 weeks | 3 to 6 months | |
| Who writes the code | The person you talked to | A junior assigned after the pitch | |
| What you own at handoff | All source, docs, runbooks | A licence, often a hosted black box | |
| Failure handling | Verification gates and logs by default | Usually a later phase, quoted separately | |
| Runs without the vendor | Yes, that is the handoff | No, that is the business model | |
What does it cost?
$2,000 to $5,000
The range is scope, not negotiation room. A single-purpose agent with two integrations sits near the bottom; a multi-step agent with human review and a dashboard sits near the top.
Start with a scoping call →Or email hello@chudi.dev directly.
NO DISCOVERY-CALL FUNNEL · NO RETAINER LOCK-IN · WRITTEN SCOPE BEFORE ANY INVOICE
Questions people ask before hiring me
How much does it cost to build an AI agent?
A scoped production agent runs $2,000 to $5,000. That is a fixed quote agreed in writing after a scoping call, not an hourly estimate that drifts. Simpler single-task agents can come in under that; anything that needs a full application around it moves into the custom build range starting at $5,000.
How long does it take to build a custom AI agent?
2 to 4 weeks from the scoping call to a running agent. The scope is fixed in writing before any work starts, which is the only reason that estimate holds. You see working artifacts at each checkpoint rather than waiting for a reveal at the end.
What is the difference between an AI agent and a chatbot?
A chatbot answers. An agent acts: it calls tools, reads and writes to your systems, and completes a multi-step task without a human driving each step. That difference is why agents need verification gates and chatbots mostly do not, and it is where most agent projects fail.
Do I own the code for a custom AI agent?
Yes, entirely. Full source, documentation, runbooks, and a recorded walkthrough at handoff. There is no licence, no hosted black box, and no retainer required to keep it running. A different developer can pick it up without talking to me.
Which AI agent development company should I hire?
Ask any candidate three questions: what happens when the agent produces a wrong answer, what exactly do I own at handoff, and can I see something running rather than a deck. Firms that answer those clearly are worth talking to, whether or not that is me.
Can you build an AI agent that connects to our existing tools?
That is usually the whole point. The agent connects to the CRM, database, internal API, or spreadsheet you already run. If a system has no API, I will say so during scoping rather than discovering it in week three.