Skip to content
HoursBack
Book a 15-minute call →
Services

Diagnosis, automations, agents and ongoing support.

We find where your week goes, build the fix, and keep it running, all inside your own accounts.

One conversation could change how your week works.

Find where the time goes, build the fix, and keep it running.

A still from the HoursBack film

What the film says

“You get to 3 o’clock and you think, how is it 3 o’clock?” Matt Watson, Watson Textiles.

In an example week, admin fills 18 hours: the inbox every morning, following up leads, copying between systems, booking calls, updating the CRM, the same questions again, meeting notes, chasing invoices, writing proposals and a weekly report by hand. You’re drowning in work that shouldn’t need you.

1. Diagnosis: find the hours. A 60-minute interview. Your written report within two working days. Your HoursBack plan, ranked by what each fix is worth, starting with an inbox triage agent at 3 hours, then syncing data between systems at 2.5 hours, and automatic invoice chasing, an automated weekly report, replies to common questions and a proposal template with AI fill at 1.5 hours each. In this example, 11.5 hours a week found.

AI only where it earns its place.

2. Automations and AI agents: build what gets them back. Built in your own accounts, tested on your real work, signed off by you. An automation: when this happens, do that, every time. When an invoice is 7 days overdue, a polite reminder goes out, and the payment is logged in your accounts. 1.5 hours a week back. No AI needed for this one.

An AI agent, which reads what comes in, decides what it is, and acts. The inbox triage agent quotes with a booking link, sends the invoice again and rebooks for Thursday. Anything that needs a person comes to you. 3 hours a week back.

In the example week, the inbox, copying between systems, chasing invoices and the weekly report by hand turn into time back to you: 8.5 hours a week, back with you.

3. Ongoing support: keep it running. We look after what we build as your systems change. Everything we’ve built, with the hours back week by week: the inbox triage agent, syncing data between systems, automatic invoice chasing and the automated weekly report, each one live. When a system changes, the build is updated: the data sync now syncs with your new CRM. A monthly working session: month 1, month 2, month 3.

Results our clients put their name to. Matt Watson, Owner, Watson Textiles: 9 hours a week back so far, of 23 identified. Emma Sexton, Founder, Inside Out: 12.5 hours a week back so far, across a four-person team. Aaron Leary, Founder and CEO, Bedrock Learning: 60 seconds, down from 10 weeks; hundreds of school impact reports, in one run.

Whether it’s just you or a team of fifty. UK businesses in 32 industries, from insurance to recruiters. Among them: trades, estate agents, solicitors, letting agents, consultancies, logistics and haulage, and financial advisers.

One conversation could change how your week works. Book a 15-minute call at hoursback.co.uk. Money back if your assessment doesn’t show 5+ hours a week.

How it fits together

Find it, build it, keep it running.

Most clients start with a diagnosis. If you already know the job you want done, start at the build.

Step 1: Find

Diagnosis

Find out where your week goes and what is worth fixing first.

£799

Book your assessment
Step 2: Build

Automations

The repetitive steps between your systems, built to run on their own.

Priced after a scoping call

Book a scoping call →

Agents

A digital member of the team that gets on with the work in the background, without being asked.

From £949

Book a scoping call →
Step 3: Keep it running

Ongoing support

What we build keeps working, and the next thing gets done.

Sized to you

Ask about ongoing support →
See all services and prices →
Step 1 · Find

Diagnosis

Find out where your week goes and what is worth fixing first.

We interview you, and your team if you have one, about how the work actually moves through the business. Within two working days of your call (or the last one, for a team) you get a written report: where the hours go, which jobs an automation or an AI agent could take on, the tools and steps for each, and the order to do them in. We walk you through it on a live review call. If it doesn’t show at least 5 hours a week worth reclaiming, you get your money back.

£799, or from £1,199 for a team

Book your assessment →Everything the assessment includes
Step 2 · Build

Automations

The repetitive steps between your systems, built to run on their own.

A lot of lost time sits between systems: details typed in twice, files saved and renamed by hand, a report rebuilt from scratch every month, tasks moved along because the software won’t do it on its own. We build the automations that take those steps out, inside the tools you already pay for. Many need no AI at all. Each one is tested against your real work and signed off by the person who uses it before it goes live.

Examples of jobs we take on

  • A monthly board pack that rebuilds every table from two systems on one refresh.
  • Bank statements matched against invoices, skipping lines already entered.
  • One file per customer or supplier produced from a single monthly spreadsheet.
  • A daily email listing everything waiting for your approval.
  • Client documents uploaded to one place, missing items flagged, files filed automatically.
  • Checks that run over every line of a spreadsheet and return only the exceptions, with the reason.

How a build runs

  1. 1ScopeWe agree the list with you: what each automation does, what goes in and what comes out.
  2. 2BuildWe build it in your own accounts, inside the tools you already use.
  3. 3TestWe test it against your real work and your current output.
  4. 4Sign-offYour named person signs it off before it goes live.
  5. 5HandoverYou get plain-English notes, and for 30 days from sign-off we fix anything that doesn’t do what we agreed, up to 2 hours per fix.

Got something that isn’t working? We’ll look at it on a 15-minute call. Usually the answer is to rebuild it properly, and we’ll tell you if so.

Bedrock Learning came through an assessment and left with an impact report generator.

Priced after a scoping call

Book a scoping call →
Step 2 · Build

Agents

A digital member of the team that gets on with the work in the background, without being asked.

An agent does more than draft documents. It can work through a shared inbox, sorting, routing and answering the routine requests. It can chase overdue invoices or missing paperwork on a schedule, keep your CRM up to date after every call, research a new lead before you speak to them, or send you a Monday briefing on what needs your attention. We build it in your own accounts, agree what it may do on its own and when it must stop and ask a person, and test it on your real work before it goes live.

What an agent can do

  • Answers enquiries that arrive by email or through your website, out of hours too, and hands anything unusual to a person.
  • Works through a shared inbox: sorts, labels, sends each message to the right person and drafts replies for the routine ones.
  • Chases what’s overdue, such as invoices, client documents or signatures, on a schedule, and stops once it arrives.
  • Researches a new lead or client before a call and writes a one-page brief.
  • Keeps your CRM and job records up to date after calls and emails.
  • Sends a morning or Monday briefing: what came in, what’s late, what needs a decision.
  • Watches for exceptions, such as a missed renewal, a figure out of range or a supplier file in the wrong format, and flags them before they become a problem.
  • Runs a multi-step job end to end: takes a request, gathers what’s needed from your systems, produces the output and files it.

You decide what it does on its own. Anything client-facing or regulated can wait for a person to approve it, and every run is logged so you can see exactly what it did.

From £949

Book a scoping call →How an agent build works →
Step 3 · Keep it running

Ongoing support

What we build keeps working, and the next thing gets done.

The things we build sit inside systems that keep changing. Software updates, a supplier changes a file layout, you move to a new platform. Ongoing support keeps everything we’ve built working through those changes and keeps your list moving: a monthly working session, new automations added as you go, and a short note each month on what’s been done. Three months to start, then a month’s notice either way.

It starts the month after the first thing we build goes live, so you’re never paying for nothing.

Sized to you

Ask about ongoing support →
Larger teams and organisations

For larger teams, we run it as a programme.

Everyone involved is interviewed, each person gets their own findings, and leadership gets a short summary. Then a set number of implementation days each month, with a monthly review of what has moved. We can also write the paper your IT or board needs to approve AI use. Talk to us for a scoped proposal.

See how the programme works →
Pricing

What it costs.

  • Assessment
    £799
    One payment, fixed price. Money back if it doesn’t find 5+ hours a week.
  • Team assessment
    From £1,199
    £1,199 for two, £1,599 for three, £1,999 for four. Five or more: talk to us.
  • Implementation Session
    £349
    After your report. A 90-minute working call, arranged with us.
  • Automations
    Priced after a scoping call
    Fixed in writing before any work starts.
  • Agents
    From £949
    Final price confirmed after a scoping call, before any work starts.
  • Ongoing support
    Sized to you
    Three months to start, then a month’s notice either way.

Software, licences and any AI usage sit in your own accounts.

Ownership

What we build runs in your own accounts.

  • It lives in your environmentNot inside a HoursBack account, and you own it outright.
  • Access you controlYou give us access through accounts you control and can remove at any time. We never ask for your password or two-factor codes.
  • Signed off by youTested on your real work and signed off by you before it goes live.
Common Questions

Everything you need to know.

Both. We start by finding where your time goes, then we build the automations and AI agents that get it back, and we can keep them running afterwards. Some clients take the report and do the work themselves. It’s written so they can, with every step set out. Others ask us to build it. You decide once you’ve seen what’s worth doing.
An automation follows fixed steps: when this happens, do that. It moves information between systems, fills in the same fields every time, or builds a report on a schedule. Many use no AI at all. An agent can use judgement. It reads what comes in, decides what it is, and acts: answering a routine enquiry, chasing something overdue, updating a record, or flagging what needs a person. It can work in the background on a schedule, not just when someone asks. We recommend whichever does the job reliably, and often that’s the simpler one.
No. If you already know the job you want done, book a scoping call and we’ll price it directly. The assessment is where most clients start, because it turns “we should use AI for something” into a specific list, ranked by what each item is worth. If you’re not sure which you need, a 15-minute call will tell you.
We walk you through your report on a live review call, then send it to you. It’s written so you can act on it yourself, with the tools, the steps and the order to do them in. If you’d like help, you can book an Implementation Session (£349, 90 minutes), ask us to build what the report names, or add ongoing support. None of it is required.
Upkeep of everything we’ve built, so it keeps working when your software, suppliers or systems change. A monthly working session to keep your list moving. New automations added as you go. A short note each month on what’s been done. It starts the month after the first thing we build goes live. Three months to start, then a month’s notice. It’s sized to you, and we set it out in writing before it starts.
Everything is tested against your real work and signed off by your named person before it goes live. For 30 days from sign-off we fix anything that doesn’t do what we agreed, up to 2 hours per fix, at no charge. After that, ongoing support covers fixes and changes. If you’d rather run it yourself, you get documentation written in plain English.
We build in the tools you already pay for wherever we can, such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Excel and your existing business software, and connect them with tools like Power Automate, Zapier or Make. Agents are built on Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, agreed with you before we start. We only recommend a new tool where it earns its place, and your report says what to leave alone.
You do. What we build lives in your own environment, not inside a HoursBack account, and you own it outright from handover. You give us access through accounts you control and can remove at any time. We never ask for your password or two-factor codes. Software, licences and any AI usage sit in your own accounts.
It depends what we build, and we tell you before anything is built. What we build runs in your own accounts, so your data stays with the platforms you already use. An agent sends the text it works on to the AI model’s provider, which may process it outside the UK, and we tell you which provider before you choose. For the assessment itself, your answers sit in our EU-hosted database and the AI we use is Anthropic’s Claude.
The assessment is £799 for one person. For a team it’s £1,199 for two, £1,599 for three and £1,999 for four. Five or more: talk to us. It comes with a money-back guarantee if it doesn’t find at least 5 hours a week. An Implementation Session after your report is £349. Agent builds start from £949. Automations are priced after a scoping call, and ongoing support is sized to you. Every build is priced in writing after a scoping call, before any work starts. It includes testing against your own real examples, written instructions your team keeps, and a handover.
A straightforward agent takes ten business days from the scoping call. For an automation, we confirm the timing at scoping. Larger pieces of work run as a programme over a few months, with a written plan setting out what goes live when, and a named person on your side signing off each item.
We don’t take on repairs to automations someone else built. Got something that isn’t working? We’ll look at it on a 15-minute call. Usually the answer is to rebuild it properly, and we’ll tell you if so.
The same people who run your assessment build what comes out of it and support it afterwards. We don’t hand your work to an outsourced team. We work alongside your named people, and nothing goes live until they’ve signed it off.
Yes. You stay responsible for how AI is used in your firm, and we’ll tell you at scoping whether we can take a job on. We don’t give legal or compliance advice.
No. The assessment is priced on its own, and it carries its own guarantee. Anything we build is priced separately.

Not sure which you need?

Tell us what’s taking the time. In 15 minutes we’ll tell you whether it needs a diagnosis, a build, or neither.

Book a 15-minute call →

Ready to start? Book your assessment.