The cost of hiring a process improvement consultant can vary widely depending on several factors, including the consultant's experience, expertise, the complexity of the project, and geographic location. Consultants may charge hourly rates, daily rates, or project-based fees.
In this article I will explain how much Process Improvement Consultants charge and how the prices are calculated. I will give some broad estimates on what it might cost to hire a Process Improvement Consultant to help resolve your organisational issues.
Fees are usually calculated in one of three ways:
Hourly rate
Daily rate
Fixed fee project
1. Hourly rate – The hourly rate will vary depending on the experience, the number of hours you require and type of project you need help with. More experienced consultants will charge more per hour and more complex problems will also attract a higher hourly rate. Costs per hour range between £80 - £250.
2. Daily rate – Similar to hourly rate there are many factors that determine a consultant’s hourly rate. In general buying hours in bulk or by the day will work out cheaper than the hourly rate for the same amount of time. Costs start at £250 per day, the average price would be around £500 per day. Very specialist consultants with lots of experience in complicated systems development or managing large teams could cost considerably more than this.
3. Fixed fee project – This is the best value for money of all the options. Once the consultant has held a meeting with the client, reviewed the problem and considered a solution (this may be dealt with as part of the project fee or on one of the other fee structures detailed above). A project plan will be developed, and the consultant will then provide a fixed fee for implementing the solution to that issue.
The fee will be calculated considering the complexity of the solution required, the level of work for the consultant, the level of involvement from your team in helping set up the system and the timescale for implementation.
For a simple system that relies mainly on a tech platform being set up, for example implementation of a timesheet system. An example project with utilisation of an available tech platform might look something like, identify system requirements, set up of the platform and system to required specification and team training. Fees would start at £2,000.
Where the consultant is required to hold meetings with internal team members to truly understand the issue and develop a bespoke system for that problem fees are likely to start around £5,000.
As solutions become more complicated involving multiple stakeholders, multiple tech platforms and considerable time from the consultant, fees will continue to increase. A three-month project where a consultant is working two days a week on the solution is likely to cost between £10,000 and £25,000. Prices could be considerably higher than this for large and complicated projects.
My fees are around the middle of these price points and determined on an individual project basis based on complexity and level of work required.
If you would like more information on how a process review can find solutions to your most challenges problems please get in touch.