Bace Agency vs Hiring In-House
An in-house AI engineer costs $120-200K per year. Then you wait 3-6 months for them to learn your business.
For a professional services firm on the North Shore, the math rarely works. You're not a tech company. You don't need an AI team. You need someone who already understands insurance workflows, legal processes, and financial advisory operations -- someone who can walk in and start delivering value immediately. We've done it 97+ times. Your new hire hasn't done it once.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Bace Agency | In-House AI Engineer |
|---|---|---|
| First-year cost | Fraction of a full-time salary. Pay for results, not a seat. | $170K-$300K all-in (salary, benefits, recruiting, tools). |
| Time to first results | Weeks. We already know insurance, legal, and financial workflows. | 3-6 months ramp-up to learn your business before any output. |
| Industry expertise | 97+ projects across professional services. Deep domain knowledge from day one. | Strong in AI/ML. Weak in your industry until they learn it on your dime. |
| Hiring risk | Zero. No recruiting, no bad hires, no notice periods. | High. AI talent turnover is ~2 years. Recruiting takes 2-4 months. |
| Breadth of skills | Strategy, development, integration, training, and support in one engagement. | One person. Likely strong in dev, weaker in strategy, training, and change management. |
| Scalability | Scale up or down based on project needs. No long-term commitment required. | Fixed capacity. Need more? Hire more. Need less? Still paying the salary. |
| Knowledge continuity | Everything documented. Team trained. No single point of failure. | Institutional knowledge walks out the door when they leave. |
| Ongoing AI education | We stay current across all AI developments. You get the latest thinking on every project. | One person's learning capacity. Conference budget and self-study only. |
The Bottom Line
Hiring in-house makes sense when AI is your product and you need a dedicated team building it full-time. Tech companies, SaaS startups, data-heavy enterprises -- they should absolutely hire.
But if you're a professional services firm and AI is the tool, not the product, the in-house model is expensive and slow. You're paying $170K-$300K in year one for someone who spends the first quarter learning what we already know. Meanwhile, we could have your first automations live and saving 22+ hours per week.
Start with us. Prove the ROI. If your needs grow to the point where a full-time hire makes sense, we'll help you make that transition. That's the zero-risk path.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does hiring in-house make more sense than Bace Agency?
When AI is your core product, not a tool that supports your operations. If you're building an AI-powered SaaS product or running a tech company, you need full-time engineers. But if you're an insurance agency, law firm, or financial advisory practice and AI is a means to an end -- faster quotes, fewer errors, less manual work -- you don't need a full-time engineer. You need a partner who builds, deploys, and supports the system.
What does an in-house AI engineer actually cost?
Base salary runs $120K-$200K in the Chicago market. Add benefits (20-30%), recruiting fees (15-25% of salary), equipment, software licenses, and management overhead. Total first-year cost: $170K-$300K. And that's before they build anything -- you're paying during the 3-6 month ramp-up period while they learn your business. Our engagements deliver working systems in weeks at a fraction of that annual cost.
What if my AI engineer quits after six months?
It happens. AI talent has a median tenure of about 2 years, and the good ones get recruited constantly. When they leave, they take institutional knowledge with them. With Bace Agency, every system is documented, every workflow is mapped, and your team is trained to use what we build. We don't create dependency. We create capability.
Can Bace Agency help us transition to an in-house team later?
Yes. Some clients start with us, prove the ROI, and eventually hire internally as their AI needs grow. We'll document everything, train your new hire, and ensure a clean handoff. We'd rather lose a client to their own success than keep one that's outgrown our model. That's part of why our retention rate is 95% -- clients stay because they want to, not because they're locked in.
Results in Weeks, Not Quarters
Skip the 6-month ramp-up. We'll audit your workflows and deliver working automations fast.
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