Nothing here is a retainer you have to enter in order to find out what the work is worth. The first rung quantifies the problem. Only the rung above it builds anything.
If you buy the Foundation Session and stop there, you own a finished piece of work you could hand to any supplier.
Book the Foundation Session — from £2,000Pre-work, a half day with your leadership team, then a live readout. We map how the firm actually runs across all four surfaces, then name the single bottleneck costing you the most, what it costs per year, and precisely what it would take to fix. Inside two weeks, start to finish.
If the session does not identify at least one bottleneck worth 25 basis points of the capital you plan to deploy over the next twelve months — stated in pounds, with the calculation shown — we say so in writing and refund the fee in full within fourteen days.
Deciding not to proceed when a qualifying bottleneck has been found is a different thing and does not trigger a refund. The work was still done.
The whole fee credits against the Intensive if you go ahead within 30 days. In practice the Foundation Session is either free or it is the first week of the build.
Eight weeks. The bottleneck named at the readout gets fixed — built for your firm, live and running, with the before-and-after numbers to prove what it recovered. Eight weeks is a long time to wait when you are deciding today, so the first working component is demonstrated against your own data at the end of week three and that date goes in the contract.
If the success metric agreed in writing before the build is not hit by week eight, we keep working towards it at no additional fee for up to eight further weeks. The metric derives from the countersigned baseline, so neither of us gets to redefine success later.
Anything you ask for mid-engagement goes on a written list rather than into the sprint. Nothing is refused and nothing is absorbed silently — the list is presented at week eight next to the impact report, priced.
One nominated bottleneck, not the whole firm. No vendor selection or procurement work, and no firm-wide rollout inside the eight weeks. Those are Partnership work, and we will say so rather than stretch.
Twelve months, successive bottlenecks across multiple surfaces, sequenced as each one is measured and closed out. This is the tier where the operating model actually changes rather than one process getting faster.
It is also the only tier where our fee moves with your results, which is why the mechanism is written down in detail rather than described as alignment.
Engagements like this fail on access and attention, not on technology. So the ask is itemised in the engagement letter and walked through on the kickoff call, which is less than most firms expect.
The refund is affordable because of this section. If your firm is not a fit, the honest thing is to say so on the first call rather than after you have paid us.
Two free resources for founder-led property investment firms. Neither needs a meeting.
Fifteen questions across five areas. See how AI-native your firm is today and which area to fix first, with your results on screen and by email.
Take the assessment →The operating model, department by department: the Three Horizons, the Company Brain, and what running on AI does to the number of deals your team can act on. Includes State of AI in UK Property Investment 2026.
Get the free report →We go through which of the four surfaces is hurting most, whether a Foundation Session would find anything worth acting on, and what happens if it doesn't.
Book the Foundation Session — from £2,000Refunded in full unless the session identifies a bottleneck worth at least 25 basis points of the capital you plan to deploy over the next twelve months.
Four surfaces, four layers, and the sequence every engagement follows. Published so you can judge it before paying for it.
Read the method