Before investing in AI automation, you need to know whether the math works. Here’s a simple ROI framework any business owner can use in 5 minutes.
Calculate your current admin costs: hours per week on admin × your effective hourly rate. At 15 hours/week × $60/hour = $900/week or $46,800/year in opportunity cost.
Calculate lost lead revenue: missed leads per week × average job value × conversion rate. At 10 missed leads × $500 × 30% = $1,500/week or $78,000/year.
Calculate automation cost: Starter $400-600/month. Growth $1,000-1,500/month. Enterprise $2,000-3,500/month.
Conservative ROI: automation saves 50% of admin time and captures 30% of missed leads. That’s $23,400 in recovered admin time plus $23,400 in captured leads = $46,800 in annual value. Against $4,800-18,000 annual automation cost, the ROI is 260-975%.
Most Perth businesses see positive ROI within 2-4 months. The longer you wait, the more leads and productive hours you lose.