Pricing

What It Costs - and How We Price

Most consultancies make you sit through three calls to hear a number. Here is how Brightmere charges, in full: fixed fees agreed before work starts, every finding sized in pounds so you can weigh the fee against it, and - if you want it - a structure where part of our fee rides on the cash we actually recover. No day rates. No open-ended retainers.

The structure

Four stages, each priced on its own

You commit to one stage at a time, and each stage ends with something worth having on its own. Nobody prices a diagnostic honestly before seeing the data - so we don't.

1

Discovery

Map the data before anyone commits

Before we price the diagnostic, we look at what your systems actually hold: what data exists, what's accessible, what's missing. You get the data map either way - it's genuinely useful even if you stop here - plus a precisely scoped X-Ray proposal.

2-3 daysFixed fee: [CONFIRM: £1,500-£2,500]Half upfront, half on deliveryStandalone deliverableNo commitment beyond it
2

The Cash X-Ray

One week. Every finding sized in pounds.

We read your ledgers line by line and name every pocket of trapped cash - which SKUs, which customers, which terms - each one sized in pounds, prioritised by impact and speed. The test we hold ourselves to: the X-Ray should identify a multiple of its fee in recoverable cash. If Discovery suggests it won't, we tell you and stop there.

One weekFixed fee, agreed after Discovery: [CONFIRM: bracket, e.g. £7,500-£12,500]Fixed fee, no meter runningFindings sized in £Priced to your data, not boilerplate
3

Release

Fix the leaks - and share the risk if you prefer

Release is scoped against the sized findings, so you decide with the numbers in front of you. Structure it as a fixed fee, or as a smaller cash fee plus an agreed share of the cash actually recovered, measured against the baseline we set in the X-Ray. We're happy to be paid on recovery - we sized the findings, so we can stand behind them.

1-3 months, scoped to findingsFixed fee, or smaller cash fee + share of recovered valueYou choose the structureRecovery measured against a baselineScoped only after findings exist
4

Cashflow Operating System

Keep the cash visible, month after month

A standing analytical layer that keeps what we found visible: the live 13-week forecast, early-warning alerts, and monthly written commentary on what's moving and what to do about it. Deliberately priced low, continues until you cancel - no annual lock-in, stop whenever it stops earning its keep.

Monthly, until cancelled[CONFIRM: low monthly subscription, e.g. £X00/month]Live 13-week forecastEarly-warning alertsCancel any time

The principles

Why we price like this

Priced on value found, not hours worked

You're not buying our time; you're buying named, sized pockets of your own cash. The fee is fixed before we start, and every finding carries a pound figure you can weigh it against.

The investment test

A diagnostic that finds £200K of recoverable cash is cheap at several times its fee; one that finds nothing is expensive at any price. That's why Discovery comes first - and why we'll tell you to stop if the prize looks small.

A baseline in every engagement

Every engagement sets a measured baseline - DSO, stock days, working capital as a share of sales - so recovery is provable, not claimed. It's also what makes recovery-linked fees possible: you can only share what you can measure.

What we don't do

No day rates. No time-and-materials. No open-ended retainers that outlive their usefulness. If what you need is ongoing senior finance leadership rather than cash found and freed, a fractional CFO is the better buy - and we'll say so.

For context

What the alternatives cost

Published market rates for adjacent work, so you can judge our fees against the field rather than in a vacuum (US rates; UK typically runs 60-70% of US for equivalent scope).

Big 4 quality of earnings review (3-6 weeks)$20,000-$75,000
Fractional CFO one-time assessment$5,000-$12,000
Fractional CFO project work$10,000-$75,000
Mid-market data analytics project (fixed scope)$50,000-$250,000
Specialist senior consultant, hourly$175-$450 / hour

Want a number for your business?

A 30-minute call is enough to tell you whether there's cash worth going after and exactly what Discovery would cost. No pitch deck, no follow-up sequence.