You get a roadmap built on your firm's real maturity, sequenced so the first move pays for the next.
The problem you showed up with
You've got pilots running in three corners of the company and no one can say if any are working. Your leadership team is asking what your AI plan is, and you don't have one that survives contact with how the business actually runs. The vendors all promise the same thing. You're stuck because nobody handed you a plan that fits your firm.
You're not imagining the gap. In PwC's 29th CEO Survey, 56% of CEOs said AI hasn't delivered any significant financial benefit yet. The spend went out. The return didn't. The firms getting a return built the workflow first, then bought the tools to run it.
What you get
A prioritized roadmap tied to where your firm actually stands with AI.
Your roadmap names your real bottlenecks, scores your firm across six dimensions, and sequences the work so the first project funds the next one. You'll know what to do in the next 90 days, what comes after, and why in that order. When you're done, you can put the plan in front of your leadership team and your board, and it answers most of the questions they'd ask.
The methodology: Pacemark
Pacemark is an AI maturity model for leaders who want to see where their firm stands and what comes next. It scores your firm across six dimensions (Strategy & Leadership, People & Culture, Data Readiness, Workflows & Operations, Technology Infrastructure, Governance & Ethics) and places each on a five-level scale, from first experiments to firm-wide transformation: Ad Hoc, Pilot, Integration, Acceleration, Transformation. That score is your Pacemark Index.
People & Culture carries the same weight as the technology. Most models score the tech and skip the part that decides whether anyone uses it.
The score comes from Discovery (interviews with your team and the signals in how they already work), not a form your people grade themselves on. The framework can be published. The interpretation is the work.
See the model at pacemark.ai, or run the free Signal Scorer in under 10 minutes for a first read of your Pacemark Index and a radar across the six dimensions.
What working together looks like
AI Roadmap. We run the Discovery, score your firm, and build the prioritized plan. You walk away with a sequenced set of projects, the maturity picture behind them, and a first 90 days you can start on Monday. This is the front door, and most firms start here.
Build. We do the work in the plan with you, designing the new workflow, standing up the tools, and getting your people using them. This is where the gains land. More on the AI implementation consulting page.
Retainer. We stay on as the work spreads across the firm: measuring adoption, adjusting the plan, and keeping the next projects moving.
Proof
At Keller Associates, a mid-market civil engineering firm, I ran a seven-week Discovery: interviews with almost a third of the firm, a Pacemark score across all six dimensions, and a read on what was actually happening with AI, office by office. From that I built the prioritized roadmap (the first 90 days, then the next eighteen months) and presented it to all 33 owners at their shareholder meeting. The first move I recommended cost nothing new: get more out of the tools they already paid for, where only about one in ten people were really using them.
"He talked with almost a third of the firm before he recommended anything, then handed us a clear, prioritized plan: what to do first, what to do later. He told us to get more out of the tools we already pay for before spending on anything new. He's not selling us software. The roadmap Dan has provided is what we needed to accelerate our AI journey."
Larry Rupp, PE
President & CEO, Keller Associates
That's the whole roadmap: design the work, then buy for it.
Who this is for
This fits architecture, engineering, and construction firms, and professional-services firms, in the $20–100M range, led by a founder or CEO who can make the call.
If you're below that, the free Signal Scorer is the right place to start.
Questions
What does it cost?
It depends on the size and complexity of your firm. We scope it on the call, and Build and Retainer are scoped after, against the plan.
How long does the roadmap take?
Weeks, not months. The Discovery interviews and scoring are the bulk of it, and you get the plan while the conversations are still fresh.
Do you do the work, or just advise?
Both. The roadmap is the plan. The Build is where my team and I do the work with you. Plenty of firms have a plan and no one to run it, and that's the part we stay for.
What industries do you work with?
Mostly AEC (architecture, engineering, construction) and professional-services firms. The methodology travels across sectors, but that's where most of the work lives.
What happens after the roadmap?
You own the plan, whether or not we build it together. Most firms move into Build on the highest-value project first, then into a Retainer as the work spreads.
Ready to see where your firm stands?
Book a 20-minute call. We'll talk through where you are, what's getting in the way, and whether the AI Roadmap is the right next step.
