Joeckel Design

AI development &
workflow automation

When an off-the-shelf bot isn't enough: custom AI agents, business workflow automation, and assistants trained on your own data. Built lean, priced to cover its cost — and we'll tell you where you don't need a custom model.

Book a Free Discovery CallOr browse the ready-made AI add-ons →

What We Build

Custom AI, scoped to your actual problem

Custom AI agents

Purpose-built assistants that do a specific job — summarize call transcripts, triage inbound email, enrich CRM records, watch inventory and flag reorders.

Workflow automation

Multi-step processes wired across the tools you already use, so repetitive work runs on its own and a human only steps in at the decision points.

Assistants trained on your data (RAG)

A chatbot or internal tool that answers from your documents, policies, and records — specific and grounded, not a generic model guessing.

Document & data extraction

Turn invoices, forms, PDFs, and messy text into clean structured data your systems can actually use.

Internal staff tools

The unglamorous time-savers your team would build if they had a developer — quoting helpers, report generators, lookup tools.

Fine-tuning (when warranted)

Genuine model fine-tuning in the rare cases it beats a well-built workflow — and a straight answer about when it doesn't.

Right-Sized AI

Knowing where you DON'T need a custom model is half the job

Plenty of shops will happily sell you a "custom-trained model" you don't need — it sounds impressive and runs up the bill. We work the other way. A language model is called only for the part of a workflow that genuinely needs judgment; everything around it runs on ordinary, deterministic code that costs almost nothing and never hallucinates.

For most businesses, "trained on your data" means a retrieval-grounded assistant (RAG), not a fine-tuned model — same result, a fraction of the cost and maintenance. When fine-tuning is genuinely the right call, we'll scope it. When it isn't, we'll save you the money. That discipline is exactly why your retainer stays predictable instead of ballooning.

We're not theorizing: Joeckel Design runs its own business on custom AI workflows — the lead pipeline, the SMS assistant, the ad and content engines. We didn't learn this for clients; our whole shop runs on it.

How It Works

Discovery → build → we run it for you

1 · Discovery

Free call → a fixed-scope written proposal. No surprises, no commitment to start.

2 · Build

One-time build fee scoped to complexity (roughly $1.5k–$7.5k+). You see it working before it goes live.

3 · Operate

Monthly ops retainer (several hundred/mo) — we run it, monitor it, and improve it. Priced to the workload so usage cost is always covered.

Exact numbers come in your proposal after the discovery call. Want something smaller and ready-made instead? The à la carte AI add-ons (chatbot, text bot, booking, reviews, content, follow-up) start at $29/mo.

Book a Free Discovery Call(920) 203-1581

Frequently Asked

Custom AI development questions

Can you build a custom AI agent for my business?+
Yes — custom agents are the core of this service. Common builds: a tool that summarizes customer call transcripts, automated invoice or document data extraction, an inventory or CRM agent, an email triage assistant, or a multi-step workflow that moves work across the tools you already use. We start with a free discovery call, write a fixed-scope proposal, build it, and then run it for you on a monthly retainer.
Will you train an AI on my own data and documents?+
Yes. For most businesses this means a retrieval-grounded assistant (RAG): the AI answers from your actual documents, policies, catalog, or records — so responses are specific and accurate, not generic. Your data stays in your systems; we send only the narrow context each request needs. This is what "trained on your data" means in practice for a small business, and it is far cheaper and faster than fine-tuning a model from scratch.
Do you fine-tune custom AI models?+
When it is genuinely warranted — and honestly, for most small businesses it is not. Fine-tuning a model has real cost, needs a lot of clean labeled data, and adds ongoing maintenance, while a well-built workflow with retrieval over your data gets you the same result for a fraction of the price. Part of what you are paying us for is knowing when you do NOT need a custom-trained model. If your case is the exception that benefits from fine-tuning, we will tell you and scope it.
How much does custom AI development cost?+
A one-time build fee scoped to complexity (roughly $1,500 to $7,500+ depending on the system), plus a monthly operations retainer in the several-hundred-per-month range that keeps it running, monitored, and improving. The retainer is priced to the workload so the underlying AI usage cost is always covered. You get the exact numbers in a written proposal after a free discovery call — no surprises.
What can AI actually automate in my business?+
Recurring written work and judgment-light decisions: answering routine questions, drafting replies, turning unstructured input (a chat, an email, a transcript, a form) into structured action (a booking, a record, a routed ticket), and following up so nothing slips. What we will not automate — and will tell you to keep human — is anything needing real judgment about a specific relationship, or anything where being wrong carries legal, medical, or financial consequences.
Why hire you instead of wiring up the AI tools myself?+
Two reasons. First, the hard part is not calling a model — it is the engineering around it (data, integrations, error handling, cost control, keeping it reliable). Second, and this is the real value: we keep the cost down by using AI only where it earns its keep and running everything else on plain, cheap, deterministic code. We run our own business this way — the lead pipeline, the SMS assistant, our ad and content engines — so you are hiring people who do this daily, not as a side experiment.

Tell us the workflow that's eating your week

Bring the repetitive, time-sucking process. We'll figure out whether a custom AI build fits, whether a ready-made add-on covers it, or whether you're better off keeping it manual for now — and we'll tell you straight.

Book a Free Discovery CallSee the AI Add-Ons