Everything that runs through you has a price, and you can estimate it in ten minutes

The cost of doing nothing is real but hard to see, because it is paid in small amounts of time spread across many people. Put a number on it before you compare it with any fee. Three numbers are enough: the people who retype, chase or check work, the hours each spends on it a week, and what an hour of their time costs.

Hidden costs lose to visible ones

A fee is a single number on a proposal. The cost of the current way of working is scattered across timesheets, late nights and missed follow-ups, and nobody adds it up. So when an owner weighs a fix, the visible number usually wins, and the hidden one keeps being paid.

The owner’s own hours are the largest and least counted part. Owners and executives tell us about the evenings they and their most senior people spend holding the operation together. Those hours rarely appear in any budget.

Three people retyping 8 hours a week cost $48,000 a year

Illustration. Three people each spend eight hours a week retyping information between tools. At a loaded cost of $40 an hour, that is $960 a week, or $48,000 over 50 working weeks. The hourly figure is a middle estimate. US private employers paid $36.73 an hour worked, wages and benefits included, for office and administrative staff in June 2026, and $46.89 across all private-industry workers.¹

1. 2 hours a week$12,000
2. 4 hours a week$24,000
3. 8 hours a week$48,000
4. 12 hours a week$72,000

At 8 hours a week each, three people retyping cost $48,000 a year

Retyping per person	Cost a year
2 hours a week	12000
4 hours a week	24000
8 hours a week	48000
12 hours a week	72000

Source: Verticulate illustration; hourly cost in line with BLS employer-cost data¹

Add the owner’s hours on chasing and checking, at whatever an hour of the owner’s time is worth, and the figure usually grows quickly.

Three numbers give an estimate in ten minutes

Step 1: Count the people

List everyone who retypes, chases or checks work that a system could hold. Include the owner.

Step 2: Estimate their hours

Ask each person, or estimate for them, how many hours a week the work takes. A rough figure is enough for now.

Step 3: Multiply by what an hour costs

Use a loaded hourly cost, wages plus benefits, and multiply by 50 working weeks.

The estimate does not need to be precise. An answer within 50% is enough to show whether a problem is worth a closer look.

Shredded Growth cut onboarding from an hour per client to seconds

Onboarding each new client used to take an hour of manual work. We automated the main onboarding process and built automated sub-processes around it. Onboarding a new client now takes seconds. That saving repeats with every client the company wins. You can read the full case study.