The RIVER Retainer
Your dedicated AI team. One monthly fee.
We build, coach, and lead clients into the AI era. Our retainer gives you unlimited access to all of our capability, from $5,000 a month + GST.
Month to month, one month’s notice. You own your data, your workflows and your IP.
More done every month. Without hiring for it.
- Your people more productive, on the work that matters
- A clear view of your business, on data you can trust
- More output, without more headcount
- Modern systems that get smarter every month
Access to our full capability. Month to month, you choose the mix:
We build
AI-first apps, workflows, integrations and automations. Real software running in your business, on the systems you already have.
We coach
Your team gets properly good at AI: the right work done well, the boring stuff handed off. On your own workflows, not a course.
We lead
Where to start, what pays off first, and the ROI to make the business case. Direction set with real numbers, not opinions.
Unlimited requests. Regular delivery.
Your tier sets the pace, and we deliver.
Weeks 1 to 2
Your roadmap
We plan together and agree what “delivered” means before anything starts, then you add to the roadmap whenever you like.
Weeks 3 to 6
First delivery
Your first delivery - something running, a session, or a document you can put to use.
Weeks 7 to 12
The rhythm
We keep working the roadmap and review it with you regularly - the rhythm that keeps paying off.
We deliver, or we work for free. If a month goes by and we haven’t delivered something you can name, that month is free.
RIVER helped us validate our market and launch our platform, and they haven't stopped since. They've been with us every step.
Mike CollinsFounder, iMatch Sport · 2025Choose how fast you want to move.
A Retainer is how we work with you on new features and delivery, month by month.
| Tier | Price | Where you are | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retainer | $5,000 | “AI should be taking real work off our team this year.” | Something new every 3 to 4 weeks. A named RIVER team and quarterly planning. |
| Retainer+ | $7,500 | “We need this governed, and visible to our board.” | Something new every 2 to 3 weeks. AI governance and reporting for your board. |
| Retainer Black | $10,000 | “We’re running the business on this.” | Something new every 1 to 2 weeks. A named AI leader owning your AI agenda. |
| Enterprise | Quoted | “Multiple entities, regulated, or sovereign.” | Scoped with you. |
Retainer Black is around 3x the output of Retainer, as more time goes to delivery over planning.
Support keeps your existing hosting and infrastructure live, without new delivery.
| Tier | Price | Where you are | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support | $2,000 | “We’re live, and we just need it kept running.” | Hosting and infrastructure. A minor support request each month. |
| Support+ | $3,000 | “Live, and we want steady upkeep.” | Hosting and infrastructure. Minor support and quick-wins each month. |
Prices may vary based on application size and complexity.
Need to move faster one month? Add a sprint from $5,000 one-off + GST, priced on the work.
Lock in six months, and your SaaS Audit is on us - valued at $5,000, and the sharpest way to start your AI-first command centre and cut SaaS sprawl.
The questions people ask when they’re ready to start.
The tier sets the pace, not a timesheet. A quiet month never wastes unused time, and a busy one never runs out halfway.
- To budget against, $5,000 a month is typically 15 to 30 hours of change, with hosting, monitoring and support underneath it so the platform stays live while it grows.
- Add people, add a report, add another feed - the monthly doesn’t move. No per-seat charge, and no new quote each time.
One proper piece of work, finished. The month goes into something you can name at your review, start to finish. Any one of these is a typical month on the standard Retainer:
- A SaaS audit and roadmap, showing which tools you can reduce or replace, and what that saves you.
- A three-part AI coaching series, tailored to your organisation and built on your team’s own work.
- A new module, integration or major feature - reporting dashboards for your managers, a finance or CRM integration, or the next capability on your roadmap.
We deliver, or that month is free. The risk sits with us, not you.
- A delivery is something real you can point to at your review - a capability running, a workflow live, an integration in place. Named work against your roadmap, not a status update.
- If a month passes with nothing you can name, you don’t pay for it.
- It assumes the parts only you can give us: agreed access, your data, and one person who can make a call.
Where hosting is bundled into your monthly, hosting still runs, so the difference is free.
Any month, with one month’s notice. No penalty, and no committed term as standard.
- Drop to RIVER Support to keep everything live and pause new builds, then come back up when the work returns.
AI usage is included in the fee, up to an agreed allowance. No separate bill, and no credits to top up. Beyond that allowance the extra is charged at cost, set out in your Proposal, so nothing lands as a surprise on the invoice.
You leave with everything.One month’s notice, and we hand over a full export of your data, configurations and workflows in standard formats. No lock-in clause holds anything back, and the platform can stay readable through the transition.
Easy to start. Fast to prove. Built to scale.
Tell us what you're working on and we'll take it from there. Prefer to look first? Ask Moana, or take the free Readiness Check.