What the market charges — and where this sits
Established agencies charge $40,000–$100,000+ for a premium website project alone, and quality firms won’t open a conversation under a minimum engagement. Custom CRM builds are commonly quoted at $18,000+ for the CRM by itself. Competitive-scope SEO retainers average $3,500+/month — $42,000 a year before anyone builds anything. Meridian’s project combines all three, adds AI agents and AI-search visibility, closes your category — and publishes its floor, so both sides know whether the conversation is a fit before it starts.
The ladder
Website AI Assessment
Where every engagement begins. Your site, checked the way buyers actually find you in 2026: indexability (whether Google is even allowed to list you), every on-page and technical finding with its exact fix, a crawl of your key pages, three competitors benchmarked, and a severity-graded roadmap in the order we’d do the work — this roadmap is what your project proposal is scoped from. It checks whether Claude mentions your business by name, or a competitor instead. The report generates automatically — and so does your Revenue Leak Report, built from your own Google reviews, with your customers’ own words as proof and a conservative dollar range, math shown, delivered right alongside it, no wait. Within 48 hours Garnett, Meridian’s owner, personally prepares a graded Google Business Profile Report for you by hand. Both are included. NYC restaurant or event space? Ask about the in-person room walk — sound, lighting, and video assessed on-site by a Juilliard-trained stage lighting technician with thirty years in live production, because what guests feel in your room becomes your reviews and photos, and those are local SEO. Start your assessment →
90-Day Evaluation
For the buyer who wants to see the work before committing the project. We implement your roadmap’s top priorities for 90 days, on your site, and hand you a plain-language report of what we did and what moved — every month, not at the end. Nothing renews on its own: at day 90 you scale into the project from a proposal priced on real results, or walk away. Read the agreement → Founders price: $1,500/mo for the first 100 evaluation clients — 100 spots left. Sign at the Founders price →The 100 Founders spots are taken — the list price applies.
Foundation Build
Get found, and start capturing. A website built to rank on Google and in AI search — in English, Spanish and French — your Google Business Profile set up and optimized for the Map Pack, your CRM with AI agents scoring every lead and drafting the replies, and the website chat assistant answering from your real details. No custom system; for most first websites this is the build. Scope written before a dollar moves; the second half is yours to withhold until you have seen it live. What a build does not include: category exclusivity and the year-one search program — those belong to the project below. You own everything we build.
Signature Build
Everything in the Foundation Build, plus one premium custom-built system for your business — inventory, booking, quoting, or whatever your operation runs on — its scope written and signed before the deposit clears, with training for you and your staff on the system we built. The website is the front door; this is the building. You own everything we build.
Done-For-You
The whole machine, built and closed to your competitors. A bespoke premium website designed for your business. A custom CRM configured to your booking workflow, with AI agents capturing, scoring, and following up on every lead. The year-one search & AI-visibility program: keyword-researched content, Google Business Profile management, and AI answer-engine (AIO/GEO) visibility work. Launch production — a quarterly on-site photo and video day. And the clause that makes it premium: while you’re our client, we will not take another business in your category in your area.
The exact fee is set in a written proposal prepared from your audit, with scope options at different investment levels — starting at $100,000 per location. Every audit fee you’ve paid is credited in full. A meaningful portion of every payment schedule is withheld until you approve the launch. After year one, a care retainer is optional and quoted in writing — nothing renews automatically. Multiple locations under the same brand? Each one is its own project, its own agreement, and its own fee starting at this floor — see the FAQ below.
Why the flagship costs more than the builds
A build ends when it launches. Done-For-You keeps going for a year — and it takes your category off the market while it does. At $100,000 across twelve months, that is $8,333 a month, less per month than many two-month AI consulting engagements, with a year of search work behind it and your competitors locked out of your category. The builds are finished projects you own. The project is a year of work plus a closed door.
Signature Brand Film
A scripted, insured, fully crewed production — camera, lighting, sound, and where the project calls for it, talent. The film your $100,000 website deserves. Available to project clients and as a standalone engagement. See the production work →
How the ladder credits forward
| You paid | It credits toward | Applied |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000 Website AI Assessment | the 90-Day Evaluation (first invoice), either build, or the Done-For-You project | in full, once |
| $7,500 90-Day Evaluation ($4,500 at the Founders price) | your day-90 continuation proposal is priced on the results it produced | — |
The diagnostic steps never increase what you ultimately pay. They exist so the project is scoped from evidence, not guesswork — and so both sides have seen the work before the big number is signed.
Which step is yours
- You want to know exactly where you stand. The $1,000 assessment. Your report and Revenue Leak Report generate automatically once your payment is confirmed, Garnett’s Google Business Profile Report follows within 48 hours of your report — and it counts toward everything after it.
- You want to see us work before you commit the project. The 90-Day Evaluation — $2,500/mo for three months ($1,500/mo for the first 100 clients at the Founders price), monthly results reports, no auto-renewal.
- You want the website, the profile, and the CRM, finished. The Foundation Build — $9,500, about six weeks, and you own it.
- You also need software your business runs on. The Signature Build — $40,000, with that system’s scope signed before the deposit clears.
- You want the category. The Done-For-You project, from $100,000 per location — and your category closes in your area the day you sign.
Serious about your market?
Start where every engagement starts — the audit — or bring your questions to a call. If your category and area are already taken, we’ll tell you.
Start the $1,000 assessment → Book a call →What we don’t promise
We do not promise rankings, traffic, or revenue, and no agreement we write contains such a promise. We cannot control Google’s algorithm, your competitors’ budgets, or what an AI engine chooses to cite this week. Anyone quoting you a price and a guaranteed position is selling you something they cannot deliver.
Timelines are ranges, not dates. Consistently ranking for competitive keywords typically takes months, not weeks; harder markets take longer. We would rather say that before you pay than after.
Frequently asked questions
Why do projects start at $100,000 per location?+
Because the engagement is exclusive and complete. The project includes a bespoke premium website (established agencies charge $40,000–$100,000+ for this alone), a custom CRM with AI agents (commonly $18,000+ for the CRM by itself), the year-one search and AI-visibility program (competitive retainers average $3,500+/mo — $42,000 a year), and launch production. And when you sign, your category closes in your area. We publish the floor so both sides know whether the conversation is a fit before it starts.
What does “one business per category, per area” mean?+
It’s a written commitment in the agreement: for as long as you remain a client in good standing, Meridian will not accept another Done-For-You client in your primary service category and your neighborhood market. Your competitors cannot buy what we build for you.
What if my business has more than one location?+
Each physical location is its own Done-For-You engagement — its own written proposal, its own signed agreement naming that location, and its own project fee starting at $100,000. This matters most for brands that already operate at more than one address: a restaurant group with two or three locations and event spaces, for example, signs one agreement per location, not one agreement for the whole brand. Category exclusivity is granted per location too, matched to that location’s own neighborhood market.
How is the exact project fee set?+
From your assessment. The $1,000 Website AI Assessment benchmarks your top three competitors and produces a severity-graded roadmap; from those findings we prepare a written proposal with scope options at different investment levels, starting at $100,000 per location. The proposal you accept becomes part of the agreement — and the assessment fee you’ve paid is credited in full.
Is the assessment fee really credited?+
Yes — in full, toward whatever you do next: the 90-Day Evaluation, either build, or the Done-For-You project. The diagnostic step never increases what you ultimately pay.
What is the 90-Day Evaluation?+
A fixed-term engagement at $2,500/month for three months — $7,500, with your $1,000 assessment credited against the first invoice. Prefer one payment? Pay $6,750 up front — a 10% discount — and your assessment credit brings it to $5,750. The first 100 evaluation clients pay the Founders price: $1,500/month ($4,500). Every evaluation and build can also be paid on a payment plan you choose — any monthly amount of at least one-tenth of the fee, paid in full within 10 months of signing. We implement the roadmap’s top priorities and report work and movement monthly. It never auto-renews: at day 90 you scale into the project from a proposal priced on real results, or walk away.
Do you have lower-priced plans?+
Not subscriptions — those are retired. But two builds sit below the flagship: the Foundation Build at $9,500 and the Signature Build at $40,000. Both are one-time projects that end when your site launches, and you own everything we build. What they do not carry is category exclusivity or the year-one search program — those belong to the Done-For-You project. The assessment is still the only self-serve purchase, and it credits forward in full. Existing subscribers keep the terms they signed under. Payment plans: every evaluation and build can also be paid on a payment plan you choose — any monthly amount of at least one-tenth of the fee, paid in full within 10 months of signing.
Do you require a long contract?+
The project is a one-time engagement with its own agreement, paid on a schedule stated in your proposal — a meaningful portion is always withheld until you approve the launch. The 90-Day Evaluation is month-to-month inside a fixed 90-day term and never auto-renews. Ongoing service after year one is optional and quoted separately in writing.
Do you work with restaurants and event spaces?+
Yes — venues are a specialty. Meridian’s founder has spent thirty years in live production as a lighting designer and AV technician, with training at The Juilliard School through its professional stage lighting technician internship — so for New York City restaurants and event spaces the $1,000 assessment can add an in-person room walk: sound, lighting, and video assessed alongside the digital diagnosis. A room that’s too loud or too dark produces short visits, flat reviews, and no guest photos — and reviews and photos are exactly what Google and AI search read. Where the room itself needs work, we can refer independent AV technicians; that work is quoted separately and is never part of the Meridian agreement.