Burnaby.Business charges in four ways: by the hour, by the project, by the month, or through the performance-based Growth Partner Program. All prices are in Canadian dollars, and BC clients add 5% GST. The first 30-minute consultation is free with no obligation, retainers carry no lock-in, and the plans and models we produce belong to you. The full group rate card is on BusinessConsulting.ca's pricing page.
Hourly consulting
$175–$350 /hour
Strategy sessions and expert advice by the hour.
Project
$3,500–$25,000 per project
Defined-scope work such as a plan, assessment or launch, with milestone payments.
Monthly retainer
$2,500–$12,000 /month
Ongoing advisory and execution support.
Growth Partner Program
Custom
Performance-based partnership: Ali invests time upfront and is paid on measurable results. Limited partnerships available.
Free initial consultation · no lock-in. The initial 30-minute consultation is free, with no obligation.
Prices in Canadian dollars. Sales tax is added based on the client's province (as of October 2026, CRA rates): 5% GST in Alberta, BC, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, NWT and Nunavut; 13% HST in Ontario; 14% HST in Nova Scotia; 15% HST in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and PEI; 5% GST plus 9.975% QST in Quebec. Provincial sales tax (BC, Manitoba, Saskatchewan) only where it applies to the service. See full pricing on businessconsulting.ca/pricing.
The four ways to pay
Choose the format that matches how defined the work is and how long you want help.
| Format | Price (CAD, before GST) | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly consulting | $175–$350 per hour | A single decision, a second opinion on a quote or proposal, a pricing check |
| Project | $3,500–$25,000 per project | A business diagnostic, growth roadmap, operations review or pricing strategy, paid in milestones |
| Monthly retainer | $2,500–$12,000 per month | Monthly owner advisory, from a session and note to substantial hands-on support |
| Growth Partner Program | Custom | Ali invests time up front and is paid on measurable results; limited partnerships available |
Hourly
Best for one clear question. Owners use hourly time to pressure-test a decision before they commit: whether to sign a large contract, how to respond to a key customer's price push-back, or whether a hire makes sense yet. Two or three hours is often enough.
Projects
Best when the work has a defined start, finish and deliverable. After the free consultation we send a fixed quote and a milestone schedule. A typical diagnostic for a single-location firm sits toward the lower end of the range; a roadmap combined with an operations review for a multi-site company sits higher.
Retainers
Best when you want a senior advisor on an ongoing basis. The lower end of the range covers a monthly session, a written note and access between meetings. The upper end adds more frequent sessions and hands-on work such as building models, drafting pricing guides or running planning days.
Growth Partner Program
Best when results can be measured clearly and both sides want shared risk. Ali invests time up front and is paid on agreed, measurable results. It is not right for every business: it needs clean numbers, an owner who will act on the plan and a result both sides can verify. Places are limited.
What moves a quote up or down
Four factors account for most of the difference between two quotes.
- Complexity. One location and two service lines is quicker to analyse than three sites and eight lines.
- Data quality. Clean monthly figures by service save hours. Shoeboxes of invoices add them.
- Hands-on work. Advising your team costs less than building the pricing model or capacity tracker ourselves.
- People involved. Interviews with five staff take longer than with one.
A worked example of cost against payback
Consulting should pay for itself in a reasonable time, and you can estimate that before you start. Suppose an illustrative Burnaby firm with $1.2 million in sales and a 32% gross margin commissions a pricing project at $6,000 plus GST.
- If the work supports a 3% price increase with no loss of volume, sales rise by $36,000, all of it gross profit.
- That covers the project fee six times over in the first year.
- Even if 5% of volume were lost, gross profit would still rise by roughly $15,000, more than double the fee. (Margin per dollar of original sales rises from 32 cents to about 35 cents, on 95% of the volume.)
Not every project produces this kind of arithmetic, which is why we estimate payback with you before quoting.
How to choose
Start small unless you already know what you need.
- Not sure what is wrong: a diagnostic.
- Know the goal but not the path: a roadmap.
- Busy but not profitable: pricing.
- Profitable but stuck: operations and capacity.
- Have a plan and want help keeping to it: a retainer.
If you are still unsure, call, text or email for the free 30-minute consultation; the contact page explains what to include so it is useful, and the FAQ covers contracts and ownership.
Frequently asked questions
Is GST added to these prices?
Yes. Prices are in Canadian dollars, and BC clients add 5% GST. Your invoice shows the tax separately.
How do you decide where in a range a project falls?
By the size of the business, how many service lines and locations are involved, how tidy the figures are and how much hands-on work you want from us. You get a fixed quote after the free consultation, before any commitment.
Can we stop a retainer?
Yes. Retainers run month to month with no lock-in, so you can stop at the end of any month. You keep every document and model we produced.
What is the Growth Partner Program?
A performance-based partnership in which Ali invests time up front and is paid on measurable results. It suits a small number of businesses where results can be tracked cleanly. Terms are custom, and partnerships are limited.
Are there hidden costs?
No. If an engagement needs outside spending, such as software, printing or advertising, we name it in the quote, and it is paid directly from your accounts wherever possible.