Pay for Results, Not for Hours.
Thinking of taking on a data analyst or an AI contractor? A hire costs you every month from day one, and a contractor invoices for every day they turn up, whether or not anything works. We quote one fixed price, build in weeks, and you pay the second half only when the tool passes tests you write.
The Same Problem, Three Ways to Solve It.
Whether you need someone to make sense of your data or someone to put AI to work in it, here is how a permanent analyst, a contract AI implementer and TEOX compare on the things that decide whether you ever see a return.
| What matters | Permanent data analyst | Contract AI implementer | TEOX |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Their time, every month | Their days, on a timesheet | A working tool, against a written scope |
| When you pay | Monthly payroll, from day one | Weekly or monthly, for days attended | Half on order, half when it passes your tests |
| What it costs | About £61,000 in year one | About £36,000 for three months | One fixed price, agreed before we start |
| Before work starts | About five weeks to fill the post, then their notice period | Days or weeks to find the right person | A 90-minute process walk, and a fixed price within 48 hours |
| Knows engineer-to-order | Rarely. Learns your business on your payroll | Rarely. Learns your business at their day rate | We have priced the tenders and drawn the GAs |
| Skills you get | One person | One person | Estimating, engineering, Power Platform and AI, in one team |
| If it overruns | The salary keeps going | You pay for every extra day | Our problem. The price only moves if the scope does |
| Bugs after delivery | Their time, your cost | New days, new invoice | Fixed at our cost: 12 months on tier builds, 90 days on starter builds |
| Who owns the code | You | They do, unless your contract assigns it in writing | You, on payment, as standard |
| When they leave | The knowledge leaves too | The knowledge leaves too | A handover pack your own IT provider could work from |
| Holiday and sickness | At least 5.6 weeks' paid leave a year, plus sickness | The work stops when they do | Three of us cover each other, and plans carry a written response time |
| Tax and status | PAYE, National Insurance and pension admin | An IR35 status decision, if you are a medium or large business | A supplier invoice for a defined deliverable |
| Your management time | Line management, reviews and training | Daily direction | You approve outcomes, with working software every week |
| What it runs on | Whatever they know | Whatever they know | Your Microsoft 365, your files, your licences |
| Their incentive | A steady job | The longer it takes, the more they earn | The same fee however long it takes us, so speed is on us |
Paid on Delivery, Not on a Rolling Monthly Invoice.
A contractor's invoice arrives every month whether the tool works or not. Our build invoice arrives twice, and the second one depends on the tool doing what you said it must.
Walk or assess
For one tool, a free 90-minute process walk. For bigger work, a fixed-fee assessment, credited against your first build. Either way we find where the hours go.
Fixed price, your tests
One price against a written scope, with the acceptance tests in writing. On a starter build you write the three tests the tool has to pass.
Half on order
We build on your Microsoft 365 and files. You see working software every week and steer it as it grows, not a big reveal at the end.
Half when it passes
The second half is due when the tool passes. If something fails, you tell us what, we fix it, and the invoice waits until it does.
What the Money Actually Buys.
A hire costs more than the number on the job advert. Here is year one of a data analyst and three months of an AI contractor, set against a fixed-price build.
Year one
- Salary, Yorkshire median
- £45,000
- Employer's NI, 15% above £5,000
- £6,000
- Employer pension, 3% minimum
- £1,163
- Recruitment fee, 20%
- £9,000
- Year one
- £61,163
Paid monthly from their first day, while they learn what a variation is and where your costing workbook lives.
Three months
- Day rate, UK median
- £600
- Working days
- 60
- Three months
- £36,000
Nothing in a day-rate contract says the tool has to work. If it needs another month, that is another invoice.
One workflow, end to end
- On order
- 50%
- When it passes your tests
- 50%
- Fixes at our cost
- 12 months
- The code
- Yours
Starter builds come in smaller still, fixed-priced within 48 hours of a 90-minute process walk.
All figures exclude VAT. Salary: ITJobsWatch, data analyst, Yorkshire, median advertised salary for the 6 months to 18 September 2026 (£50,000 for the UK outside London). Day rate: ITJobsWatch, artificial intelligence engineer, UK, median for the 6 months to 6 October 2026 (£438 for a contract data analyst in England). Employer's National Insurance: 15% above the £5,000 secondary threshold, 2026/27. Pension: 3% employer minimum on qualifying earnings above £6,240 (DWP, 2026/27). Recruitment fee: 18 to 22% of first-year salary for IT roles (Recruitly, 2026). Time to fill: about 5.2 weeks for technology and digital roles (StandOut CV, via NatWest Mentor, April 2026). Paid leave: 5.6 weeks statutory minimum.
Straight Answers Before You Decide.
Isn't a contractor more flexible?
What if the tool fails one of the tests?
Are you cheaper than a contractor?
Is anything billed monthly?
Do we need anyone technical in-house?
What if we need changes later?
Can we still hire an analyst later?
Will you replace our people?
Tell Us the Job You Were Going to Hire For.
We will walk one real piece of that work with you for 90 minutes, on site or on Teams, and you will have a fixed price within 48 hours. If a hire is the better answer, we will tell you.