Most owners who contact us have the same handful of questions, and they deserve straight answers before anyone talks about scope. The questions above cover price, contracts, timelines, ownership and what happens if the work doesn't help. Below are a few longer answers on the points owners care about most.
Frequently asked questions
How much does fractional management cost?
It depends on the format. By the hour it's $175 to $350; a defined project is $3,500 to $25,000; a fractional retainer is $2,500 to $12,000 a month. All prices are Canadian dollars, plus 5% GST for BC clients, and your first 30-minute conversation costs nothing.
Do I have to sign a long contract?
No. There's no lock-in. Notice periods and payment terms are written into your proposal so you can see them before you agree.
How long before something changes?
A scorecard or the first few written procedures are usually in use within a month. A full fractional engagement typically runs six to twelve months, with the handover planned from the start, but the timeline is set in your proposal.
We tried a consultant before and nothing changed. Why would this be different?
Usually the earlier work produced a report and left. We work inside your weekly routine, write things with your staff, and measure a few agreed numbers every month. If those numbers don't move, you'll see it, and you can stop.
Who owns the procedures, scorecards and role descriptions?
You do. Everything is written in your own systems or shared files, and it stays with you when the engagement ends.
How do you report progress?
Monthly, in plain numbers against the baseline we recorded at the start, plus a short note on what was done and what's next. On a retainer, you also see the weekly scorecard.
Can you promise specific results?
No, and we'd be wary of anyone who did. We commit to the work in the proposal and to honest measurement. The results we publish are results from our HVAC work and are labelled that way.
Do you give HR, employment-law or safety advice?
No. We're business and management consultants. Employment-law questions go to the BC Employment Standards Branch and your lawyer, safety questions to WorkSafeBC, and tax or payroll questions to your accountant.
Will you meet us at our premises?
Yes, in-person consultations are available, and so are video calls. Day to day we also use phone, text, email and shared documents, fitted around your week.
What size of business do you work with?
Mostly owner-led businesses with roughly 5 to 40 people. Below that, a short owner time audit is usually enough; above it, you may already need a full-time manager, and we can help you hire one.
Do you only work with trades?
No. We work with trades crews, clinics, studios, shops, restaurants and professional practices. What they share is an owner who is still the bottleneck.
Can you work with our existing manager?
Yes. Often the most useful engagement is coaching a manager who was promoted without support, and building the routines they need around them.
How quickly do you reply?
Our hours are Mon–Fri 9–6 Pacific. We usually reply within one business day, whether you call, text or email.
What "fractional" really means
A fractional manager does a manager's job for part of the week. The aim is to make the role work, and then to hand it to someone inside your business.
That's different from a coach, who advises but doesn't run anything, and from a full-time hire, who costs a full salary before the routines exist. A fractional arrangement suits the in-between stage, when the business is too big for the owner to manage alone but not yet ready for a permanent manager. The fractional operations manager page goes into detail.
Why we insist on measurement
We agree three to five measures at the start, because without them neither of us can tell whether the work is helping. Typical ones are owner hours per week, open items older than 14 days, time from enquiry to quote, and booked capacity for next week.
We record the starting point honestly, even when it's uncomfortable, and report against it every month. That's also how you protect yourself if you've been burned by a consultant before: the numbers tell you whether to carry on.
What we need from you
Fractional management only works if the owner backs it. In practice that means four things:
- An hour a week of your time for the weekly meeting and a short check-in.
- Redirecting staff. When someone goes around the new routine to ask you directly, send them back to it.
- Access to your booking, job-management and accounting tools, at whatever level you're comfortable with.
- Honesty about the problems you'd rather not talk about.
Signs fractional management isn't right for you
It's better to know this before you call. Fractional management is probably the wrong choice if:
- You have fewer than four staff. The management load is small enough that an owner time audit and a few procedures will usually do.
- You want someone on site all day. A part-time manager can't replace a supervisor who needs to be physically present.
- The real problem is a partner dispute. That needs a mediator or a lawyer, not a manager.
- You won't let go of decisions. If every call still goes to you, the routines won't take hold, however good they are.
If one of these applies, we'll tell you in the first conversation, and suggest a smaller or different first step. Often that's a few hourly sessions to sort out one decision, which costs far less than a retainer and still leaves you with something written down that you can act on yourself.
How an engagement usually ends
Every fractional engagement has a planned finish. Usually that's the point where an in-house manager is running the weekly meeting and the scorecard without help, and the written procedures are being kept up to date by their owners.
At that stage most owners either stop entirely or keep a small block of hourly time for a monthly check-in. Either way, everything we built stays in your systems. The handover is part of the scope from the first month, not something improvised at the end, and it's described in the proposal for your fractional operations manager or other service.
Where to go next
If you're still deciding, the services overview helps you pick a starting point, the pricing page explains each format, and the guides let you try the methods yourself first. For anything not covered here, see the contact page and call, text or email.