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Fees & formats

What it costs, before you ask.

Advisory firms rarely publish this. We publish it because the alternative is two calls spent establishing whether we are in the same range, and those calls are a cost to you as much as to us.

Three formats.

Orientation review

One bounded question, answered from the evidence you already hold. Often used to work out whether a full diagnostic is warranted at all.

Duration
One week
Fee
$6,000
Basis
Fixed

Includes

  • Half-day orientation session
  • Review of existing data and documents
  • A short written answer with the reasoning shown

What we need

Two hours from one senior person, and read access to what you already have.

Full diagnostic

The main engagement, and the one most enquiries end up in. Every stage of the method, ending in a decision paper and the model behind it.

Duration
Four to six weeks
Fee
$28,000 – $45,000
Basis
Fixed within band, set at orientation

Includes

  • All four stages of the method
  • Interviews across the team, not only the leadership
  • A working model with assumptions exposed and editable
  • A challenge session before the recommendation is finalised
  • Two weeks of follow-up questions at no charge

What we need

Two hours a week from a senior sponsor, and honest access to the numbers.

Standing counsel

Available only after a diagnostic, because the value is in already knowing the business. A standing call and a line you can pull between them.

Duration
Rolling, monthly
Fee
$4,500 / month
Basis
Cancellable with a month's notice

Includes

  • One scheduled session a month
  • Asynchronous questions between sessions
  • A written note after each session, so decisions have a record

What we need

Nothing beyond turning up. Cancel any month; there is no minimum term.

Fees

How the number behaves.

Fixed before we start
The fee is agreed in writing at orientation and does not move. If the scope changes, that is a new agreement with a new number, discussed before any work happens.
No hourly billing
Nobody at Meridian records time against a client. An engagement that takes us longer than expected is our problem to absorb, which is the correct incentive.
Orientation is refundable
If we cannot write the question down in one sentence at the end of orientation, the engagement stops there and the fee is returned in full.
Nothing is billed twice
Travel, materials, follow-up questions and the model itself are inside the fee. There is no schedule of extras at the back of the agreement.

In the right range?

Say what the decision is, roughly what has been set aside for it and when it needs answering. The enquiry desk takes it from there, and will tell you straight away if we are the wrong firm.