AI development services.
Six builds, six outcomes.
AI development services are the stages between an AI idea and a system running in your business: a costed strategy, workflow automation, custom software, AI integration, a product you sell, and evaluation of what you have already shipped. Pick what you want to walk away with — a strategy your team trusts, hours back in your team's week, a tool your team uses, a capability your engineers call, a product you sell, or proof that the AI you already shipped works. The first five are ordered by commitment; the sixth fixes what is already live. Same builder method behind all six.
Ferrous Labs is a London AI engineering studio. We build and run bespoke AI solutions for UK businesses — systems designed around one organisation's own processes, data and constraints rather than bought off the shelf and configured to fit. They take one of six forms: a documented AI strategy, an automated workflow, an internal tool your team uses, an AI service your engineers call, a SaaS product you sell, or measured reliability for an AI feature you have already shipped.
Every build applies The Science of AI™ — a four-stage method that scopes and costs the work before you commit. Each one starts with a scoping call with a co-founder, and nothing is committed until the work is scoped and costed. Based in Streatham, London; delivering across the UK. See what we have delivered → · What counts as "bespoke"? →
Three situations. Six ways in.
You need a starting point. You know AI matters but not what is worth building. AI Strategy Consulting gives you a costed decision; the Opportunity Finder gives you a first shortlist in five minutes.
You have a defined need. A workflow to automate, a tool your team needs, a capability for your product, or a product to sell. Go straight to the build — workflow, team tool, AI capability or SaaS product.
You have AI already live. An agent, RAG pipeline or prompt chain in production that you need to trust. AI Agent Evaluation measures it.
| Service | For you if | You get | First step | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Strategy Consulting | Operations are losing time and money and you need to know where | Processes mapped, a costed list of projects, the ROI on each | A scoping call with a co-founder | See AI Strategy Consulting → |
| Workflow Automation | A repetitive workflow is eating your team's week | The workflow automated end to end, with human review where it matters | A scoping call with a co-founder | See AI Workflow Automation → |
| Tool Build | Your team needs a tool no vendor sells | An internal tool your staff use every day | A scoping call with a co-founder | See Custom Software Development → |
| Service Build | You need an AI capability inside an existing stack | An AI service your engineers call — see ExtremeReach | A scoping call with a co-founder | See AI Integration → |
| SaaS Product Development | You have expertise and customers who would pay for it as software | A product you sell, co-built and yours to own, with a Revenue or Equity Partnership available from the production build onwards | A scoping call with a co-founder | See SaaS Product Development → |
| AI Agent Evaluation | An agent, RAG pipeline or prompt chain is already live | A reliability specification, an evaluation suite, a baseline and a regression gate | A scoping session, then one feature in four weeks | See AI Agent Evaluation → |
Find where operations
lose time and money.
When you need to know what to fix before you fund it. We map your processes end to end, find the waste with Lean Six Sigma, and make the business case for each fix: the investment, buy or build, and the return in time and cost saved.
What's included
- ✓ Business processes mapped end to end in Process Flow
- ✓ Waste and automation opportunities found with Lean Six Sigma
- ✓ A business case for each: investment, buy v. build, return
- ✓ Go / no-go with your leadership team
- ✓ Build briefs and SOW where you proceed
Hours back in your
team's week, in 8 weeks.
Repeat work running on autopilot. Agent-driven automation handles invoice processing, document triage, supplier coordination, status chasing, report generation. The work that follows clear rules and eats senior time.
What's included
- ✓ Workflow mapping + automation scoping
- ✓ Agent flows built (n8n, Make, agent frameworks)
- ✓ Integration with your existing systems
- ✓ Team training + supervisor handover
- ✓ Application Maintenance
Put an AI-powered tool
in your team's hands.
A standalone application your operational team uses every day. Built around how the team actually works. Integrated with your existing systems. Used, not shelved.
What's included
- ✓ Workflow analysis + UI/UX design
- ✓ Prototype + production app
- ✓ Optional custom AI inside
- ✓ Rollout + team training
- ✓ Application Maintenance
Get the AI capability
your engineers can call.
A production AI service in your stack, accessed via MCP server or API. Your engineers integrate it the way they integrate any other service. Production-grade, observable, cost-engineered.
What's included
- ✓ Hypothesis stage: scope and plan
- ✓ Data assessment + candidate models
- ✓ Production model + service layer + deployment
- ✓ Clean handover + observability
- ✓ Model + Application Maintenance
Turn what you do
into a product you sell.
A recurring-revenue SaaS product, built on your expertise and your data, sold to your existing customers or to new ones. Co-built with us and yours to own — or, from the production build onwards, funded through a Revenue or Equity Partnership, so our return depends on the product working, not just delivering.
What's included
- ✓ Product vision + business model
- ✓ MVP + production product (multi-tenancy, payments)
- ✓ Launch + ongoing model evolution
- ✓ Equity Partnership available
- ✓ Maintenance + ongoing development
Make your AI feature
measurable.
For teams who have already shipped AI. We identify what “good” means for your agent, RAG pipeline or prompt chain, decompose it into measurable variables, choose the metrics, and build the tests that tell you whether it actually works.
What's included
- ✓ A reliability specification — the variables that define success
- ✓ A small set of metrics that quantify them
- ✓ An evaluation suite built around your feature
- ✓ A quantified reliability baseline
- ✓ A regression gate in your deployment workflow
Three partnership models. Applicable to any build.
Any of these builds can be structured under one of three partnership models — Delivery, Revenue, or Equity. The model is decided before the Formulation stage, once the scope is clear.
How partnerships workBespoke AI solutions
by sector.
The six builds stay the same; what changes is the problem they are pointed at. If your sector is below, we have delivered into it before.
Specialist technical firms
Accountants, lawyers, surveyors and engineers — bespoke AI that cuts review and drafting time. Usually a Tool Build or Workflow Automation.
Document-heavy operations
Intelligent document processing, extraction and triage at volume. Usually Workflow Automation or a Service Build.
Industrial & engineering
Predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, sensor and signal AI. Almost always a Service Build.
Client-service businesses
Agencies and service firms where margin lives in delivery hours. Usually Workflow Automation, or a SaaS Product Development — see how consultancies build recurring revenue.
Data & forecasting
Demand forecasting and decision support built on your own history. Usually a Service Build or Tool Build.
Not listed?
The method does not change with the sector. Take the free Opportunity Finder and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right team for your problem.
Choosing a bespoke AI build:
questions answered.
Who builds bespoke AI solutions in London?
Ferrous Labs is a London-based AI engineering studio that builds and runs bespoke AI solutions for UK businesses, working from 1 Empire Mews, Streatham, London SW16 2BF and delivering nationwide. A bespoke AI solution here takes one of six forms: a documented AI strategy, an automated workflow, an internal tool your team uses, an AI service your engineers call via API or MCP server, a SaaS product you sell, or measured reliability for an AI feature you have already shipped. Every build follows The Science of AI™, a four-stage delivery method that scopes and costs the work before you commit. For the difference between configured software and a genuinely custom build, see what counts as bespoke →
Which AI build should we start with?
It depends on what you want to walk away with. Start with AI Strategy Consulting if you need to know where your operations lose time and money, and what fixing it would return. Start with AI Workflow Automation if your team is losing hours to repetitive work. Start with an Custom Software Development if a specific team needs something to use daily. Start with an AI Integration if your engineers need a capability you cannot hire for. Start with a SaaS Product Development if you want to turn existing expertise into a product you sell. Start with AI Agent Evaluation if you have already shipped an AI feature and cannot prove how accurate it is. The free Opportunity Finder produces a personalised shortlist in about five minutes.
How much does a bespoke AI solution cost in the UK?
AI Strategy Consulting costs £2,000 to £10,000 per function and runs for four to eight weeks. Build engagements are scoped and priced after the Hypothesis stage, the first stage of every build — this means you see a costed plan before committing to a full build, and you can stop at that boundary. Cost is engineered deliberately rather than accepted: for ExtremeReach, Ferrous Labs delivered vector retrieval at roughly 10× cheaper than the off-the-shelf alternative. For how that compares with UK day rates and other suppliers, see the AI consultancy UK guide, or read more on what AI tools actually cost →
Who owns the AI system you build for us?
That is set by the partnership model, which is chosen before the Formulation stage, once the Hypothesis and Experiment stages have made the scope clear; Revenue and Equity Partnerships are available from Formulation onwards. There are three: a Delivery Partnership, where you commission and own the build outright; a Revenue Partnership, where you pay less up front and we take a share of the revenue; and an Equity Partnership, where Ferrous Labs takes equity in the resulting product. The model is decided when the work is understood, not before — see how partnerships work.
What happens after the AI system goes live?
Maintenance is part of the model, not an upsell. Every build ends in Execution — a live system with monitoring and a documented hand-off — and Model + Application Maintenance keeps it running: model retraining as your data changes, infrastructure tuning, and iterative improvement. Ferrous Labs treats a build as a live system it stays accountable for, not an artefact handed over and abandoned.
What AI development services does Ferrous Labs offer?
Six: a costed AI strategy (four to eight weeks, £2,000 to £10,000 per function), AI workflow automation (live in six to eight weeks), a custom AI tool your team uses daily (eight to twelve weeks), a production AI service your engineers call via API or MCP server, a SaaS product built on your expertise, and an Agent Improvement Sprint for AI you have already shipped. Each is scoped and priced after a short first stage you can stop at. For what each one delivers and what you need ready, read AI development services explained.
Take the Opportunity Finder.
Get clarity in 5 minutes.
Talk it through with Catalyst, our AI guide — or type. Personalised AI build shortlist. Free, no commitment.