What a private AI setup costs for an office

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A private AI setup for a small office runs about $12,000 to $18,000 one-time: roughly $9,000 to $11,000 for the workstation, $2,500 to $6,000 for the document tools on it, and the rest install and setup. Support after that is $150 to $500 a month if you want it, and nothing is per seat. Below is where every one of those numbers comes from, what pushes yours higher, and when you should skip all of it and use the cloud.

What actually moves the number

Two offices of the same size can be $8,000 apart. The gap is almost never the model or the machine. It is how many people touch the tools, how many documents they point at, and what condition those documents are in.

These are the six things we ask about on the call, in the order they move the price.

1How many people use it. Three or fewer and a Pro workstation covers it. More than three adds 15% to every software line plus $500 to $1,200 for logins and access control, and past four or so users the machine itself steps up from the $9,000 to $11,000 Pro build to the $16,000 to $20,000 office server that serves the whole team over the network.
2How many documents. Under a thousand files, the document-search build sits at its base range. One thousand to ten thousand adds 25%. More than ten thousand adds 60%. That is indexing, testing and the storage to keep it fast, not a volume surcharge.
3How many of those files are scans. This is the single biggest swing. Clean, text-searchable PDFs and Word files are the simple version of the job and come in at 0.8x. A normal mix is 1x. Scans, handwriting, inconsistent layouts and a long tail of exceptions is the complex version at 1.5x. On a $6,000 build that is the difference between $4,800 and $9,000.
4What you have to comply with. HIPAA setup, which is the Business Associate Agreement, access controls and an audit log, is $800 to $1,500. An NDA is no charge, we just sign it. Backups with a tested restore are $300 to $700. Written documentation and the one-page AI policy are $250 to $500.
5Whether we come to you. Shipping a built machine is $150 to $300. Installing it ourselves in the New York, Long Island or New Jersey area is $400 to $800. Further out, with travel, is $1,200 to $2,500. Everything after delivery is remote unless a visit fixes it faster.
6Whether you need hardware at all. If you already own a PC with a real GPU, $150 to $250 buys a 30-minute remote check that tells you so. That is the one line on this page that can delete the largest line on this page.

The ranges

Every figure below is one-time unless it says monthly. Low end is the clean version of the job: digital files, a small team, a standard timeline. High end is the messy version: scans, exceptions, more users, a deadline. Most offices land nearer the middle.

You own the hardware and the software on it. There is no per-seat license, no account, and nothing that stops working if you stop paying us.

Hardware, one-time

Starter workstationOne 16 GB-class GPU. Runs a chat assistant, drafting and small document sets. For one person with light use.: $3,500 to $4,500
Pro workstationRTX 5090 class, 128 GB RAM. The standard ModelSide build, and what most offices get. Handles document-heavy work for a small team.: $9,000 to $11,000
Office serverTwo GPUs, sits on the network and serves the whole team at once. For four or more users, clinics and firms that want one shared machine.: $16,000 to $20,000
Remote check of a PC you already ownThirty minutes. Tells you whether you can skip the hardware line entirely.: $150 to $250

Builds, one-time, before the adders below

Private chat assistantModelSide Chat installed and working on the machine, before any documents are connected.: $800 to $1,500
Document search and summariesBase range, before document volume and team size. Ask a question across your folders, get the answer with the passage it came from.: $2,500 to $6,000
Data extractionPulling named fields out of forms, invoices, charts or contracts into a spreadsheet.: $2,500 to $7,000
Drafting assistantLetters, summaries and first drafts that follow your own templates.: $1,500 to $4,000
Workflow automation, per workflowOne repetitive process, start to finish, with your approval steps kept in. Most offices start with one.: $1,500 to $4,000
Email triage and auto-drafts: $1,500 to $3,500
Meeting and call notes: $1,000 to $2,500
Website chatbot: $2,000 to $5,000
Phone or voice assistant: $4,000 to $9,000
Dashboards and reportingPlus $800 for each data source beyond the first.: $2,000 to $6,000
Web scraper, per site groupA site group is up to three sites with a similar layout. Add 50% where the sites need a login or browser automation.: $1,200 to $3,500
Lead-generation system: $3,000 to $8,000
Fine-tune or customize a model: $3,000 to $8,000
Private deployment on your own serversFor organizations with an IT team. Hosting and operations are monthly, below; your own cloud or hardware costs are separate.: $6,000 to $15,000
Training and setup onlyNo custom build. Models installed on a machine you have, staff trained, one-page AI policy written.: $600 to $1,500
Something elseScoped on the call. If it involves your data and a computer, ask.: $1,500 to $6,000

What moves a build price

Simple, standard or complexApplied to a software build. Clean digital files at one end, scans and a long tail of exceptions at the other.: 0.8x, 1x, 1.5x
1,000 to 10,000 documentsOn the document-search line.: Plus 25%
More than 10,000 documentsOn the document-search line.: Plus 60%
More than three people using itOn every software line. Covers logins, permissions and multi-user testing.: Plus 15%

Connections to software you already run

Export or import connection, eachWe work from a file your system can already produce.: $300 to $800
API connection, eachNeeds an admin login or API key for that system.: $600 to $1,500
Browser-automation connection, eachFor software with no API. We drive its own screens with a login you approve.: $1,200 to $3,000

Compliance and setup

HIPAA setupBusiness Associate Agreement, access controls and an audit log.: $800 to $1,500
NDAWe sign yours, or send ours, before any files are shared.: No charge
Multi-user logins and access control: $500 to $1,200
Backups with a tested restoreTested, not just configured.: $300 to $700
Documentation and one-page AI policyThe page an office policy can point at and say: use this one.: $250 to $500

Delivery, install and training

Shipping a built machine, per machineShips fully built and tested. Setup finishes on a remote call when it arrives.: $150 to $300
On-site install, New York, Long Island or New JerseyOne visit, covering install and network setup.: $400 to $800
On-site install further out, travel includedOne visit.: $1,200 to $2,500
Training session, eachOn-site or remote. One is enough for most offices.: $350 to $600

Timeline

Needed within two weeksHardware is never marked up.: Plus 10% on labor
Needed this weekHardware is never marked up, and the schedule depends on our availability that week.: Plus 25% on labor

Monthly, all of it optional

Basic supportMonthly check-in, model and software updates, remote fixes within two business days.: $150 to $250
Priority supportSame-day remote response, monthly updates, one on-site visit per quarter.: $300 to $500
Improvement retainer, per hourOptional, for ongoing changes after delivery. Not how the build itself is billed.: $125 to $175
Private deployment hosting and operationsYour own cloud or hardware costs are separate.: $400 to $1,200

Ranges current as of September 19, 2026. Parts prices move, and these move with them. Everything here is a range, not a quote: the free 20-minute call produces a written fixed-price scope with a delivery date, and that is the number you agree to.

A worked example

This is a hypothetical, not a past client. It is the shape of office we get called by most often.

A six-person law firm on Long Island. They want one machine that the whole firm can search from, pointed at about 6,000 contracts, leases and closing files, mostly digital with some scans. No HIPAA. They want us to install it in person and walk the staff through it.

Pro workstation, one machine: $9,000 to $11,000
On-site install, Long Island: $400 to $800
Document search and summaries, about 6,000 filesBase $2,500 to $6,000, plus 25% for 1,000 to 10,000 documents, plus 15% because six people use it.: $3,594 to $8,625
Multi-user logins and access control: $500 to $1,200
NDA: No charge
One training session for the staff: $350 to $600
One-time total: $13,844 to $22,225
Monthly, basic support: $150 to $250
TimelineFrom signed scope to delivery.: About two weeks

Add $150 to $250 a month for basic support: monthly check-in, model and software updates, remote fixes within two business days. On a standard timeline, that is roughly two weeks from signed scope to the machine sitting on a desk.

The cheap end of the same idea: a three-person practice that already owns a decent PC. $150 to $250 for the remote check. If it passes, document search over fewer than a thousand files at the base $2,500 to $6,000, no team adder because there are only three of them, plus $250 to $500 for the documentation and the one-page AI policy. About $2,900 to $6,750, about a week, no hardware line at all.

And the floor, if you want to start smaller than that: training and setup only is $600 to $1,500. We install the models on a machine you already have, train your staff on them and write the one-page policy. No custom build. When that earns its keep, we add the first build.

What this does not include

The ranges above cover what we build, install and support. They do not cover these, and we would rather you read it here than find out on the invoice.

The parts, if you buy them yourself. Some offices prefer to buy the hardware directly from our parts list, usually for their own accounting reasons. In that case the hardware number above is your retail spend for planning, and our invoice excludes it entirely.
Your own cloud or server costs on a private deployment. The $6,000 to $15,000 build fee and the $400 to $1,200 a month for hosting and operations are ours. What your servers or your VPC cost is between you and your provider.
Scanning your paper. If the files you want searched are in a filing cabinet, someone has to scan them first, and we do not price bulk scanning. We will tell you what the output needs to look like, and we will work from a scanner you already have on install day.
Fixing the underlying mess. Connecting a folder that nobody has organized in nine years makes that folder searchable. It does not make it organized. If the file names and structure are the real problem, say so on the call and we will tell you honestly whether a build is premature.
Your other software. We do not replace your practice management, case management or accounting system, and we do not resell anyone's licenses. Connections to those are quoted per connection: $300 to $800 for an export or import, $600 to $1,500 for an API, $1,200 to $3,000 where there is no API and we have to drive the software's own screens.
Power and network. The machine sits in your office and runs on your electricity and your network, like any other PC you own.
Training beyond the sessions you buy. Sessions are $350 to $600 each. Most offices buy one and are fine. If you want a session per department, that is real money and it should be in the scope from the start.

When you should use the cloud instead

We sell private setups, so take this section for what it is worth, but it is true and we say it on calls. There are offices for whom a hosted subscription is simply the better answer, and the fastest way to waste the numbers above is to buy a workstation you did not need.

Use the cloud, not us, if any of these describe you.

Nothing you do is confidential. If there is no client file, no patient record and no contract you would be uncomfortable pasting into a public tool, a consumer subscription costs a small fraction of anything on this page and does more.
You are one person with light use. One user, a few documents a week, no compliance obligation. The starter workstation at $3,500 to $4,500 is real, but a subscription is cheaper and you will not miss what it cannot do.
You need the absolute best reasoning on hard, non-confidential work. Local models are strong at searching, summarizing and drafting from documents you give them. On the hardest open-ended reasoning, the largest hosted models are still ahead of anything that fits on one GPU in your office. If that is the work, do it in the cloud and keep the confidential work here.
Your obligations are already satisfied where your files live. If your data is in a suite you are already covered for and your counsel is comfortable with those terms, moving it is a project, not an upgrade. The reason to move is that you want the question gone, not that someone told you to.
You cannot name the task. If the answer to what would it do is a shrug, the correct next step is a free 20-minute call, not a purchase. Half of those calls end with us saying not yet.

How a range becomes a price

Nothing on this page is a quote. It is the same rate card the estimate is built from, published so you can do the arithmetic before you talk to anyone.

The sequence is short. A free 20-minute call where you describe the work and we say plainly whether a local setup fits. If it does, you get a written fixed-price scope: what we build, what it runs on, what it does not do, how it is tested and the date it is delivered. That number is fixed. There is no hourly billing and no change order for something that was in the scope.

Timeline is the one thing that moves the price after the scope is written. A standard timeline costs nothing extra. Needing it inside two weeks adds 10% to labor, and needing it this week adds 25%. Neither marks up the hardware.

If a range on this page is not enough to know whether to have the call, email nat@modelside.xyz or call 516-423-7714 and ask about your specific case. We reply within one business day.

What we would build, field by field, is on the services pages. What happens to your files is on our data-handling page. If you would rather just ask, contact us.

Questions we hear

Why publish ranges instead of a price?

Because a single price would be a guess and you would find out later. Take three users and under a thousand files, so no volume or team adder either way: the same document-search build is $4,800 when those files are clean and digital, and $9,000 when they are scans with inconsistent layouts. Both are honest, and volume and headcount move each of them further from there. Publishing the range and the things that move it lets you do the arithmetic before you spend twenty minutes on a call. After the call you get a written fixed price, and that one does not move.

Do we have to buy a workstation?

No, and you should check before you do. For $150 to $250 we look at the PC you already own on a 30-minute remote call and tell you whether it can run the models you need. If it can, the largest line on this page disappears and you are buying software and setup only. If it cannot, we say so before any money changes hands, and you decide whether to buy one. Two things matter and we can usually tell in the first five minutes: the GPU and how much memory it has.

What is the cheapest real starting point?

Training and setup only, at $600 to $1,500, on a machine you already own. We install the models, train your staff on them and write the one-page AI policy. There is no custom build in that, so it is genuinely a starting point rather than a finished system, but it is enough for an office to find out whether local AI is useful to them. When it earns its keep, the first build goes on top. Add the $150 to $250 remote check first if nobody is sure the machine is up to it.

Is there a monthly fee for each person who uses it?

No. You own the machine and the software on it, and there is no per-seat license. The only monthly numbers on this page are optional: $150 to $250 for basic support, $300 to $500 for priority, $125 to $175 an hour if you want a retainer for ongoing improvements, and $400 to $1,200 for hosting and operations if it is a private deployment on your own servers. Cancel any of them and everything you bought keeps working. Adding people costs you nothing after the build, which is why the 15% multi-user adder is charged once, during the build, rather than forever.

What if the work turns out to be bigger than the range?

That is our problem, not yours. The scope you sign is a fixed price. If we underestimated how messy the documents were, we eat it. What we will not do is quietly expand the scope: if you ask for something that was not in it, we price that separately and in writing before we start, and you can say no. This is also why we ask for a sample of your real files during scoping rather than after. The sample is what turns the range into a number we are willing to be held to.

More questions offices ask before they call

Get a fixed price for your office

A free 20-minute call, then a written fixed-price scope with a delivery date. If a local setup does not fit your office, we say so on the call.

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