How Much Does an AI Team Really Cost? (And Why You Can't Afford the 9-Month Wait)

So you've decided to build your own AI product. Smart move. Right now, you're standing at a fork in the road.

Path one is "The Traditional Hire." It’s a long, winding road that takes 6-9 months to travel and costs a toll of over €500,000 in annual salaries before you even reach your destination. There's no guarantee the vehicle you build along the way will even run properly.

Path two is "The Assembled Team." The sign says "Launch in a matter of weeks."

Too many businesses instinctively take that first path because it’s familiar. But you’re not building a simple website; you’re building complex AI. The old rules don't apply. Let's talk about the second path. The fast one. No fluff.

The Sobering Reality of Building Your Own AI Team

The biggest myth in the world right now is that you can just go out and "hire an AI guy."

Dead wrong.

Building real AI software isn't a one-person job. It requires a symphony of specialists who are expensive, hard to find, and even harder to vet. It's a recipe for budget meetings filled with uncomfortable silences.

First, you have the hiring cycle. Finding, interviewing, and onboarding a single qualified AI engineer can take months. Now multiply that by the five or six different roles you need.

You see the problem. While you’re spending half a year building a team, your competitors are already deploying their products.

Your "Dream Team" Roster (And What They Actually Cost)

When you decide to build, you're not just hiring developers. You're hiring a strategic unit. Here’s who you need on your roster:

• AI/ML Engineers: The ones who build and train the machine learning models.
• Data Engineers: The architects who build the data pipelines so your AI has clean fuel to run on.
• Cloud Engineers: The specialists who build and manage the complex cloud infrastructure where your AI lives.
• Full-Stack Developers: The builders who create the actual application and user interfaces your customers will interact with.
• AI Architects: The strategic leader who designs the master blueprint and ensures it all works together.
• Technical Project Manager: The conductor who keeps the entire orchestra in sync and on schedule.

Individually, these roles command six-figure salaries. Together? You’re easily looking at a burn rate of €50,000-€80,000 a month. And that’s before you pay for a single dollar of cloud infrastructure.

So what's the alternative?

There’s a Better Way to Build (Hint: It Doesn't Start with a Job Description)

Instead of spending nine months hiring a team, what if you could engage a pre-built, world-class team that’s ready to go this week?

At Xomatic, this is all we do. We provide comprehensive AI development teams so you can skip the hiring headache and get straight to building. We've already done the hard work of finding and vetting the talent.

They are our full-time employees. They are your dedicated team.

We can assemble your perfect-fit team and integrate them with your workflows in just a couple of business days.

Choose Your Engagement Model

We don't believe in one-size-fits-all. We give you the flexibility you need.

• Fractional Teams: Need C-suite level strategic guidance for a pilot project? This is your answer. You get access to our top-tier AI architects and engineers for 20-40 hours a week without the full-time cost. It's senior expertise on speed dial.
• Dedicated Teams: For complex, long-term initiatives, you need a team that lives and breathes your project. This is your own AI special forces unit, fully committed and integrated directly into your workflows for maximum speed and impact.
• Hybrid Model: The best of both worlds. Get the strategic oversight of a fractional AI Architect paired with a dedicated execution team. It's the most cost-effective way to get senior guidance and scalable horsepower.

Our Proven 4-Phase Playbook

We don't just give you a box of engineers. We give you a proven process for success.

1. Discovery & Team Assembly (1-2 weeks): We dive deep into your goals, map out a high-ROI strategy, and assemble the perfect team for the job.
2. Integration & Onboarding (1-2 weeks): Your new team plugs directly into your systems, tools, and workflows. No friction. Just alignment.
3. Development & Iteration (Agile Sprints): We build. In regular, transparent sprints, you see testable progress and working prototypes. No black boxes.
4. Deployment & Knowledge Transfer (2-4 weeks): We launch your solution and ensure your internal team has all the documentation, training, and knowledge to own it going forward.

Okay, But What Does This Cost? Let's Get Real.

This is the best part. Because we operate with pre-built teams and modular services, we can offer transparent, flexible pricing that traditional consulting firms can't touch.

• AI Readiness Starter (€500-€1,000): Not sure where to start? Let's fix that in one week. We’ll give you a quick-start audit, a 2-hour consultation, and a high-level implementation roadmap. It's the ultimate sanity check, and you get a €500 credit toward any larger engagement.
• Modular Services (From €1,500): Don't pay for what you don't need. Our à la carte menu lets you pick and choose specific services—from a strategy module to an infrastructure build-out.
• Industry Bundles (€35,000-€85,000): We have pre-configured packages for industries like Healthcare, Finance, and Retail. These come with built-in compliance and domain expertise to accelerate your time-to-market.
• Managed AI Services (From €2,500/month): Once you’re in production, our usage-based managed services scale with your growth, covering everything from monitoring to performance tuning.

Your Next Move

You have a choice.

You can spend the next nine months and hundreds of thousands of euros assembling a team from scratch, hoping you get it right.

Or you can have a conversation with us.

Stop drafting job descriptions. Stop waiting. For €500, you can get a complete AI Readiness roadmap and a clear plan for what to build, how to build it, and what it will cost.

Let’s figure out if you’re ready to build.