AI services in North Charleston
O'Donnell AI is a one-person AI operations firm based in Charleston that builds and runs automation for North Charleston manufacturers, distributors, and port-adjacent businesses, on site when the work calls for it. An AI Ops Audit is $2,500 flat and takes about two weeks, automation builds run $5,000 to $15,000 at a fixed price, and managed operations run $1,500 to $2,000 per month. Our founder is a licensed professional engineer who built and operated industrial gas systems, so a plant floor is familiar ground.
An industrial engineer for an industrial town
North Charleston is the working end of the metro, home to manufacturing plants, distribution centers, machine shops, and the businesses that serve the port. Selling AI to people who run physical operations takes more than software vocabulary, so we lead with the part of our background that fits.
Jake O'Donnell, our founder, is a licensed professional engineer who built and operated industrial gas systems, including a commercial CO2 recovery plant. Equipment that has to make spec every day teaches a habit of mind that carries straight into automation. If a system cannot be checked, logged, and trusted to run without babysitting, it is not finished.
What we automate for manufacturers and distributors
The office side of an industrial business carries a surprising amount of repetitive work. These are the systems we build most often, at $5,000 to $15,000 with fixed scope and fixed price, on accounts you own:
Plant-side and equipment-related engagements, whether assessments or builds, are quoted individually rather than at the standard pricing above.
- Quote preparation, from inbound request to a reviewed draft in your own format
- Follow-up sequences that keep quotes and leads from going quiet
- Reporting that pulls the numbers you check every week into one place, on schedule
- Pipeline hygiene, so your CRM reflects what is actually happening
- Back-office paperwork, the invoices, forms, and data entry that eat afternoons
- Marketing posts and updates that go out on schedule instead of never
How we know our automation holds up
We run our own operation the same way we would run yours. Our founder started building his personal automation fleet in February 2026, and in about 135 days it grew to 70 scheduled jobs with more than 10,000 logged runs.
The honest part is what the logs showed along the way. In May 2026 the fleet's failure rate was 23.7 percent. By June 2026 it was 2.0 percent, and the telemetry behind both numbers is published publicly. We would rather show you the bad month and the fix than pretend the bad month never happened.
Pricing, ownership, and what happens if you leave
Start with the AI Ops Audit, $2,500 flat and about two weeks. You get a written map of the automatable work in your business with time savings put in dollars, plus one quick win implemented before the report lands. The first three clients pay $1,000, openly because we are building our public case-study bench.
Builds run $5,000 to $15,000 with fixed scope and fixed price. Managed operations run $1,500 to $2,000 per month, month to month, with breaks caught the day they happen, not the week a customer notices, a plain-English monthly report of what the AI did, and one new automation or visible improvement included each month.
You own the accounts, the keys, the data, and everything we build. AI usage costs pass through at cost with no markup. If you leave, everything stays yours and keeps working.
Questions we hear
Do you come on site in North Charleston?
Yes. We are based in Charleston and on-site work is part of how we operate, across South Carolina and the Southeast. For manufacturing and distribution businesses, walking the actual workflow usually beats a screen share.
What does an AI Ops Audit cost and what do I get?
The audit is $2,500 flat and takes about two weeks. You get a written map of the automatable work in your business with time savings put in dollars, plus one quick win implemented before the report lands. The first three clients pay $1,000 because we are building our public case-study bench.
Can you work on plant-floor or equipment-related automation?
Yes, and those engagements are assessed and quoted individually rather than at our standard pricing. Our founder is a licensed P.E. who built and operated industrial gas systems, including a commercial CO2 recovery plant. Office-side systems like quoting, reporting, and paperwork fall under our standard fixed-price builds.
Is there a long-term contract?
No. Managed operations run $1,500 to $2,000 per month, month to month. That includes every run logged and validated against checks specific to your business, a plain-English monthly report of what the AI did, and one new automation or visible improvement each month.
You are a one-person firm. What happens if something happens to you?
Everything is built on accounts you own. You hold the keys, the data, and everything we build, and AI usage costs pass through at cost with no markup. If we part ways for any reason, it all stays yours and keeps working. Being small is exactly why every run gets logged and validated instead of living in someone's head.
Tell us about your operation
Send over the most repetitive job in your office, or just a question about whether AI fits your shop, and we will give you an honest read at no charge. If an audit makes sense after that, we will say so, and if it does not, we will say that too.