What is manual work costing your business?
Most growing businesses underestimate the cost of repetitive manual work by 3–5×. Use this quick calculator to see the real annual and 5-year cost of one workflow, then compare it to what automating it would cost.
Quick estimate
Annual cost
$15,000
5-year cost
$75,000
For context: most automations Dorio builds cost between $3,000 and $15,000 once, plus $20–$200/month to run. If your annual cost above is higher than that, automation pays back in under a year.
Why this number is usually conservative
- It only counts the time spent doing the task, not the time spent context-switching back and forth from it.
- It doesn't count errors, missed deadlines, and rework caused by manual handoffs.
- It doesn't count the cost of one person being the bottleneck (and what happens when they're on holiday).
- It uses a 50-week year, ignoring overtime and weekends some teams quietly absorb.
Where to start
The highest-leverage place to start is almost always one of these three:
Common questions
How is the cost of manual work calculated?
Hours per week × 50 working weeks × loaded hourly cost × number of people doing the work. Loaded cost includes salary, taxes, benefits, and tooling, which is usually about 1.4× base pay.
What does it cost to automate a workflow?
Most single-process automations cost $3,000–$15,000 fixed price, with monthly running cost of $20–$200. Most pay back in under a year on saved staff time alone.
Get your estimate
Send us the workflow you ran through the calculator. We'll come back with a fixed-price estimate to automate it, usually within a few days. Free, no pitch.
Get a breakdown of what to automate in your business
Send your email and we'll share the playbook we use with clients to identify the workflows worth automating first.