Frequently asked questions
Every question we get asked, answered honestly.
Licensing, pricing, timelines, migrations, support — the things people actually want to know before hiring a SharePoint and Power Platform consultancy. Straight answers, real numbers, and an honest "it depends" only where it genuinely does.
Licensing & cost
What it costs, and what Microsoft already includes
Do we need to buy new licenses to work with you?
In most cases, no. SharePoint, Power Apps and Power Automate are included in most Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise plans, and the majority of what we build runs entirely on those included licenses. Before any project starts, we confirm exactly what your plan covers — so there are no surprise Microsoft costs.
When do premium licenses actually apply?
There are four common triggers: storing data in Dataverse instead of SharePoint lists, connecting to premium connectors such as Salesforce or SQL Server, using robotic process automation (RPA) to drive legacy desktop software, and publishing shared Power BI reports, which needs Power BI Pro. If your project needs any of these, we tell you the exact per-user cost before we build anything — never after. Most projects don't need any of them.
How does your pricing work?
Simple and public. One-time setup starts at $5,000 (Basic) and goes up to $20,000 (Enterprise) depending on scope. Ongoing work runs on monthly retainers: 40 hours for $1,000, 80 hours for $2,500, or 160 hours for $5,600 — and unused hours roll over one month. Add-ons range from $250 to $2,000, and extra hours beyond your retainer are billed at $40/hr. Full details are on our pricing page.
Is the 30-minute audit really free?
Yes — genuinely free, no card, no obligation. We look at your SharePoint and Microsoft 365 setup, tell you where the hours are leaking, and you keep the findings whether or not you ever hire us. If we're not a fit, you still walk away knowing what to fix.
Getting started
Kickoff, timelines and what we need from you
How fast can we start?
Usually within one to two weeks of the audit call. Small fixes and quick wins can start within days; larger intranet or automation projects begin once scope is agreed and access is set up. We work remotely, so there is no travel to schedule around.
What does the free audit actually look at?
In 30 minutes we cover where your documents live today, how your team shares and approves work, what your Microsoft 365 plan already includes, and which one or two problems are costing you the most hours. You leave with a short list of quick wins and an honest read on whether you need us at all.
Do you work with companies outside the US?
Yes. We work with clients across the US, Canada, the Gulf region, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and Asia. Everything is delivered remotely over Teams, and we schedule calls in your time zone — distance has never been the hard part of a SharePoint project.
Do we need an internal IT team to work with you?
No. Many of our clients have no dedicated IT at all — we just need a Microsoft 365 admin who can grant access. If you do have an IT team, we work alongside them and hand over documentation so they can own everything we build.
SharePoint & intranets
Cleanups, migrations and governance
What does a SharePoint consultant actually do?
A SharePoint consultant audits how your organization stores, shares and secures information, then designs the structure, permissions and governance that make SharePoint work: site hierarchy, document libraries, metadata, search and a roadmap your team can follow. We also train your people so adoption sticks.
Can you fix our messy SharePoint, or do we have to start over?
In most cases we fix what you have. We map what exists, archive what is dead, restructure what is live, repair permissions and introduce naming and metadata standards. Starting over is the exception — usually only when the old environment is beyond salvage or built on an unsupported version.
How long does a migration take, and will our links break?
A typical small-to-mid-size migration takes two to six weeks depending on volume and cleanup. We migrate in phases, keep the old location read-only until cutover, and redirect or update the links that matter most. Some deep bookmarks into old folder paths will change — we flag those up front rather than pretend otherwise.
What is SharePoint governance and why does it matter?
Governance is the set of rules that keeps SharePoint clean after launch: who can create sites, how permissions are granted, how documents are named, retained and archived. Without it, every SharePoint slides back into chaos within a year. We write governance as one readable page per policy — light enough to follow, strong enough to last.
Power Platform
Power Apps, Power Automate and what they can do
What can Power Automate actually automate for us?
Anything that follows a repeatable rule: approval chains, document routing, onboarding checklists, invoice and PO handoffs, reminders and escalations, data syncing between systems, and scheduled reports. A good test: if someone describes a task as "I copy this from here to there every week", it can almost certainly be automated.
What's the difference between canvas and model-driven Power Apps?
Canvas apps give you full control over the screen — you design every button and layout, which suits focused tools like inspection forms or request trackers. Model-driven apps generate the interface from your data model in Dataverse, which suits complex, record-heavy processes like case management. Canvas apps usually run on standard licenses; model-driven apps require Dataverse, which is premium. We recommend whichever fits your process and budget, not whichever bills more.
Who maintains the apps and flows after launch?
Your choice. Everything we build is documented and handed over, so your team can own it fully. Most clients keep a monthly retainer so we handle monitoring, fixes and improvements — but there is no lock-in, and nothing we build is a black box only we can touch.
Can Power Platform connect to systems outside Microsoft?
Yes. Power Automate and Power Apps ship with hundreds of connectors — Salesforce, QuickBooks, Slack, Google Workspace, Dropbox, Shopify and many more — plus generic HTTP and API connectors for anything custom. Some third-party connectors are premium, which affects licensing; we tell you which ones before the project starts.
Support & training
Retainers, response times and keeping it running
How do your support retainers work?
You pick a block of monthly hours — 40, 80 or 160 — and we use them for whatever matters most that month: fixes, improvements, new automations, training or admin work. Unused hours roll over one month, so a quiet month isn't wasted. If you need more, extra hours are billed at $40/hr, and you can change tiers as your needs change.
How quickly do you respond when something breaks?
Retainer clients get priority. Business-critical failures — an approval flow down, an intranet outage, a permissions incident — are acknowledged within hours and worked until resolved. Routine requests are typically handled within one to two business days. You always know who to contact; there is no ticket queue to disappear into.
Can you support something another vendor or ex-employee built?
Yes — a large share of our support work is exactly that. We start with a short review to document what exists and how fragile it is, stabilize the urgent pieces, then improve from there. You don't need the original builder, and you don't need to rebuild from scratch just to get support.
How does training work for remote teams?
Live sessions over Teams, recorded so anyone who misses them can catch up, plus short written guides for the tasks your team actually does. We train in role-based groups — site owners, approvers, everyday users — rather than one generic session, and we check back a few weeks later to reinforce what stuck.
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Still have a question?
Ask it on a free 30-minute call. We'll answer straight — and if the honest answer is "you don't need us", that's what you'll hear.