Frequently Asked Questions

What kinds of businesses do you work with?

Any business that produces something it can count and needs to know what producing it costs. That's most businesses. The unit is just called something different in each one: a ton, a unit, an install, a job, a patient, a billable hour.

I've done this first-hand in construction and field work, power delivery, and healthcare, so those references are the strongest ones I have. They are not the boundary. What matters is whether the people doing the work know what happened, and whether you have the access needed to build on your own data. I'll tell you honestly if I'm not the right fit.

Do you work outside the United States?

Yes. I'm in Minnesota and work remotely; clients are in the US and Canada today. Everything is built inside your own accounts, so where I sit doesn't matter to the system. Invoices in your currency are handled through Wise, and on-site visits are the one thing quoted separately.

How does pricing work?

One flat monthly fee, with no hourly rate, no timesheet and no overage. The first month is the assessment and costs the same as every month after it; it ends with a working system in your accounts and a roadmap with costs for everything else. Then it is month to month: ten days' notice from you before the next month, thirty from me. Training on what I build and all the AI and development tools I use are included. On-site visits are the only thing quoted separately, and your platform licenses are bought by you in your own name so nothing passes through me. When the building is done you can withdraw at no cost, or keep me on at a much smaller flat fee to check the system's health every business day. The full terms are a short document I send before anything is signed.

Are you tied to a specific software platform?

No. A lot of what I build sits on Microsoft 365 and Azure for one plain reason: many clients already pay for it, and spending their money twice is hard to justify. That's about their situation, not a limit on mine.

When a need goes past what any platform provides, I write the application: web apps, phone-first apps, portals, integrations with whatever you already run. And I'd still rather point you at an existing product than build you something worse.

What does a typical engagement look like?

A free conversation first, about where information gets lost in your business. If it makes sense to go on, we sign a short agreement and the first month begins at the ordinary monthly fee. That month ends with something working in your own accounts, on your real data, and a one-page list of what could come next with a cost against each item. From there it is your call each month. You get a shared folder, a Teams channel, written notes after each session and a one-page summary at the end of each month.

How do payments work?

Invoices come from QuickBooks with a Pay Now link for card or US bank transfer (ACH), and the payment is applied to the invoice automatically. Clients outside the US pay by local bank transfer through Wise. See my Payments page for details.

Do you sign NDAs / handle confidential data?

Yes. Confidentiality is standard in every engagement agreement, and I scope data access to only what's needed to do the work.

Who owns what you build?

You own your data and your deployment, always. Everything runs inside your own accounts, usually your Microsoft 365 subscription, or cloud infrastructure in your own accounts when the work is a custom application. Either way I don't host your data and I don't hold it. You receive the solution files and the documentation, and you get a perpetual license to keep using what I have built for you.

The underlying tooling I build with stays mine, the same way a carpenter owns his saw and the client owns the house. More on why I work this way.

What happens to my systems if we stop working together?

They keep running. Because everything lives in your own accounts, nothing switches off when our engagement ends. Within thirty days I hand over the solution files, credentials, documentation and everything a successor would need. No conditions and no exit fee.

My access is delegated and you can revoke it in one click, at any time, without asking me.

You're one person. What's the risk to me?

A fair question, and worth answering plainly. Your systems run on major cloud infrastructure, Microsoft's or another provider's, in accounts you control. Not on me. My availability doesn't determine whether your business operates tomorrow.

Beyond that: the documentation is written for a successor rather than as a reminder to myself, the solution files are already in your possession, and every configuration decision is recorded with the reasoning behind it. If I disappeared, another competent builder could pick it up. That is by design.

How do I get started?

Email justin@cronkcompanies.com with a short description of the problem you're trying to solve. I'll set up a time to talk it through. If you'd rather not write yet, the First Look page asks six questions and hands you a one-page starting point, with nothing stored and no email needed.

Is your AI going to make things up?

It is built not to. Agents read your live systems through purpose-built tools and name the source of every figure, so you can check it. They are instructed to say a value is missing rather than estimate it, and they are tested against documents that try to redirect them. Content is treated as data, never as instructions. No system is perfect, which is why every number it gives you cites where it came from.

Can the AI change or delete my data?

Only what you have approved in advance, and never delete. It can update a short list of agreed things, each one a single field on a single record, and it asks you first each time. Deleting is not a rule it follows; it is something it has no ability to do, so it cannot be talked out of it.

Will my data be used to train AI models?

No. Agents run inside your own accounts, under an identity you control, and read your live records in place. Nothing you feed an agent becomes training material for a vendor's next model, and nothing it learns about how you price, bid or operate leaves your business.

That constraint decides which tools I'll use at all. A service that reserves the right to train on what you send it doesn't get your data, however good its demo is.

Do you build websites and apps, or only Microsoft systems?

Both, and the split is decided by your problem rather than by my preference. Operational work often lives in Microsoft 365, Dataverse and Azure because that's where a client's data and licenses already are. Client portals, public sites, internal dashboards and progressive web apps that work on a phone in poor signal are the same practice, and when something needs to exist that no platform sells, I build it from scratch.