AI services in North Charleston
Last service: 2026-07-12
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 an engineer who spent his career keeping industrial gas plants running, 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 P.E. who ran a commercial CO2 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, in your own accounts:
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. I started the fleet in February 2026. By June it had grown to about 70 scheduled jobs and passed 10,000 logged runs. The plate below shows what it is doing right now.
The logs were not flattering at first. In May 2026 the fleet's failure rate was 23.7 percent. By June it was 2.0, and the telemetry behind both numbers is published, bad month included.
Pricing, ownership, and what happens if you leave
For a plant or warehouse the map usually starts in the front office. The audit is $1,000 for the first three clients, built systems run $5,000 to $15,000 fixed price, and the monthly watch is $1,500 to $2,000. Every number is on one page.
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. We are new and need case studies we can publish.
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 was a plant engineer before any of this and holds a P.E. license. 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 a straight answer at no charge. If an audit makes sense after that, we will say so, and if it does not, we will say that too.