The Hours Back calculator

How much of your week could you get back?

A few quick questions about the three jobs in every business. You get an estimate of the hours and money on the table, where we'd start, and the working behind every number.

Question 1 of 8About 2 minutes

Your business

Tell us about the business.

Skip either one if you'd rather not say.

How the numbers work

Every result is an estimate from your answers, published research and our stated assumptions, rounded down. Nothing you type is saved unless you choose to send it. The AI Audit replaces the estimate with your real numbers.

Hours back

Your hours of routine work, times 9% to 36%. That's the share of the work that suits an agent, times the time saved, less 25% for checking the agent's work. The low end uses the 40% less time people took on writing tasks with AI help in a controlled study. The high end uses what our clients saw: Nexus Survey Group's quotes went from six hours to about forty minutes, which we round down to 80%. The research puts the share that is technically automatable at 60% or more, so that's our ceiling. Our low case is 30%, because a lot of small-business admin needs your judgement, a call or a visit. The 30% and the checking allowance are our assumptions, not research. The real number could be lower, including none.

Money back

Only what you pay others that you say could go down counts: times 12, times the same share. It's a gross figure, before our fees. If you're not sure it could go down, we don't show one. Your team's time is shown separately, as time freed, and never added to it.

Working days

Hours back a week, times 48 working weeks (52 less 4 weeks of annual leave), over 12 months, divided by a 7.6 hour day (38 hours over 5 days).

Enquiries waiting

Your enquiries a month, times the share you said don't get a reply within the hour. If you're not sure how fast you reply, we don't count any. We don't turn these into lost dollars. We just count them.

Where we'd start

The jobs you tick point to a department. A bigger load (25 or more hours a week of routine work across you and the team, 30 or more enquiries waiting, or a larger team with plenty to do) points to Ground Up, a whole AI Department. Otherwise Marcus, the way to test it first. Anything you marked Not sure counts for nothing here, and two or more Not sure answers means we'd rather talk first. If the numbers are light, we say so.

Sources

Each source checked on 29 September 2026. Studies from outside Australia are marked.

MIT News, 2023 · US study
MIT News report on Noy and Zhang, Science, 2023(opens in a new tab)
“Access to the assistive chatbot [...] decreased the time it took workers to complete the tasks by 40 percent, and output quality, as measured by independent evaluators, rose by 18 percent.”
Measured on writing tasks in an experiment, not on admin in general. We use it only for the time saved on routine work that suits an agent.
ISA client result, 2026
Nexus Survey Group: quote turnaround with their AI employee(opens in a new tab)
“Quotes went from six hours or more to about forty minutes.”
One client's result on one job, in the owner's words to Moe. Not a study. We use it, rounded down to 80%, only as the high case for time saved.
McKinsey Global Institute, 2023 · Global study
The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier(opens in a new tab)
“Current generative AI and other technologies have the potential to automate work activities that absorb 60 to 70 percent of employees' time today.”
Technical potential, not measured savings. We use it only as a ceiling on how much routine work could suit an agent.
Fair Work Commission, 2026
Clerks, Private Sector Award 2020 [MA000002], clause 16 Minimum rates, Table 3(opens in a new tab)
“Level 2, Year 1: minimum weekly rate $1119.10, minimum hourly rate $29.45. (Table 3, Minimum rates. The award text incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 July 2026, PR799280, PR799283 and PR799440.)”
Australian Taxation Office, 2026
About Payday Super(opens in a new tab)
“The super guarantee amount is calculated as 12% of qualifying earnings.”
Fair Work Ombudsman
Annual leave(opens in a new tab)
“Full-time and part-time employees get 4 weeks of annual leave, based on their ordinary hours of work.”
Fair Work Ombudsman
Maximum weekly hours fact sheet(opens in a new tab)
“for a full-time employee, 38 hours (unless their award or enterprise agreement specifies different hours)”
Harvard Business Review, 2011 · US study
The Short Life of Online Sales Leads(opens in a new tab)
“Firms that tried to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving a query were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead (which we defined as having a meaningful conversation with a key decision maker) as those that tried to contact the customer even an hour later”
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2026
Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2022 - June 2026(opens in a new tab)
“At 30 June 2026 there were 2,814,778 actively trading businesses in the Australian economy, with 996,203 of these businesses being employing.”

Not financial advice. The calculator gives estimates only and doesn't guarantee any result. Any installation has its own written scope, outcome and window, agreed after the AI Audit.