AI development · Automation · Custom software
Put AI to work where your business
actually loses time and leads.
I dissect the workflow, engineer the automation, and hand you a working system — fixed scope, fixed price, delivered on a date. The proof is a working product catalog and a production platform I build, operate, and maintain every day.
The operating details matter.
Useful automation is the work between data, decisions, integrations, exceptions, and the person responsible for the outcome.
Engagements
Three practical ways to start
Project work is fixed-fee with a delivery date. Ongoing operations are optional, capacity-bound, and month to month. Each proposal names the boundary before money moves.
Automation Pilot
Start herefixed · 50% to reserve, 50% at acceptance
Prove one high-value workflow in production before making a larger commitment. The outcome, acceptance test, and price are fixed before the build starts.
- ✓One workflow, up to three existing tools, and one defined outcome
- ✓Baseline, edge cases, human-review path, and acceptance test agreed first
- ✓Production deployment, runbook, and operator walkthrough
- ✓10-business-day build once access is ready, plus 14 days of defect correction
Custom AI System
milestone billed · scope and dates agreed first
For multi-step or customer-facing systems that need custom code, data handling, several integrations, or a durable operator interface.
- ✓Architecture, delivery milestones, dependencies, and acceptance plan
- ✓Custom code, data flows, and integrations beyond a single workflow
- ✓Observability, guardrails, and an explicit human-control path
- ✓30 days of defect correction, handoff docs, and ownership transfer
Managed Operations
one production system · month to month
Optional post-launch operations for a system I built or have audited. Capacity is explicit, and you can keep the system without the plan.
- ✓Automated health checks and alerts; human response during Eastern business hours
- ✓Up to four engineering hours each month for tuning, fixes, or small changes
- ✓Monthly reliability, usage, and provider-cost review
- ✓Provider accounts stay in your name; third-party usage is billed direct with no markup
Starting-price assumptions
One decision maker, timely access to the required tools, a stable approved scope, and no regulated-data or custom compliance program.
Client-controlled variable costs
Hosting, model usage, telephony, and software stay in your accounts. Provider charges are estimated before launch and never marked up.
Acceptance protects both sides
The pilot's final 50% follows acceptance. Custom milestones have their own deliverables and acceptance criteria before payment.
Prices are USD. Managed Operations is available after an Egan Forge build or a paid system audit. Work outside the written scope is quoted before it starts.
Proof of capability
The systems I've built and run
The standard is software designed around real inputs, integrations, decisions, and operating constraints. These are systems I have built, tested, or operate, presented with their status and privacy boundaries instead of borrowed client logos.
Review all selected builds →Selected application builds
Field safety, people operations, public-safety scheduling, interactive surveys, and web-native presentations — shown at capability level with precise status and privacy boundaries.
Explore selected builds→Autonomous ops platform
A multi-agent oversight system with persistent memory, cost budgets, an audit ledger, and failure-learning loops. It runs the company you're reading about — production evidence, not a fleet-size boast.
How the company runs itself→Production SaaS suite
12 customer tools currently available — caption generation, meeting notes, email drafting, docs, and more — with lifecycle state and availability governed by one catalog.
Explore the tools→Public engineering field notes
Architecture decisions, operating lessons, and failure reports from systems built and maintained in production. The useful parts are published without pretending every experiment worked.
Read the field notes→How it works
A clear three-stage engagement
Check fit and economics
In 20 minutes, we identify the workflow, its current cost, the access required, and a measurable outcome. If the economics or access do not support a build, I say so.
Lock scope and acceptance
The written scope names the integrations, client dependencies, acceptance test, delivery date, and payment schedule. Pilots are 50/50; custom systems are milestone billed.
Build, prove, and hand off
The system is tested against the agreed acceptance criteria, documented in plain English, and handed over with a defined defect-correction window.
Direct access to the builder
I'm Josh Egan, a solo senior operator based in West Virginia. My work starts with the actual operating environment: phones ringing while the team is in the field, quotes waiting in inboxes, and reports that consume the end of the day.
Egan Forge is the engineering practice built around systems I operate myself: workflow agents, operator dashboards, publishing controls, integrations, and production software. The person who scopes the work also architects, builds, and hands it off.
I keep project scopes bounded and managed support capacity explicit. If your problem isn't a fit, I'll tell you on the call and you've lost 20 minutes, not a deposit.
Josh Egan · ceo@eganforge.com · EganForge LLC, West Virginia, USA
FAQ
Straight answers
What if it doesn't work?
The acceptance test is written before the build starts. For the Automation Pilot, the final 50% is due only after that test passes. In-scope defects found during the 14-day correction window are fixed without another project fee.
Do I need to be technical?
No. You describe the problem in plain English on the fit call. I handle the engineering, and everything ships with handoff docs written for the person who actually runs the work.
What tools do you work with?
Whatever you already use — Google Workspace, Outlook, QuickBooks, your CRM or field-service software, your phone system. If it has email or an API, I can usually automate around it. You don't switch tools to work with me.
Why is the custom system a starting price?
The number of workflows, integrations, data sources, security requirements, and operator interfaces changes the work materially. You receive a fixed milestone proposal before the build starts; a starting price is not permission for an open-ended invoice.
Are software and API fees included?
No. Hosting, model usage, telephony, and third-party software stay in accounts you control and are billed to you at the provider's published rate. The proposal includes a usage estimate, and Egan Forge does not mark those costs up.
What does Managed Operations include?
The starting plan covers one production system, automated monitoring, human response during Eastern business hours, and up to four engineering hours per month. Larger changes or additional systems receive a quote before work begins.
Who is this for?
Service businesses and small teams drowning in repetitive, high-leverage work — missed leads, unfollowed quotes, hours lost re-keying data between tools. Local trades, professional services, and founders running lean all fit. If you have 1–50 people, that's the range.
Do you have client case studies yet?
Egan Forge is early in client services, so I do not publish invented logos or outcomes. The Selected Builds page documents real application and operating-system work with each build's status and privacy boundary stated explicitly. Your engagement still starts with a bounded scope and an acceptance test you can evaluate directly.
Start with the workflow
Describe the bottleneck
Drop your email, your company, and the bottleneck that costs you the most. You'll get a reply within one business day with a straight answer: what's automatable, which offer fits, and what it costs.
- ✓20-minute call, no pitch deck
- ✓Written scope and acceptance test before a deposit
- ✓Provider-cost estimate with no usage markup
- ✓“Not a fit” is a real answer you might get
Prefer email? Write to ceo@eganforge.com with "Fit call" in the subject.