Hire an ops manager? Or build the asset they'd be hired to run?

Hiring an operations manager costs $280K–$495K/year and adds another person you can't step away from. Maximus is the layer that produces the documented operations, clean books, and KPI history a buyer pays a higher multiple for — without adding another payroll dependency.

Look in the Mirror

The real cost of hiring a full front office

Role	Salary	Benefits (25%)	Turnover Cost	True Annual Cost
Receptionist	$38K	$9.5K	35%	$52.5K
Inside Sales	$48K	$12K	40%	$68K
Marketing Coord	$45K	$11.25K	45%	$62.75K
Customer Service	$35K	$8.75K	50%	$47.75K
Office Coord	$36K	$9K	30%	$49K
Dispatcher	$42K	$10.5K	25%	$58K
AR Clerk	$40K	$10K	30%	$55K
Marketing Agency	$55K	$13.75K	40%	$76.75K
TOTAL	$339K	$84.75K		$469,750

Maximus

$697/mo or 10%

of recovered revenue, whichever is higher. Founding 20 rate: $497/mo or 8%.

That is 97%+ less than hiring. And the AI works 24/7.

The hidden costs nobody calculates

Recruiting: Post the job. 5 applicants. Interview 3. Hire 1. Takes 6 weeks. You answered phones the entire time.

Training: 2-4 weeks to ramp. During training, they are a cost, not a contributor. And you are the trainer.

Turnover: Average office employee lasts 8-14 months. Then you start over.

The math nobody does: Your receptionist quits. 6 weeks to replace. 3 missed calls/day for 42 days = 126 missed calls at $287 each = $36,162 in lost revenue during the gap.

Why hiring an ops manager doesn't build the asset

Most contractors thinking about scale hit the same wall: I need someone to run this so I can step back. The default move is to hire an operations manager. The math says $200K–$300K all-in (salary, benefits, recruiting, turnover risk). That's a real check.

Here's the part nobody talks about: an ops manager you hire is another person you depend on. They take vacation. Get sick. Quit. Demand a raise. Set their own hours. And — the version that matters most — they often become the new bottleneck. The shop now runs through them instead of through you, but it still depends on a single person.

At exit, a buyer doesn't pay extra for the ops manager you hired. They pay extra for what the ops manager produced — if it was documented.Most ops managers don't document. They are the documentation. When they walk, the institutional knowledge walks with them.

Maximus is the opposite. Every action is logged. Every change is date-stamped. Every decision and reason is captured. The KPI history compounds. The morning briefings document operations from day one — automatically. The asset gets built whether you're paying attention or not.

The frame

Hire the ops manager and you get another person. Add Maximus and you get the infrastructure the ops manager would have been hired to build. PE doesn't buy chaos. PE buys what Maximus builds.

Maximus vs Hiring. Every category.

	Hiring 8 Employees	Maximus (8 AI Agents + Operations Manager)
Annual cost	$280-495K	$697/mo or 10% (whichever higher)
Available hours	8hrs/day, weekdays	24/7/365
Deploy time	6-12 weeks per hire	48 hours
Sick days	8+ per employee	Zero
Turnover	30-50% annually	0%
Training	2-4 weeks per hire	Zero (self-learning)
Simultaneous calls	1 per person	Unlimited
Morning briefings	None unless you ask	Every day, automatically
Consistency	Varies by mood	Same quality. Every time.

We win when you win.

90 days. If Maximus does not recover more than you pay in fees, every dollar back.

You keep whatever the agents collected. Email one sentence: "I want my refund." Processed in 48 hours. No call. No forms. No guilt trip.

Read the full guarantee →

Frequently asked questions

Why is this page about exit and selling? I'm not selling.

You don't have to be selling for this to matter. The work that makes a business sellable — documented operations, clean books, KPI history, an owner who can step away — is exactly the work that makes the next five years of running it less exhausting. Whether you sell or not, the asset gets healthier. That's the whole pitch.

Am I really replacing employees with AI?

You are replacing the ROLES, not the people. Most contractors do not have a full front office. They have 1-2 overworked people doing 4 jobs badly. Maximus fills the roles nobody is doing — and produces the documentation a hired ops manager rarely does.

What if I already have an ops manager?

Keep them. Add Maximus as the layer underneath. Your ops manager spends less time on call answering, AR follow-up, and dashboard-building. More time on the work that actually requires judgment. The documentation Maximus produces makes their job easier — and makes your business worth more whether they leave or stay.

What if I already have a receptionist?

Keep them for in-person and complex calls. Maximus handles after-hours, overflow, and the calls they cannot get to. Plus the rest of the roles your receptionist is not doing.

Does this put people out of work?

Maximus fills positions contractors cannot fill. The industry has a severe labor shortage. Maximus fills the gap hiring cannot.

What if Maximus does not perform?

90-day guarantee. If Maximus does not recover more than you pay in fees, every dollar back. You keep everything he collected. The risk is zero.

More comparisons

vs ServiceTitan vs Jobber vs Housecall Pro vs Answering Services

Build the asset. Not the dependency.

P.S. — An ops manager you hire is another person you depend on. The institutional knowledge walks when they walk. Maximus is documentation by default — every action logged, every change date-stamped, KPI history compounding from day one. Hire the ops manager OR build what the ops manager would be hired to manage. We'd build it.