Coastwise Systems Your Personal Tech Department

AI · Automation · Everyday IT · For Small Businesses

Your fractional tech department.

Enterprise-grade thinking at small-business scale: put AI to work on the busywork, automate the follow-ups, and keep the computers out of your way — one person, flat numbers, written scopes.

Flat pricing with a written scope Plain English, never any jargon One person who answers the phone

What I do for businesses

Offices, practices, shops, trades, restaurants, marinas — anywhere the owner is also the unpaid IT department.

First yes

AI Quick Start

$2,500 flat

The fastest honest way to find out what AI can actually do in your shop — not in a keynote.

  • A working session on how your business actually runs — where the hours go
  • 2–3 AI tools chosen for your work, set up, and running (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot & friends)
  • A walkthrough with your team, in plain English
  • A simple AI policy so everyone knows what's okay to put in these tools
The big wins

Automation projects

from $5,000 fixed price, written scope

The busywork that eats your evenings, built into a system that does it for you.

  • Quote & estimate follow-ups that never slip
  • Appointment reminders, invoice chasing, review requests
  • Email triage and after-hours chatbots that answer like you would
  • Built, tested, documented — and warrantied for 30 days after delivery
Everyday IT

Consulting & IT help

$175/hr

Advice, troubleshooting, and hands-on work — by the hour, no retainer required.

  • Computers, networks, printers & the office Wi‑Fi
  • Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace — set up right, cleaned up, secured
  • Backups that actually restore, and security basics that stop the obvious attacks
  • Vendor wrangling — I'll sit on hold with your software company so you don't have to
Websites

Websites live on their own page

from $1,200 audit priced on request

Audits, new sites, local SEO, and the flat-fee Handled Plan — the whole story, with prices, is one click away.

See website plans & pricing

The Tech Caretaker Plan — your flat-fee IT department from $500/mo

Monitoring, maintenance, and priority response for your whole office — one predictable monthly number. Managed-IT firms charge $150–$400 per employee, per month — a five-person office pays $750–$2,000. I'm one flat number, and I actually answer the phone.

Seasonal shore business? I get the rhythm — big projects in the quiet months, steady hands and fast response when the island is packed. From marinas to rental offices, the calendar is part of the plan.

How projects are priced

If you've ever been burned by an open-ended tech bill, this part is for you. Every project, every time:

  • A one-page scope, in writing, before any work begins — what's included, what's not, what it costs
  • Fixed price. The number doesn't move unless the scope does
  • Half to schedule, half at delivery — no surprise invoices in between
  • Changes are quoted, never sprung. Anything outside the scope gets its own written price first
  • 30 days of warranty. If something in the scope doesn't work as described, I fix it free

AI workshops & talks

Half-day, hands-on, and practical — your team leaves actually using AI, not just nodding about it. For businesses, chambers of commerce, and professional groups, from $750.

Book a workshop or talk

Tell me where the hours go.

The follow-ups you never get to, the invoice chasing, the computer that's "always been like that" — call or email me the annoyance and I'll tell you honestly whether tech can fix it, and what that would cost.

Or copy the address: chris@coastwisesystems.com

Or call or text: (215) 208-1817

Or send a note from right here

No email app needed. I'll get back to you personally, usually the same day.

Nothing you write here is shared with anyone but me.

Long Beach Island, NJ The Philadelphia suburbs Remote — anywhere