The people who won the work are the people who do it
Consulting is sold by senior partners and delivered by whoever is available. We name the individuals in the contract, commit their hours in writing, and send you a monthly report of who actually did the work.
What we commit to in writing
Every engagement letter names the individuals, states their committed hours and sets out what happens if we fall short. The monthly report shows what was actually delivered.
Advisory delivered by the people you were sold
Harrowfield Co works with mid-market and owner-managed organizations across Southern California on strategy, operations and commercial decisions.
Strategy and Planning
Where the business should focus and what it should stop doing, sequenced against the capacity to actually execute it rather than presented as a list.
Operating Model Review
How work actually moves through the organization, observed rather than described in workshops, with the gap between the two reported plainly.
Commercial Due Diligence
Assessment of a market, a target or a major commitment, reported to you unedited including the findings that argue against proceeding.
Performance Improvement
Margin, pricing and cost work with the baseline measured before anything changes, so the result can be assessed rather than claimed.
Interim Advisory
Short senior engagements for a specific decision, priced by the named individual and capped in hours so the scope cannot quietly expand.
Board and Executive Support
Preparation and challenge for boards and leadership teams, including asking the question the room has been avoiding.
Sold by partners, delivered by whoever is free
The pitch team disappears after signature
A senior partner runs the pitch, shapes the thinking and wins the work. Delivery starts, and the people in the room are three years out of university with the partner appearing at a monthly steering meeting.
Nothing in the contract prevents it. Most engagement letters name a firm and a fee, not individuals and hours, so substitution costs the firm nothing and is invisible to the client until the work feels thin.
- Individuals named in the engagement letter
- Committed hours stated per person
- Substitution requires your written consent
- Monthly report of who actually delivered
Hours are a contractual commitment, not an intention
Every engagement letter names the individuals who will do the work and the hours each is committed to. Replacing anyone requires your written agreement, and we will propose a specific person rather than a grade.
Shortfalls are credited automatically. If a named person delivers fewer hours than committed, the difference is returned on the next invoice without you having to notice or ask.
- Written consent required for any substitution
- Shortfalls credited without being chased
- Maximum one junior per two senior hours
- Weekly hour statements on interim work
We cannot leverage the way the industry does
Consulting economics rest on leverage: winning with expensive people and delivering with cheap ones. Capping the ratio at one junior hour per two senior hours removes most of that margin.
It also limits how many engagements we can run. Senior capacity is finite and contracted, so we turn work away rather than accept it and staff it thinly.
- Lower margin by design
- Engagements declined when senior capacity is full
- No contingent or success fees
- Fixed fees agreed before work starts
How an engagement runs
Five stages, and the staffing commitment is settled before the fee is agreed.
Scoping conversation
What the decision is and what would make the work useful. Without charge, and it sometimes concludes that you do not need a consultant for this.
Staffing and hours committed
The individuals who will do the work, their committed hours, and the terms for substitution. This goes in the engagement letter before the fee is discussed.
Baseline and evidence
What is measurable now, observed directly rather than gathered in workshops, so the position before the work is documented.
Analysis and recommendation
Findings reported in full, including those that argue against the course you were considering, with a documented dissenting view where the team disagrees.
Handover and hour reconciliation
Models and documentation transferred, and the final statement of hours delivered by individual against what was committed, with any shortfall credited.
What people say
The engagement letter named three people and their hours. Two months in one was short by eleven hours and the credit appeared before we had noticed.
Chief Executive, manufacturing groupThey declined a second phase because the partner we wanted had no capacity. Every other firm would have staffed it with someone else and told us afterwards.
Board Chair, healthcare servicesBefore you get in touch
What exactly goes in the contract?
The individuals by name, their committed hours, their rates, the maximum junior ratio and the terms under which anyone could be substituted. Substitution requires your written consent.
What if someone leaves the firm?
We propose a specific named replacement for your agreement rather than assigning someone at the same grade. If you decline, we discuss reducing scope or ending the engagement.
How are shortfalls handled?
Automatically. If a named person delivers fewer hours than committed, the difference is credited on the next invoice without you raising it.
Do you take success fees?
No. Fixed fees against scope only. A contingent fee gives us an interest in a particular recommendation.
Will you tell us not to proceed?
Regularly, including on due diligence where the finding argues against a transaction we would otherwise be paid to support.
Why cap the junior ratio?
Because leverage is how thin work happens. One junior hour per two senior hours keeps the analysis close to the people who understand the business.
Ask who will actually do the work
If the answer is not a list of names with hours beside them, that is worth establishing before you sign anything, with us or with anybody else.
Arrange a conversation