# Work with me: how working with Stu Mason goes Canonical URL: https://ai.stumason.dev/work-with-me Stu Mason gives small and mid-size businesses straight answers about their data, AI and security, then fixes what's wrong. He has spent twenty years building and fixing software for businesses. When AI isn't the right answer, he says so before you spend anything. He works a few days a month, on fixed projects, or embedded in your team for longer, and also works for agencies under their name. He doesn't train AI models from scratch, build trading bots or run content farms. Folkestone, UK. ## How it works 1. **A conversation.** You tell me what's bothering you: the data, the AI bill, the security worry. If I'm not the right person, I'll say so and point you to someone who is. 2. **An honest look.** I go through your systems and who has access to what. You get a short written report: what's wrong, what it's costing you or putting at risk, and what I'd fix first. 3. **The fix.** You set the priorities. I do the work in small steps you can see, so there are no surprises and no six-month silences. 4. **Kept that way.** Businesses change and new risks turn up. I can stay on to keep things secure and running, and to take on whatever comes next. ## Ways to work together There are no fixed packages. In every case, you know roughly what it will cost before you agree to anything. ### A few days a month. A set number of days each month to look after your systems and take on new work as it comes up. A senior person on call, without hiring one. ### One fixed piece of work. We agree the outcome and the price before I start. Right for a single clear job, like a security review or one new tool. ### Part of your team. Longer term, in your tools and your meetings, leading the technical work. Right when there's a lot to do and nobody senior to own it. ## What I can build ### Answers from your own information Ask a question in plain English and get the answer from your own documents and data, with the source attached. It can all stay on your own servers if it needs to. ### AI that gets the work done Not a chatbot. It works inside the tools you already use and finishes the job: updating the record, sending the follow-up, filing the report. ### Routine work on autopilot The weekly report, the reconciliation, the checks nobody has time for. It runs on schedule, and a person signs it off before anything goes out. ## Examples - [Ask your business anything and get the real answer](https://ai.stumason.dev/proof/tidylinker-ops-mcp.md): TidyLinker's team asks about customers, jobs and payments in plain English and gets answers straight from the live system. It can read everything and change nothing. - [Answers from your own documents, with sources](https://ai.stumason.dev/proof/rag.md): Staff and customers get answers drawn only from your files, each one linked to where it came from. If the answer isn't in there, it says so instead of guessing. - [AI on your own servers, with no per-use bill](https://ai.stumason.dev/proof/crunch.md): Search, recommendations and content checks running on hardware you control. Costs stay flat as usage grows, and your data stays in-house. ## What clients say Real, named people at real companies, direct clients first: > I've worked with Stu for close to ten years now. What started as me mentoring him quickly became a genuine collaboration - he's grown into someone I trust completely with Laravel architecture and AWS infrastructure. When I need something done properly, he's still my first call. That says everything. > > Alfred Nutile, AI Automation Consultant, DailyAI.Studio (direct client) > Brought Stu in to review our AI tooling stack. He did a proper deep dive, gave us a clear plan, and containerised everything so devs could run it locally. Exactly the kind of practical, no-bullshit assessment we needed. > > Elliot T., Dev Lead, Patch (direct client) > Stu and I built an AI-powered documentation review tool together - it handled PR reviews, added frontmatter, found and linked related docs automatically. We went from idea to working product incredibly quickly. He's fast, he gets AI, and he's genuinely fun to collaborate with. > > Emma Quigley, Product | Automation | ContentOps, Independent (direct client) ## Questions people ask **I'm not technical. Is that a problem?** Not at all. Most of my clients aren't. I explain what I find in plain English and what each option means for the business. You make the calls. **What does it cost?** It depends on the job. You'll know roughly what it costs before you agree to anything, and there's no minimum. **How soon can you start?** Tell me your deadline and I'll tell you honestly whether I can hit it. If I can't, I won't take the work. **Can you work with the systems we already have?** Yes. I start with what you've already got. **Do you use AI to do the work?** Yes, a lot. It makes me faster. Everything it produces is checked and tested by me before it goes anywhere near your business, and I'm responsible for all of it. **Do I own what you build?** Yes. Once it's paid for, it's yours, in writing. Happy to sign your NDA too. **Are you insured?** Yes: professional indemnity £1m, public liability £1m and employers' liability £10m. Certificate on request. **You work alone. What if you're ill?** Everything lives in your accounts, is tested and written down, and ships in small pieces. There's never a big unfinished chunk that only I understand, so another developer can pick it up. **Can I speak to past clients?** Yes. I'll put you in touch with people I've worked with for years. Their reviews are on this site too, under their real names. **Is there work you won't take?** Yes: training AI models from scratch, trading bots and content farms. If that's what you need, I'll point you to someone better. **Do you work with agencies?** Yes, under their name if they prefer. One London agency has used me for 10 years. ## Start a conversation Email stu@stumason.dev. Real, named reviews: https://ai.stumason.dev/reviews. Case studies: https://ai.stumason.dev/work. Machine-readable: the full index is https://ai.stumason.dev/llms.txt. There is also an open MCP server at https://ai.stumason.dev/mcp/stu you can connect to with no key, to read all of this, send Stu a message, or hand him a project brief.