Oakes Consulting
How it works
What actually happens if you hire me.
No stage of this is a surprise, and none of it depends on me still being there afterwards.
These are stages, not services
Every engagement runs through the four stages below, whichever of the four areas of work it covers. The stages are how an engagement runs; the areas are what it is about. You buy an area, and it runs through these stages.
Stage one
A conversation, at no cost
You describe what is going wrong. I ask questions, and at the end of it I tell you honestly whether this is something I can help with. Some of these conversations end with me saying no, or saying that what you need is smaller than you thought and you can do it yourselves.
Stage two
A scope, in writing, with a fixed price
Before any work starts you get a written scope: what is being done, what is explicitly not being done, what I need from your team, and what it costs. One number, agreed up front.
The fee attaches to the scope, not the calendar. Whether a piece of work takes a week or three months, its price holds. Getting it done faster is my problem to solve, not a reason to send you a bigger invoice. Longer work is agreed in stages, each scoped and priced when it starts, with what we both know by then.
The reason it is written down is that scope is where these engagements usually go wrong. Work grows quietly, nobody says anything, and the relationship sours over an invoice.
Stage three
The work, where the work happens
I sit in your meetings, go through your systems with the people who use them, and build in the open. You see progress as it happens rather than at a reveal, and you can redirect it while redirecting is still cheap.
What this looks like depends on which of the four areas you have bought, and they are not all bought together.
Stage four
Handover, and then I leave
Your team is trained on the real system. The documentation is written for whoever holds the job next, not as a record of what I did. And before the engagement closes, someone on your team runs the thing with me out of the room, so we both find out what is actually missing while there is still time to fix it.
Everything is set up through an account the organization owns, not one of mine. Nothing ends up sitting under me, so there is nothing to untangle when I go.
When the engagement ends, it ends. About ninety days later I check in, at no charge, to make sure it held. After that you can still call me, and a quick question does not start a new invoice. What I want is to see it working long after I have gone, and I would rather hear how it is going than sell you something else.
How this is priced
Engagements are quoted as a fixed fee for a defined scope, not billed by the hour. You know the cost before the work starts, and it does not grow while you watch.
Ministry and nonprofit work is priced differently from commercial work. What that looks like depends on the organization and the scope, which is a conversation rather than a published policy.
No retainer outlives its usefulness. When the work is handed over, the engagement ends. The only ongoing arrangement I offer is a light monthly retainer for past clients, on quarterly terms, and only once the handover has proven itself. A firm that grows by renewing engagements cannot really promise its own removal, which is why this is structural here rather than a promise.
Why there is no price list on this page
Because every scope is different, and a number published without knowing yours would be a guess dressed up as transparency. Ask, and you will get a real figure for your actual situation, in writing, before anything begins.
From Overflow Church
A connection you should know about
Overflow Church is my home church, and the work there has been as a volunteer advisor. This is the church's own statement, in full.
Our staff and leadership team have spent the last several months working with Oakes Consulting, and it has reshaped how we operate as a church at every level. What stood out most was how quickly Ryan understood not just our organizational needs but the actual heart and convictions behind them. He did not arrive with a generic playbook. He built a plan specific to where our teams were actually stuck.
That plan has translated into real change: rebuilt systems for how we welcome and connect people, a new website that actually reflects who we are, renewed clarity in our Care Ministry, and now work underway on our finance and operations structure. None of it has felt rushed or forced. Every recommendation has been paired with genuine attentiveness to our values as a church and a consistent posture of dependence on God throughout the process, not just efficiency for its own sake.
If your church or organization is looking for a consultant who combines strategic clarity with real integrity and care, we would recommend Oakes Consulting without hesitation.
Start with the conversation that costs nothing
No pitch, and no obligation on the other side of it.