The short answer
A DC Health Check warehouse operations audit costs $4,500 for one building, fixed, paid $2,250 at scope acceptance and $2,250 on delivery; the one-page Flow Snapshot is free, the wider Flow Scan is $500 and is credited toward an audit accepted within 30 days, and the ongoing Ops Intelligence Briefing is $3,000 per month. Those are the only numbers on this page that are ours. The rest of the page explains what the money buys, why on-site firms price differently, and when an audit is not worth buying.
Why publish the price at all? In a review of the warehouse-audit pages of seven consultancies on 2026-09-14 (Establish, F. Curtis Barry, KPI Solutions, MWPVL, Waller, Fortna and Coign), none published a fee, and every one required a site visit. A buyer trying to budget an audit today has nothing to compare. We would rather be compared than guessed at.
What is in the $4,500?
| Service | Price | Scope | Turnaround | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flow Snapshot | Free | One building, one recent week, two exports up to 10,000 combined rows; one page, up to two supported metrics, up to three next checks | 72 hours after the agreed slot starts and usable data is accepted | Seeing the method on your own data before deciding anything |
| Flow Scan | $500 | One building, two agreed exports, one calculation brief | Three business days after accepted inputs and payment | A wider baseline before committing to the audit; credited once toward it within 30 days |
| Warehouse operations audit | $4,500 | One building; the four core measures plus every diagnostic area the data supports; report, workbook, definitions, one written Q&A round | About 20 business days | A decision worth more than the fee: staffing, a 3PL contract, a shift change, an automation case |
| Ops Intelligence Briefing | $3,000 / month (+$750 setup if not already covered) | One site, four agreed KPIs, two scheduled briefs per month, optional 20-minute review | Two briefs per month on the agreed schedule | Keeping the audit's numbers honest after the audit |
| Automation investment review | $5,000 | One automation decision, up to three vendor proposals, ownership cost and payback sensitivity | Agreed at scope | Before signing a capital commitment |
| Peak Review / Seasonal Model | $500 / $2,500 | One building, one peak week / up to twelve weeks, three outbound stages | Agreed at scope | Testing the peak plan before hiring |
The audit fee covers the scope call, the data receipt checks, the calculations by week and period, the findings and ranked actions, the report and workbook, and one written round of questions. It does not cover implementation, WMS configuration, hiring, or on-site days; those are separate scopes if you want them.
What drives the price of any warehouse audit?
| Driver | Why it moves the price | How it is handled here |
|---|---|---|
| Number of buildings | Each building has its own exports, definitions and baseline; there is little to share between them | One building per audit; a second building is a second scope |
| Days on site | Travel, lodging and consultant days are the largest line in an on-site engagement | None in the standard audit; on-site days only by separate agreement |
| Data quality | Duplicate rows, missing promise dates, mixed time zones and blank identifiers take real hours to reconcile | Sample inspected first; minor mapping included; larger cleanup quoted or declined before a date is promised |
| Scope breadth | Inventory accuracy, receiving, slotting and carrier checks each need their own records and their own analysis | Included only when the records exist; otherwise reported as not measured, at no charge |
| Turnaround | A two-week rush displaces other work | About 20 business days; the date is agreed before payment |
| Team size and seniority | Partner-led programs carry partner rates; junior teams carry review overhead | One reviewer with eight years of distribution operations does the work and writes the report |
| Follow-on project | Some assessments are priced low because they lead to a design, automation or implementation sale | No implementation is sold, so the audit has to pay for itself |
How do on-site consultancies price an audit?
The published pages of the firms reviewed describe the shape of the engagement rather than its cost. KPI Solutions describes its warehouse audits as two to five days on site followed by two to three weeks of analysis (kpisolutions.com). Waller Consulting describes a distribution center assessment as four to six weeks per site (wallerassoc.com). Establish Inc. and F. Curtis Barry & Co. describe on-site observation and staff interviews as part of the method (establishinc.com, fcbco.com). None of those pages states a fee, and we do not estimate other firms' prices here.
What the shape tells you is how the bill forms: consultant days on site, plus travel, plus analysis days, plus report and presentation days, at that firm's day rate. If you are collecting quotes, ask each firm for the day count, the day rate, whether travel is billed at cost, and whether the assessment is priced as an entry point to a larger project. Those four answers explain most of the difference between quotes.
The trade-off is real and is covered honestly on the remote versus on-site page: a visit sees things exports cannot, and exports see things a visit cannot.
What can you get for free first?
- Flow Snapshot. One building, one week, two exports, one page. The method on your own data, no card, no purchase obligation. Request it.
- Flow Starter. A browser tool that builds a one-week baseline from editable daily inputs with the formulas visible. Try it.
- Warehouse capacity calculator. Demand against process capacity for one outbound process before peak. Use it.
- CSV order export check. Duplicates, repeated IDs and uneven rows, in the browser, nothing uploaded. Run it.
- Guides. KPI formulas, the operations audit checklist, cost per line and the KPI glossary.
When is a warehouse audit not worth buying?
An audit pays for itself when a decision is waiting on numbers that nobody in the building has time to produce. It does not pay for itself in three common cases, and we will say so on the scope call:
- No exports. If shipments and hours are not recorded anywhere, the first project is a labor record and a shipment log, not an audit. The Flow Starter templates are a free way to begin.
- No decision. If the answer would not change staffing, a contract, a layout, a shift pattern or a capital case, a free Snapshot is enough to satisfy curiosity.
- Very small operations. Below roughly fifteen associates the owner usually already knows what the numbers will say; the value is in the weekly report discipline, which the KPI formulas guide gives away.
A useful test: write down the decision, the date it has to be made, and the number that would settle it. If you can fill in all three, the audit is likely worth $4,500. If not, start with the Snapshot.
Questions about price
Is $4,500 the total, or are there extras?
It is the total for one building and the diagnostic areas the data supports. Additional buildings, on-site days, larger data cleanup and implementation work are separate scopes, quoted before any work starts. There are no per-hour add-ons inside an accepted audit.
Why do most consultancies not publish a price?
Because their fee depends on days on site, travel, team size and the follow-on project they expect to sell. That is a legitimate model for large programs. A fixed fee is possible here because the audit is remote, the scope is a checklist, and there is no follow-on implementation to sell.
Can the fee be spread over time?
It is split in two: $2,250 at scope acceptance and $2,250 on delivery. A paid $500 Flow Scan is credited once toward an audit accepted within 30 days.
What does the free Flow Snapshot cost later?
Nothing. One free Snapshot per business, no card, no retrospective billing. It exists so you can see the method on your own data before deciding anything.
How does the $3,000 monthly briefing compare with hiring?
It is a fixed monthly review of four agreed KPIs, two briefs per month, one optional 20-minute review, month to month, no automatic renewal. It is not a fractional operations manager and does not replace one; it keeps the numbers honest between decisions.
Get the checklist and a date.
Describe the building, the question and the systems. We reply with the exports needed, the diagnostic areas the data can support, and a delivery date. Requesting a scope is not a booking and nothing is invoiced until the checklist is accepted.
Discuss audit scope and timing →Prefer to see the method first? The free Flow Snapshot takes one week of two exports.