Frequently asked questionsFrequently asked questions

Privian Studios is a Vancouver-based AI systems and software studio. We build custom AI tools, intelligent agents, workflow automation, and bespoke software for businesses that have outgrown generic tools, and we stay on to run them after launch.

We are headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, and work remotely with clients across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Local clients are welcome to meet in person; everyone else works with us over calls and shared demos.

Six areas: AI and smart systems (strategy, custom AI tools, agents), automation and operations (workflow automation, chat and booking, document processing, dashboards), custom software and platforms (web and mobile apps, property management platforms, online stores, websites), marketing and growth (SEO, AEO, paid ads, social), content and production (brand films, cinematography, photography, reels), and foundation and ongoing support (data engineering, AI governance, adoption, monitoring).

Small and growing businesses through to mid-size and enterprise organisations, most often in real estate and property management, financial and professional services, healthcare and wellness, automotive retail, and hospitality. If your operation has a high-volume manual process, it is usually a fit.

Three things. We are design-first: you get an interactive mockup before a proposal exists, so scope and price are accurate rather than estimated. The people who scope your project are the people who build it. And we treat what we ship as infrastructure with a long-term mandate, not a project that ends at handover.

A purpose-built tool trained on your data that handles a specific, high-volume task automatically: qualifying leads, reading documents, answering customer questions, or generating reports. It is not a generic chatbot bolted onto your website.

An AI agent can take actions on your behalf: booking appointments, routing tasks, updating your CRM, escalating edge cases to a human. A chatbot only responds to messages. Agents do the work; chatbots talk about it.

Connecting your existing tools so information moves between them automatically, without anyone copying data between systems or chasing approvals. One trigger fires the whole downstream sequence, every time.

Answer Engine Optimisation structures your content so AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity recommend your business when someone asks for a provider in your category and city. For Canadian service businesses it is the fastest-growing discovery channel, and far less contested than Google right now.

Yes. Web and mobile applications, SaaS platforms, property management systems, online stores, and marketing sites. Plenty of our work has no AI in it at all, because plenty of problems do not need AI to solve.

Yes. We build integrations across most major platforms, including HubSpot, Salesforce, Xero, QuickBooks, Shopify, Slack, and industry-specific systems, plus anything with an API.

Yes. We map your operation, identify the three highest-leverage opportunities, and deliver a plain-English roadmap with realistic timelines and investment ranges. You leave with a decision, not another presentation.

Our builds range from about $8,500 CAD for a website through to $50,000+ CAD for enterprise platforms such as property management systems. Every project is scoped from an interactive mockup, so the number you get is accurate before any build begins, not a guess you discover was wrong halfway through.

Typically 4 to 12 weeks depending on complexity. Our design-first process means the specification is accurate before build starts, which is what keeps that range honest.

Usually 8 to 20 weeks from approved specification to launch, depending on scope and how many systems it has to talk to.

Yes. All pricing is quoted in CAD by default. We also work with clients in the US, UK, and Australia and can invoice accordingly.

Ongoing support runs at 25% of the original build cost per month. That covers continuous monitoring, proactive issue resolution, model retraining, and performance improvements. It is optional, but most clients take it because systems that are not maintained quietly degrade.

Meaningful ranking improvements typically appear within 3 to 6 months. Sustainable top-three positions generally take 9 to 12 months of consistent work. Anyone promising faster is selling you something.

We build an interactive mockup with you before producing any proposal. That mockup becomes the formal specification, which means the investment is accurate and there are no surprises mid-build.

Yes. The initial discovery conversation is complimentary: thirty minutes focused entirely on your business, with no pitch and no obligation.

Answer the eight-question discovery form on our site or email nour@privianstudios.com. Your answers reach us first, so the discovery call starts already oriented around your actual challenges rather than warm-up questions.

Yes. We often start with one focused workflow or use case, running on your real data, before expanding. It is the cheapest way for both sides to find out whether the idea holds up.

We stay on. Continuous monitoring, drift detection before it becomes visible, improvements on an ongoing cadence, and adaptation as your business changes. Engagements run at 25% of the original build cost per month.

Yes. We sign NDAs and follow strict data-handling practices, and we can work within specific compliance requirements your industry or clients impose.

No. Vancouver is home, and we work with clients across British Columbia and the rest of Canada, plus the US, UK, and Australia. Almost all collaboration happens over calls and shared demos regardless of where you are.

Yes. We design around PIPEDA and, for BC businesses, PIPA, and we build outbound and marketing systems to respect CASL consent requirements. We are a studio, not a law firm, so for a formal compliance opinion we will tell you to talk to counsel, but we will not hand you something that ignores the rules either.

Wherever your requirements dictate. We can deploy to Canadian regions on major cloud providers when data residency matters, and we will tell you up front which third-party services a design depends on and where they process data.

A framework of access controls, audit trails, and accountability documentation that ensures your AI systems can be explained, audited, and defended to clients, regulators, or your board. We build this in as standard rather than adding it after someone asks a hard question.

React, Next.js, TypeScript, Node.js, and Python for engineering. OpenAI and Anthropic models for AI, with n8n and Zapier for automation, and ElevenLabs, Retell AI, and Twilio for voice. Vercel, AWS, Google Cloud, and Cloudflare for infrastructure, with PostgreSQL, Redis, and Supabase for data.

AI systems are only as accurate as the data they run on. If your information is fragmented across six systems with no consistent structure, an AI layer on top will confidently produce wrong answers. We unify the data first so there is something reliable to build on.

No. We build on mainstream, well-supported technology and hand over the code, infrastructure, and documentation. If you ever want to take it in-house or move to another team, you can.