For a propane delivery company, the work that eats time is usually route scheduling, checking tank levels before a truck goes out, sending pre-fill reminders as a season turns, and getting new-customer paperwork done right. Automating one of these, say tank-level checks feeding into route planning, costs less than automating all of them as one connected system. The bigger the scope (more workflows tied together, more systems it has to talk to, more edge cases where a dispatcher still has to decide), the more it costs to build.
The second thing that changes the cost is whether you want it built and handed off, or built and run. A system we build and hand off is cheaper up front but then it's yours: your team watches it, fixes it when a delivery API changes or a customer's tank sensor goes offline, and decides what to do when something looks wrong. A system we build and operate costs more over time because we're the ones watching it, handling routine exceptions, and only pulling in a person at your company when a decision actually needs a human, like a customer disputing a delivery or a truck breakdown that reshuffles the whole route.
We quote each engagement on what the system is worth to your business, not by the hour, so there's no price list to point to. The way to judge it for yourself: add up what the manual version actually costs you now, the dispatcher hours on scheduling, the missed pre-fills that turn into emergency runs, the new customers who stall in paperwork, and weigh that against having it happen on its own with a person only stepping in when it matters. The honest next step is a short conversation about your specific routes, customer count, and systems, since that's what actually determines scope and cost, not a generic estimate.