HOMESTEAD·SYSTEMS
PRIVACY & YOUR RIGHTS

Your data, your rules — here too.

The principles we sell are the ones this website runs on. No legalese; if anything here is unclear, that's a bug — tell us.

FAQ

Straight answers to fair questions.

Your data & control
Is our data really staying in the building?
Yes. The model runs on hardware you own, inside your office. Halfway through every demo, with your permission, we switch the internet off and it keeps working. Two jobs leave the building by their nature: email has to reach your mail server, and web research has to reach the web. Both fail gracefully offline, and neither sends your documents anywhere.
Can it send emails on its own?
Out of the box it can't send at all. It writes drafts and a person clicks send. There is an optional send switch, and even that only works for an existing draft, to addresses you've approved, a few per hour. You hold the gate.
Can it cancel or move appointments?
No, and not because we ask it nicely. The cancel and reschedule tools simply don't exist in the code, and that's deliberate. A wrongly booked appointment is a loud mistake: someone shows up, everyone sees it, you fix it in a minute. A wrongly canceled one is silent: the client just never comes back, and you may never learn why. One mistake costs minutes; the other can cost a client. So the machine reads the schedule, flags who hasn't confirmed, drafts the reminders, and books when you ask, but undoing a human's plans stays human.
If it automates the work, why am I still approving everything?
Because the click was never the expensive part. Reading the document, finding the answer, writing the draft: that's the hour of work, and the machine does it. The approval is the few seconds of judgment at the end, and that stays with a person who can be accountable for it. A wrong draft costs you nothing; a wrong email that actually went out can cost you a client. You get the hour back and keep the last word.
What it can actually do
Is a local AI as capable as ChatGPT?
Honestly: the big cloud models are stronger at open-ended reasoning, and we won't pretend otherwise. For the jobs this machine actually does (reading your documents, triaging mail, drafting replies, checking the calendar), a well-fitted local model is more than capable. And it's the only kind that never shares your clients' files to get there.
What does this do that my front desk can't?
It isn't competing with your front desk; it works for them. The machine can't greet a client, calm an upset caller, or handle the 4:55 walk-in, and we wouldn't want it to. What it takes off their desk is the part of the job nobody was hired for: retyping the same information into three places, digging through a PDF for one number, drafting the reminder emails. That's the three hours a week our payback math is built on. The person keeps the job; the job loses its most tedious hours.
Cost & who builds it
What does it cost?
Published tiers run $5,800 to $18,400, one-time, with hardware, install, training, and 90 days of support included. Those are honest ranges, not quotes; the final figure depends on the machine and tools your business needs, which is what the demo is for. No subscriptions. Year one, the equipment write-off typically covers a quarter to a third of the price. Your CPA can confirm in about a minute.
Why do you publish prices when nobody else does?
Because making you book a call just to see a number never felt like transparency to us. And if a monthly subscription would genuinely serve your business better than owning a machine, you'll hear it from us first.
Who builds this?
One person. I build every machine, run every demonstration, and answer my own phone; there's no sales team to be routed through. You'll have my name from the first reply or the first ring, and the person installing your machine is the same one you met at the demo.
After you say yes
What happens after we say yes?
A deposit locks in your build, and we set the install date together at the demo. The honest lead time depends on sourcing the hardware for your tier that week, so we'd rather give you a real date in person than publish one we might miss. Install and staff training happen at your office, ninety days of support come with every machine, and an optional annual care plan is offered at install, never required.
What if the machine breaks?
It's owned hardware, installed with service in mind: higher tiers include network backup, and we service what we sell. Ninety days of support come with every install; an optional annual care plan exists, and the system never requires it.
Do we need an IT person?
No. We install, configure, and train your staff, and the day-to-day is a chat window. If your office can use email, it can use Homestead.
What happens when better models come out?
They get better fast, and your machine is built to swap them. Deliberately. We verify a new model before recommending it, and an upgrade is one-time work on hardware you already own, not a subscription tier.