We build complete private AI systems — the models, your data, and the actual workflows your team uses — running on infrastructure you own and control.
In practice: a team asks "show me every mention of the termination clause, with dates and source references" across a 2,000-page document set — and gets a cited answer in seconds, from a system running in their own environment. That's one workflow. We build the complete system around whichever ones matter to your business.
Staff paste confidential files into public AI tools because the time savings are irresistible. Every paste is a contract, a client record or a patient note leaving your control — with no log, no agreement, no way back.
Your data sits on someone else's servers, under terms, subprocessors and retention policies that can change without you. Your compliance posture ends up depending on their next update — not on you. And the liability still lands on the partners.
A private AI system needs hardware, the right models, your data connected, the actual applications, and ongoing maintenance. Hiring a team to do all that is slow and expensive. You need the outcome — not a new department.
Anyone can run an AI model on a computer. The value is everything around it: your data connected, the workflows your team actually does, and the whole thing maintained over time. We deliver that as one system, owned by you.
A Mac Mini, a Mac Studio, a workstation, or a private server — we recommend what fits your workload and budget. You buy it, you own it. Prefer your own private cloud? We support that too.
We select and configure the models suited to your work and connect them to your own documents, so answers draw on your precedents, your policies, your terminology — with fine-tuning where it genuinely helps.
The actual applications: document search and Q&A, drafting, summarization, review, intake — built around how your firm works, not a generic chatbot bolted on the side.
Clean interfaces your staff use day to day, plus dashboards and reporting where they earn their place. Built for your team, not for engineers.
Wired into the tools you already use — document management, email, practice systems — so the AI works inside your existing workflow, and some of the value arrives without anyone opening a chat window.
Role-based access, audit logs, and an ongoing care plan that keeps the system current as better models arrive and your needs grow.
Hardware, models, your data, the applications, deployment, and support — one system, owned by you. Not a subscription, not a chatbot, not another vendor holding your data.
Find the workflow that's costing your team the most time. We build a private AI system around it and prove the result before you commit to a full deployment. A deliberately small, low-risk sequence — each stage has a defined deliverable before the next begins.
We sit with your team, find the workflow that's costing you hours, and map exactly what to build and what hardware it needs.
We build one workflow on real data and show measured results — before you commit to the full system or any hardware.
We specify the hardware; you purchase it directly and own it. We install the complete system on it and connect it to your data and the tools you already use.
Training for your team, then an ongoing care plan that keeps it sharp as models improve and your needs grow.
Read the full process, including what we need from your IT →
Data-sensitive businesses with confidential information and expensive knowledge workflows — that's the umbrella. We start with the ones that feel this most sharply, but the same complete system fits any firm with confidential data and a real use case. Each card shows named systems we install; any one can be your pilot.
Matter files, discovery, contracts and communications — searched, summarized and drafted against, without leaving the office. Systems we install: Ask the Matter (cited Q&A across a whole matter), Precedent Drafting, Chronology Builder, and more.
Portfolios, KYC files and correspondence processed in your own environment, aligned with your data-safeguard obligations. Systems we install: Meeting-to-File-Note, Ask Compliance, review-pack assembly, and more.
Consultation notes, referral letters and records processed on a machine you own, without sending patient information to public AI services. Systems we install: Consult-to-Note, letters from the record, protocol search, and more.
Not on this list — accounting, manufacturing, or another business with confidential data and a real use case? Book 15 minutes and describe your workflow; we'll tell you honestly if it's a fit.
Public AI is easy to start, but not every workflow belongs on a public service. Enterprise AI platforms are powerful, but built for teams that already have substantial technical and AI infrastructure capability. We're a specialist implementation partner who designs and builds the complete system around your workflow, on infrastructure you control.
| Public AI subscriptions | Enterprise AI platforms | PrivateBuilds | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where your data lives | The vendor's servers and subprocessors | Your infrastructure — self-managed | Your infrastructure — we design and build it for you |
| Who controls access | The vendor's terms and staff | Your internal team | You — your admin passwords, your network |
| What it requires from you | Low effort, but you give up control | An existing AI/technical infrastructure team to operate it | Bring your workflow knowledge; we handle the rest |
| Time to running system | Instant, but generic | Months, and ongoing internal ops | Weeks, tailored to your work |
| Cost structure | Subscription or usage-based costs | Platform licensing plus internal headcount | One-time build you own, plus an optional care plan |
| Ownership | You rent access | You own the platform, run it yourself | You own the system; we maintain it if you want |
Adjust the numbers to your firm. The comparison isn't "AI vs. free" — it's AI vs. what you're paying right now in professional hours.
| Hours spent on document work / year | — |
| What those hours cost | — |
| Recovered at a conservative 30% time saving | — |
| Illustrative first-year investment (assessment + pilot + a mid-size deployment + one year of care) | ≈ $45,000 |
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Estimates only, not a quote — deployment is scoped and priced per system after the pilot, so actual investment varies. The pilot replaces this arithmetic with your measured numbers. Unlike per-seat subscriptions, the system is a one-time build you own.
The cost of doing nothing isn't zero. It's the same hours spent every year at full price — plus the quiet risk that's already in the building: staff pasting confidential work into public AI tools with no log, no agreement and no way to undo it. Doing nothing is choosing that combination.
Most AI vendors rent you access. We hand you the keys — it's written into the contract.
The custom applications & configurationThe applications, workflows, integrations, configurations and documentation we build specifically for you. Models are deployed and configured for your use case and remain subject to their applicable licenses.
The applications & workflowsEvery interface, automation and integration we build runs in your environment and belongs to you.
The documentationArchitecture, admin guides and runbooks — complete enough for any competent engineer to take over.
The hardwareYou purchase it directly. It was never ours to begin with.
The early stages are fixed-price so there's no risk in finding out; the full system is scoped to what you actually need, after the pilot proves it.
Every figure here is a starting point, confirmed in writing before any work begins. Hardware is specified by us, purchased directly by you, and remains your asset.
PrivateBuilds is led by Naveen — a full-stack engineer with 12+ years shipping production systems, and the founder of StartBuilds, a development agency serving clients across Australia, the US, Canada and India. We build and operate infrastructure for a living; private AI is that same discipline applied to the systems your confidentiality depends on.
"We deploy nothing for a client that we haven’t first built, benchmarked and run on our own infrastructure. Our lab is where every system earns its place."
No. The system runs entirely on hardware you own, inside your network. During setup we work through supervised, time-limited remote sessions that you can watch and revoke at any time — no standing access, no credentials left behind after handover. Full details on our Security page.
It depends on the workload — the model size, number of users, concurrency, and latency needs of your specific system. That can mean a Mac Mini or Mac Studio for a small pilot, up to a multi-GPU workstation or server for a larger deployment. We specify the exact hardware for your case as part of the Assessment; you purchase it directly from your preferred supplier, so it's a one-time cost and it's your asset.
Most clients run it on hardware in their own office — that's the cleanest version of "your data stays with you." If you'd rather use your own private cloud or a dedicated server you control, we support that too. The principle is the same either way: the system runs in an environment you own and control, and your confidential data isn't sent to public AI services.
No. You bring the knowledge of your own workflows — the tasks that eat your team's hours. We handle everything technical: hardware, models, data, applications and integrations, then train your team to use the finished system.
ChatGPT Enterprise is still a cloud service: your data is transmitted to and processed on infrastructure you don't control, under terms that can change. And it's a chatbot, not a system built around your workflows. We build a complete system that runs in an environment you own and connects to the tools you already use.
You lose nothing. You own the hardware, the models, the workflows and complete documentation. Any competent engineer can maintain the system from the runbooks we hand over. We consider this a feature: vendors who lock you in are telling you something.
From anywhere — the same way your team already reaches your file server or practice system remotely. Staff connect through your firm's own VPN: their device reaches into your office over an encrypted tunnel, the processing happens on your server, and only the answer travels back — your production data stays in infrastructure you control. You choose the mode at deployment: office-only for maximum lockdown, VPN remote access for work-from-anywhere (what most firms choose), or fully air-gapped with no internet at all. The difference from cloud AI isn't where your people sit — it's where your documents sit.
For the focused work professional firms need — summarizing, drafting from your own precedents, searching your own documents — today's open models working over your own documents perform remarkably well. That's exactly what the pilot measures, on your real work, before you spend anything on deployment.
One workflow of your choosing, built and evaluated in two weeks for a fixed fee, with a written report of measured results and a fixed-price proposal for full deployment. Details on the pilot page.
Are you an MSP or IT service provider? Your clients are asking you about AI. We're the white-label delivery team behind firms like yours — you keep the relationship, we build the system. See how partnership works →
A two-week pilot, a fixed fee, and measured results on your real work. If the numbers don't convince you, it ends there — and you keep the evaluation report.