Buyer's Guide

How to Evaluate a Claude Code Consultant

The market is forming. The evaluation criteria haven't. Seven questions that separate operators from configurators.

The market right now

Freelancers

$50-150/hr

Configuration work. .claude folder setup, prompts, basic skills. Quality varies wildly.

Course Instructors

$200-$1,000

Knowledge transfer. 20-40 hours of features and concepts. Abstract knowledge, not working systems.

Productized Services

$1,500-$25K

System building. Defined scope, timeline, deliverable. Context engineering vs advanced config.

Enterprise Consulting

$50K+

Multi-team implementations. Compliance, change management, organizational design. 12-week engagements.

The 7-Question Framework

Question 1

Do they use this daily, or do they teach about it?

Look for:

Their own system in production. 50+ skills. 2+ years building.

Red flag:

Can explain features but can't show compounding value in their own workflow.

Question 2

Do they build systems or configure files?

Look for:

Examples of compound value: month 3 > month 1, without additional work.

Red flag:

Deliverable is a configured folder, not an interconnected system.

Question 3

Do they coach to independence or create dependency?

Look for:

"Most clients don't need me after 2 weeks. The system sustains itself."

Red flag:

Revenue model depends on ongoing retainers. Incentivized to build complexity.

Question 4

Can they do context engineering, or just prompt engineering?

Look for:

Can explain knowledge graphs, information architecture, compounding context.

Red flag:

Only talks about CLAUDE.md files and prompt templates.

Question 5

Do they build for YOUR workflow, or drop a template?

Look for:

Asks specific questions about your tools, workflows, bottlenecks before starting.

Red flag:

"Just give me access and I'll set everything up."

Question 6

What's their evidence? Numbers, not claims.

Look for:

Named outcomes with timeframes: "$3K saved in week one" not "clients love it."

Red flag:

Vague claims: "significant improvements," "game-changing results."

Question 7

Will they tell you NOT to hire them?

Look for:

Clear disqualification criteria. Willing to lose bad-fit sales.

Red flag:

Takes every prospect regardless of fit. No "this isn't for you" language.

The credential trap

There are no official Claude Code certifications. Anyone claiming one is fabricating credentials. What matters instead:

1.Production hours — building real systems, not demos or tutorials
2.Client count — how many implementations, with what roles?
3.Public work — blog posts, open-source, demonstrations of thinking
4.Specificity of results — exact outcomes for specific client types

When NOT to hire STEEPWORKS

I'd rather lose a bad-fit sale than win a churn.

You want to learn for learning's sake

Take a cohort course. You'll enjoy it more. We build systems, not curricula.

You need enterprise compliance or SSO

We're a solo operator, not an enterprise vendor. You need a larger firm.

You're a developer who writes code all day

Cursor or Copilot is probably a better fit. We build business systems for operators.

You're not willing to put in the work

Claude Code amplifies effort. It doesn't replace it.

Your team resists all new tools

The problem is change management, not tool selection. We can't fix that with configuration.

You're happy with your current setup

If Claude Code is already compounding for you, keep doing what you're doing.

How STEEPWORKS scores

Question	Answer
Daily use?	300+ file system, 53 production skills, running daily for 2.5 years
Systems or config?	Context engineering with knowledge graphs, multi-agent workflows
Coach to independence?	Most clients don't need ongoing support after coaching
Context engineering?	Core differentiator. Full knowledge architecture, not just prompts
Custom or template?	Discovery-first. Every build starts with your workflow
Evidence?	30 implementations. Specific outcomes with timeframes
Will they say no?	Six clear disqualification criteria (see above)

Use the framework

Want to evaluate STEEPWORKS specifically? Book a 20-minute call. I'll answer all 7 questions with specifics and tell you honestly if we're the right fit.