Is dbt Consulting Still Worth Paying For in the Age of AI? How to Answer Clients
Clients are asking if dbt consulting is worth paying for now that AI writes code. Here is how to answer, and earn on it for 3 years.
Your clients are asking why they should pay for dbt work when AI writes code in seconds. Answer with what AI can’t write: numbers that stay consistent and match the books. Keep the models you built, and bring clients the answers they were built for. SQOR.ai connects read-only to the warehouse your dbt models feed, answers in plain English, matched to the books, and pays you 20% to 30% of the Proof of Value and every subscription payment for 3 years as a partner.
What is changing
dbt turns raw data into clean tables in the warehouse, and its metric layer defines each measure in code. Every one of those definitions is written and maintained by a person.
Clients now expect to ask a question and get an answer, and a metric someone has to define first starts to look like a queue.
What to do next
- List the clients whose dbt projects you built and maintain.
- Point SQOR.ai at the same warehouse, read-only. Clean, well-modeled tables still make every answer better.
- Show the questions the client asks most, answered in plain English, the same every time.
- Stay in as the partner, and keep billing for the data work SQOR.ai doesn’t do.
Where SQOR.ai fits with dbt
dbt makes numbers consistent because people define them in code. SQOR.ai makes them consistent without someone writing each definition, because its engine computes every figure deterministically and matches it to the books. They work together, because SQOR.ai reads the warehouse your models produce.
How the SQOR Partner Program pays
- Refer, 10% once. Introduce a client and step away, and you earn 10% of the client’s first-year subscription.
- Partner, 20% for 3 years. Stay in as the client’s lead contact, work with our team, and grow the account, and you earn 20% of the Proof of Value and every subscription payment for 3 years.
- Premier Partner, 30%. From your 6th partner client each year, the rate is 30%, for 3 years.
SQOR.ai engagements run $50K to $900K a year, and your share grows as the client adds teams, locations and use cases. Clients pay SQOR.ai’s list price, and anything you do for them beyond it is yours to price.
Sources and further reading
- Channel Insider, on Forrester’s analysis, Forrester: AI disruption puts technology services at risk, 2026
Questions answered
Frequently asked questions
Does SQOR.ai replace dbt?
No. dbt transforms and defines data in the warehouse, and SQOR.ai reads that warehouse and answers business questions from it, without a person writing each metric. Clean dbt models make SQOR.ai's answers better.
What can a dbt consultant sell to clients next?
The answers the models were built for. Bring clients SQOR.ai on top of the warehouse you built, stay in as their partner, and earn 20% to 30% of the Proof of Value and every subscription payment for 3 years.
My clients ask why they should pay for dbt work when AI writes code. How do I answer?
Show them what AI can't write: answers that stay consistent and match the books. Bring them SQOR.ai on top of the warehouse you built. Stay in as their partner and earn 20% of the Proof of Value and every subscription payment for 3 years, or 30% from your 6th partner client each year.