Handoff Cost Collapse

Handoff Cost Collapse is the framework for pricing multi-agent orchestration by the labor it removes, not the software it installs. Every manual handoff between tools (extract, generate, compliance check) carries a hidden cost: a person's attention, a queue delay, a rework cycle. Orchestration collapses that cost, but the savings only become agency margin if the retainer is priced against the old handoff count. A workflow that removes six handoffs per deliverable at 20 minutes each recovers two hours per cycle; at a $150 blended rate that is $300 of recovered capacity per run. The trap is selling the platform instead of the collapsed cost. AgentX's CI/CD evaluation pipeline and StackAI's 100+ integration hooks both reduce handoff count, but neither sets your price. Price the removed handoffs, then let the tool choice follow.