Integrations and automation quoted as a fixed scope rather than by the hour, with the scope, the deliverable and the price agreed in writing before anything is built.
Ask about a buildTwo systems holding related records that have no connection between them, or a step someone repeats by hand every week that does not need a person in it. Both persist because each instance is small enough to absorb, and the cost only becomes visible when someone adds up the year.
Sized to the problem rather than to a platform, and built on the cloud services already in use.
A fixed price only works when the scope is genuinely fixed, so the scoping conversation is where most of the risk comes out.
A problem too open-ended to quote is better handled as contracting, and a problem that has not been diagnosed yet is better handled as consulting. Saying so early is cheaper for everyone than discovering it halfway through.
What the two systems are, or what the weekly manual step is. That is usually enough to say whether it can be quoted as a fixed scope.