[ 01 — CUSTOM SOFTWARE ]
Software built around how your business actually works, not the other way round.
[ 01 — THE PROBLEM ]
What this usually looks like
Before
- The off-the-shelf system does 60% of what you need, and the other 40% is done by hand in spreadsheets.
- Nobody can answer a simple question about the business without three people checking three different files.
- The process only works because one person remembers how it works.
- Licence costs rise every year for features you have never used.
After
- One system modelled on the process you already run, so people recognise it on day one.
- The questions you ask most become a screen, not a request to somebody with the spreadsheet.
- The rules live in the software and in documentation, not in one person's memory.
- You own the code and the infrastructure. No per-seat licence, no renewal leverage.
[ 02 — WHAT YOU GET ]
Deliverables, not deliverable-sounding words
A working system
Deployed, monitored and backed up, with accounts for your team and the permissions they should have.
The repository
In your organisation on day one. Every commit, every deployment script, every environment variable documented.
Written documentation
How it is built, how to run it, how to change it. Enough for another developer to pick it up without calling us.
Training for your team
A recorded walkthrough and a live session with the people who will use it daily.
A support window
Thirty days after launch where fixes are included, because the real bugs appear in the first fortnight of real use.
[ 03 — HOW IT WORKS ]
The steps, and how long each one takes
- 01
Understand the work
3–5 daysWe sit with the people doing the job and map what actually happens, including the workarounds. The workarounds are usually where the requirements are.
- 02
Scope and price
2–3 daysA written proposal: what gets built, what does not, what it costs and when it lands. You decide before anything is built.
- 03
Design the screens
1–2 weeksClickable designs of the main flows, reviewed with the people who will use them. Changing a screen now costs minutes.
- 04
Build in increments
4–12 weeksWorking software every two weeks, on a URL you can open. You steer with what you see rather than what you imagined.
- 05
Launch and hand over
1 weekData migrated, team trained, monitoring on. Then either you run it or we do.
[ 04 — EXAMPLES ]
What people use this for
Operations system for a distributor
Orders, stock, deliveries and reconciliation in one place, replacing a shared spreadsheet and a WhatsApp group.
Client portal for a services firm
Clients see status, documents and invoices themselves, which removes most of the email a project manager handles.
Field data capture
A phone-first form that works offline and syncs when there is signal, so paper never has to be typed up twice.
Off-the-shelf software makes you change your process to suit the product. Custom software goes the other way: we study how your business already works, then build the system around it.
When custom is the right answer
Not always. If a well-known product does the job, buy it — we will tell you so, and we have. Custom earns its cost when the process is genuinely yours, when the product you would otherwise buy needs so much configuration that it becomes a project anyway, or when the per-seat licence over three years costs more than building it once.
What you actually get
A system your team recognises on the first morning, because it was designed around the job they already do. The repository, the infrastructure and the documentation in your name. And a short, boring list of things that have to happen to keep it healthy — backups, updates, monitoring — which we will either hand over or keep doing for you.
[ 05 — STACK ]
What we build it with
Chosen because they are boring, well supported and easy to hire for. Nothing here will be abandoned next year.
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Node.js
- Python
- PostgreSQL
- Prisma
- Docker
[ 08 — FAQ ]
Custom Software: questions people ask
Let's talk about custom software.
Tell us the problem. We will tell you what we would build, what it costs and how long it takes — before you commit to anything.