Custom software and internal tools
Stop running the business from a spreadsheet.
At some point the sheets, the group chat and the whiteboard stop scaling, and the cost shows up as missed enquiries and double entry. We build the one tool that removes that, in slices you can use while the rest is still being built.
Start here
If you have never commissioned software, read this bit.
- What does custom software actually mean here?
- A tool built around how your business already runs, instead of a subscription you have to bend your process to fit. Usually it is one web app your office team uses on a laptop and your crew uses on a phone.
- Why not just buy an off the shelf system?
- Buy it if it fits. Most operators only come to us after the third subscription failed, because the pricing scaled badly, the reporting was wrong for their trade, or half the team refused to use it. Custom makes sense when the workaround is costing more than the build.
- Do you replace everything at once?
- No, and that is usually how these projects die. We ship the single most painful piece first, get it in daily use, then build outward. You see something working within weeks.
- What happens if we stop working together?
- You keep the code, the database and the accounts. Everything is deployed into infrastructure in your name and handed over documented. There is no hostage situation and no licence that expires.
Scope it yourself
Pick the parts that hurt. See what comes back.
Pick the parts of the day that hurt. We build only those, in that order, and leave the rest of your stack alone.
What that build looks like
- Modules in scope2
- Admin hours back per month48
- That time valued at $32 an hour$1,536
- Rough build window5 weeks
We ship the first useful module before the rest is designed, so you get value in weeks instead of waiting on a launch date that keeps moving.
Estimates from builds we have shipped. Real scope and price come after a discovery call.
What is included
Seven parts of every build. Open any one of them.
01Discovery that looks at real workWe sit with the people doing the job and watch the actual process, including the spreadsheet nobody admits to using.
- Process mapped end to end, from enquiry to paid invoice
- Every workaround, sheet and group chat documented
- Bottlenecks ranked by hours lost, not by how annoying they feel
- A written scope with what is in, what is out and what is later
02Design your team will not fightField crews will abandon anything that takes more taps than the old way. We design for gloves, sunlight and bad signal.
- Mobile first screens for the field, dense screens for the office
- Clickable prototype before a line of production code
- Offline tolerance where the crew works out of range
- Big targets, few fields, no training manual required
03Build in shippable slicesTwo week slices, each one usable on its own. You are never waiting six months to see whether it works.
- Working software in your hands every fortnight
- Priorities re-checked after each slice
- Real data loaded early so testing means something
- No invoice for work you have not seen running
04Integrations with what you already runThe new tool has to talk to the accounting, the phones and the ad platforms, or it becomes another island.
- Accounting sync so invoices are not entered twice
- Phone system and call tracking tied to job records
- Ad platform conversion feedback, so marketing sees booked revenue
- Data import from the spreadsheets and the old system
05Reporting the owner actually wantsNot a dashboard with forty tiles. The handful of numbers that tell you whether this week was good.
- Jobs booked, completed and invoiced
- Revenue and margin by service line
- Crew and truck utilisation
- Lead source attribution back to the campaign that paid for it
06Hosting, security and backupsDeployed in your accounts, backed up daily, with access controls so a departing employee does not walk out with the database.
- Infrastructure created in your name from day one
- Role based access for office, field and admin
- Automated daily backups with restores tested, not assumed
- Audit trail on anything that touches money
07Support and iteration after launchSoftware is never finished. A flat monthly covers fixes, small changes and the next round of improvements.
- Named contact, not a ticket queue
- Bug fixes inside an agreed response window
- A monthly allowance of change requests
- Quarterly review of what to build next
Ownership
You own what we build. All of it.
- Yours
The code
Handed over in a repository in your name, documented, with no licence and no lock in.
- Yours
The data
In a database in your own account. Exportable at any time, in a format another developer can pick up.
- Optional
The team
Keep us on a support retainer, or hand it to an internal developer. We write the documentation for both outcomes.
How a build runs
What happens after you say yes.
- Weeks 1 to 2
Discovery
We watch the process, talk to the office and the field, and write a scope with a fixed first slice. You own that document whether or not you continue.
- Weeks 3 to 4
Prototype
Clickable screens for the highest pain workflow. Your team clicks through it and tells us what is wrong before it costs anything to change.
- Weeks 5 to 10
First slice live
One real module in daily use with real data. This is where the hours start coming back and where we learn what to build next.
- Ongoing
Expand and support
The next modules in two week slices, with hosting, backups and support running underneath. You decide the pace.
This works for you if
- You are running the business out of spreadsheets and group chats
- Off the shelf software exists but priced or fitted badly for you
- The same information gets typed in more than once every day
- You have someone internally who can answer questions weekly
- You want to own the system rather than rent it forever
Do not start yet if
- You need it finished in three weeks for a hard deadline
- Nobody internally can be involved during the build
- A standard product would genuinely do the job
- The process changes completely every month and nobody agrees on it
If a standard product fits, we will tell you which one to buy. That conversation costs you nothing and it is a better outcome than a build you did not need.
FAQ
Custom software questions, answered straight
Usually not. Replacing a working CRM is expensive and risky. We build around it and remove the manual steps.
It depends entirely on scope, which is why the first slice is deliberately small. Discovery gives you a fixed price for that slice and a realistic range for the rest before you commit to anything beyond it.
Often that is the cheaper answer. If your core system is fine but the reporting or intake around it is broken, we build the missing piece and connect it rather than rebuild what already works.
Us on a flat monthly, or your own developer. Everything is written in mainstream tooling with documentation, precisely so you are not stuck with one supplier.
We build web apps that work properly on a phone, installable to the home screen. That covers almost every field use case without app store delays. If you genuinely need native, we will say so.
Yes, and it is one of the biggest wins. When job outcomes flow back into the ad platforms, the campaigns optimise toward booked revenue instead of raw leads.
Tell us what your cost per booked job is. We will tell you if we can beat it.
Twenty minutes, no deck. If we are not the right fit we will say so on the call.