Custom software

Software built for the way your business runs.

Most small businesses end up bending their work to fit software somebody else designed. When that gap gets wide enough, building the missing piece costs less than working around it for another year.

Tell us what you need Ask a question first

Sound familiar?

Signs the software is fighting the business.

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The real system is a spreadsheet, because the software cannot hold it.

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The same information gets typed into two places every single day.

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Nobody can get a straight answer out of it without exporting first.

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You pay every month for features nobody has ever opened.

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New staff spend their first weeks learning the workarounds.

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The thing your business is best at is the thing the software handles worst.

Straight talk

Buy it, or build it?

We would rather point you at a product that fits than build something you did not need. Here is roughly how the two divide.

Buy something ready made when…

The job is one nearly every business does the same way, like accounts or payroll.
A product already covers it and your team can live with its habits.
You need it running next week rather than next quarter.
The way you do this particular job is not what wins you the work.

Build the missing piece when…

The way you work is the thing customers come to you for.
Every product you have tried needs a spreadsheet propped up beside it.
The same information gets typed into two systems every day.
You pay for a great deal of software in order to use a little of it.

How it works

How we build it.

You are using part of it long before the whole thing is finished, so it starts paying for itself early.

Watch how the work moves

We sit with the people doing the job and write down what actually happens, which is rarely what the written process says.

Agree what it has to do

A short list of what the software must handle, and just as importantly what it deliberately will not.

Build the smallest useful piece

Whatever takes the most time off your week gets built first, so it is earning its keep before the rest exists.

Put it against real work

Your team uses it on live jobs while we are still building, which is how the awkward bits surface early.

Move your records in

Existing data comes across and gets checked against the original, so day one starts with a full system.

Hand it over properly

Written down, everyone trained, and we stay reachable long after it goes live.

Common questions

Questions owners usually ask.

Is custom software overkill for a business our size?

Usually not. Most of what small businesses need is small: one screen that replaces a spreadsheet, one report that gives back an afternoon. Overkill comes from building for the business you might be in five years, and we do not do that.

Could we just use an off-the-shelf product?

Often yes, and we will say so. Building is worth it when the way you work is the thing that makes you money and nothing on the market fits it. If a product does fit, that is the cheaper answer and we would rather tell you than sell you a build.

What if we do not know exactly what we want?

Almost nobody does at the start. That is what the first stage is for. We watch the work, write down what we see, and you correct us until it matches.

Who owns what you build?

You do. The system, the records and the documentation are yours, and everything is written down clearly enough that another developer could pick it up.

How long before we see something working?

Weeks rather than months for the first useful piece. We build in stages, so part of it is in use while the rest is still being made.

Tell us what your business keeps working around.

Send a short note about the part of the week that eats the most time. We will come back with the simplest thing that would fix it.

Tell us what you need Just ask a question