Custom products
When nothing off the shelf fits.
Software designed from scratch around the thing your business actually does, for the cases where adapting an existing product would cost more than building the right one.
From £3,500
One-off build, fixed price agreed before work starts. Hosting from £40 a month.
The problem this solves
Sometimes there genuinely is no product for what you do. You have looked, and the closest thing needs so much configuration and so many workarounds that it would be simpler to start from nothing.
The risk with a bespoke build is that it becomes open ended. Scope grows, the timeline slips, and the number at the end bears no relation to the number at the start. That is what makes people wary, and they are right to be.
The way round it is unglamorous: scope properly first, price it fixed, build the core before the extras, and put working software in front of you early enough that you can change your mind while changing your mind is still cheap.
What is included
Everything below is in the price quoted above. Nothing here is an upsell waiting to appear on an invoice later.
Discovery before quoting
We work out what the thing has to do and write it down. You get a fixed price against a defined scope, not an hourly rate and a hope.
Custom web applications
Internal tools, dashboards and business systems built around your workflow rather than a generic product’s idea of one.
Marketplace and multi-vendor platforms
Two sided platforms with separate seller and buyer journeys, listings, payments and commission handling.
Booking and scheduling systems
Availability, resources, capacity rules and payment, modelled on how your bookings genuinely work.
Subscription and membership platforms
Recurring billing, tiers, access control and renewals, into your own payment account.
Data dashboards and reporting
Your numbers pulled together from wherever they live and shown on one screen you can trust.
Complex integrations
Connecting systems that were never designed to talk to each other, including older software with awkward interfaces.
Mobile apps where they are needed
Native iOS and Android where a browser genuinely will not do. We will tell you when it would.
Documentation and full handover
The code is in your repository from day one, with written documentation and a walkthrough at the end.
Start from something we have built before
How it works
The timings are what we actually work to. If something is going to slip, you hear it from us before the date passes, not after.
- 011 to 3 weeks
Discovery
We work through the idea properly, including what it does not need to do. You leave with a written scope whether or not you build with us.
- 023 to 5 days
Fixed price and phasing
A price against that scope, split into phases so the first version is something usable rather than everything at once.
- 036 to 16 weeks
Build the core first
The part that carries the value gets built and put in front of you early, so you are reacting to software rather than a document.
- 042 to 4 weeks
Launch, then iterate
Testing, data migration, training and handover. Later phases only happen once the first one has proved itself in use.
What it costs
Real figures, published up front. You should not have to book a call to find out what something costs.
- Bespoke buildfrom £3,500
A custom application scoped and fixed priced before any development starts.
- Mobile appfrom £2,500
Native or cross platform for iOS and Android, built around your users and business logic.
- Discovery phasequoted separately
Scoping, technical planning and a written specification. Yours to keep either way.
- API development or integration+£800
Custom APIs, or connections to the platforms and older systems you already run on.
- Enterprise scope+£1,500
Bespoke architecture, large team access, advanced workflows or phased delivery.
- Hosting and supportfrom £40 per month
Managed hosting, SSL, daily backups, monitoring, updates and support.
What changes the price
- How well defined the idea is when you arrive. Vague scope is the single biggest cost driver
- How many user types the system serves and how differently they behave
- Whether it integrates with existing systems, and how cooperative those systems are
- Whether it needs a mobile app or a browser will do
- How tight the deadline is. Compressing a timeline costs more than extending one
About a minute, no email required, and it gives you a real number rather than a range.
What is not included
Everything below is either out of scope or priced separately. We would rather you knew now than found out at the invoice.
- An open ended scope. Anything outside the written specification is quoted as a change before it is built
- Ongoing development after handover, unless you take a retainer
- Third party subscription and licence costs the software depends on
- App store fees and the review process, though we will handle submission
- Business validation. We can build your idea. We cannot tell you whether people will buy it
- Formal penetration testing and certification, which we arrange with a specialist and bill on
Questions people actually ask
By doing discovery first and quoting against a written scope rather than a conversation. That is why discovery is priced separately: it is real work, and it is what makes the fixed price possible. If you decide not to build, the specification is still yours.
You can, and most people do. Changes are quoted before they are built, so nothing appears on an invoice you have not agreed. Changing the shape of the thing early is cheap. Changing it after the data model is set is not, which is why we spend real time on that stage.
The code has been in your repository since the first commit and it is built on mainstream technology, so another developer can pick it up. Documentation is written as we go rather than promised at the end. There is nothing to hand over because you already have it.
Often not, and we will say so. If an existing product does eighty per cent of the job and the missing twenty is a nuisance rather than a blocker, buying it is the better decision. Custom earns its cost when the gap is the thing your business competes on.
Have an idea that needs a custom build?
Tell us what it has to do. We will ask the right questions and tell you honestly what it would take, including whether you should build it at all.