Custom Systems

When the software should fit the business, not the reverse

Some businesses have outgrown what they can buy. This is for building the thing that does the job, in stages you approve one at a time, and handing it over documented.

Or contact us directly

Built around your operations

The system fits the way the work happens rather than the other way around. That is the only good reason to build something instead of buying it.

Delivered in stages

Each piece stands up on its own and earns its place before the next one starts. There is no single day the business changes over and hopes for the best.

You own what we build

The code, the data and the documentation are yours. Nothing is locked to us, and moving on is always possible even if nobody expects to.

The longest of the three

Measured in months rather than weeks. We would not sell it as anything faster.

What a custom build involves

Not every engagement needs all of it, and plenty of businesses that ask about building custom are better served by one of the other two. We look first and tell you which.

Software built for your business

Applications built around the way your business works, rather than a product your operations get bent to fit.

A warehouse the reporting can stand on

One place your data is consolidated, modeled and kept, so analysis reads from something stable instead of querying six live systems and hoping they agree.

Old systems brought forward

The application that still runs the business but nobody wants to touch, moved onto something supportable, in stages, without the business stopping.

A roadmap you can budget against

What to build, in what order, and what each piece costs. Sequenced so nothing starts before the thing it depends on is working.

Connected to what you keep

A custom system rarely replaces everything. Whatever stays gets integrated with it, so you do not trade several islands for a newer one.

Documented and handed over

Built to be maintained, by your people or by us. Nothing whose only documentation is the person who wrote it.

However it is scoped, the order is the same: we look, we recommend, then we build and run it. See how every engagement runs →

Where to start

Is a custom system the right answer?

Possibly, if this sounds familiar

Off-the-shelf tools each do part of the job and none of them does yours
Your process has bent to fit what the software allows
Nobody will touch the system everything depends on
You are paying licenses and building workarounds for features you do not use

Somewhere else, if it does not

The work is still mostly in spreadsheets, and a database with proper reporting would solve most of it.

Start with Foundation

Your systems are fine individually, and what you need is for them to talk to each other.

Start with Integration

Before you ask

Questions we get about building custom

When is building custom the right answer?: Less often than people expect, and we will say so. Building is right when the way you operate is genuinely a competitive advantage, or when no product on the market does the core of what you need. If something off the shelf would do the job, buying it is cheaper to run and cheaper to leave, and that is the advice you will get.
How do you avoid building something we cannot maintain?: By building on ordinary, widely used technology rather than anything exotic, documenting how it works and why as we go, and keeping the system small enough to be understood. The test we hold ourselves to is whether another competent developer could pick it up without us.
Do we own the code?: Yes. The code, the data and the documentation belong to your business, and you get them regardless of whether we keep working together. We do not build on a platform that holds your system hostage.
What happens to the systems we want to keep?: They get integrated with the new one. A custom build almost never replaces an entire estate, and the accounting package or the tool one department depends on is usually worth keeping. Working out what to build and what to connect is part of the roadmap, before anything is written.
How long does a custom build take?: Longer than a Foundation build or an integration project, which is why the work is staged rather than delivered in one piece. How long depends on how much has to be replaced at once, and we will tell you which stages can wait.
Do you support the system after it goes live?: Yes, and most clients want that. It is an ongoing arrangement agreed in writing, with the cover it actually has stated plainly rather than a round-the-clock promise.
How much does a custom system cost?: It is quoted per stage rather than published as a rate. The roadmap puts a cost against each piece of work, so you are approving a defined stage rather than signing up to an open-ended build, and you can stop between stages.

Let's find out before you commit

Tell us what your software will not do and what your team does to work around it, and we'll tell you whether building is the right answer.

Or contact us directly

Questions we get about building custom

When is building custom the right answer?

Less often than people expect, and we will say so. Building is right when the way you operate is genuinely a competitive advantage, or when no product on the market does the core of what you need. If something off the shelf would do the job, buying it is cheaper to run and cheaper to leave, and that is the advice you will get.

How do you avoid building something we cannot maintain?

By building on ordinary, widely used technology rather than anything exotic, documenting how it works and why as we go, and keeping the system small enough to be understood. The test we hold ourselves to is whether another competent developer could pick it up without us.

Do we own the code?

Yes. The code, the data and the documentation belong to your business, and you get them regardless of whether we keep working together. We do not build on a platform that holds your system hostage.

What happens to the systems we want to keep?

They get integrated with the new one. A custom build almost never replaces an entire estate, and the accounting package or the tool one department depends on is usually worth keeping. Working out what to build and what to connect is part of the roadmap, before anything is written.

How long does a custom build take?

Longer than a Foundation build or an integration project, which is why the work is staged rather than delivered in one piece. How long depends on how much has to be replaced at once, and we will tell you which stages can wait.

Do you support the system after it goes live?

Yes, and most clients want that. It is an ongoing arrangement agreed in writing, with the cover it actually has stated plainly rather than a round-the-clock promise.

How much does a custom system cost?

It is quoted per stage rather than published as a rate. The roadmap puts a cost against each piece of work, so you are approving a defined stage rather than signing up to an open-ended build, and you can stop between stages.