Five tools that don't talk
Each solves a piece, none share data, and somebody copies between them every morning.
[ Development / Custom Business Software ]
Stop bending your business to fit someone else's software.
Off-the-shelf software is cheap until you are paying for five subscriptions, exporting to spreadsheets to make them talk, and paying someone to key the same data in twice. Custom software fits the way you already work.
Fixed scope · Working version in weeks · You own the code
Fixedscope and price, agreed upfront
Weeksto a working version, not months
You ownthe code and the data
Secureby design, not bolted on later
[ Built for businesses like these ]
Hair salonsBarbershopsNail barsBeauty clinicsDay spasMed-spasMassage therapistsGymsPersonal trainersYoga studiosPilates studiosCrossFit boxesDance schoolsMartial arts academiesSwimming schoolsTattoo studiosPet groomingDoctors & GP practicesDental practicesPhysiotherapyChiropractorsVeterinary clinicsDiagnostic labsSchoolsCoaching institutesTutorsDriving schoolsTraining providersRestaurantsCafesCloud kitchensBakeriesCateringDistributorsWholesalersRetailersSmall manufacturersEstate agentsLandlords & property managersFacilities managementPlumbersElectriciansHVAC & maintenance teamsCleaning companiesPhotographersEvent plannersTravel agentsConsultanciesAccountantsLaw firmsRecruitment agenciesNon-profits & trusts
[ Symptoms ]
Signs you have outgrown the tools you have.
Custom software becomes worth it at the point where the workarounds cost more than the software would.
The business runs on a spreadsheet
A file one person truly understands, emailed around in versions, with no audit trail and no real backup.
Work that should be automatic
Staff spending hours on a sequence that never changes and could be a single button.
Per-seat fees for 10% of a product
A licence per person for software where your team uses a fraction of the features and none of the ones they need most.
You cannot answer basic questions
How many jobs are open, what is overdue, which customer is actually profitable — all answerable only by hand.
Your process is your advantage
The thing you do differently from competitors is exactly the thing generic software refuses to support.
[ How it works ]
Working software in weeks, not a year.
01 — Week 1
Map the work
I sit with the people who do the job and write down what actually happens, including the exceptions nobody documents. You get a written scope, a fixed price and a delivery date before development starts.
02 — Week 2-6
Build the core
The smallest version that replaces real work, shipped to a staging site you can use. You give feedback on something running, not on a wireframe.
03 — Launch
Roll out & hand over
Data migrated from whatever you use now, staff trained, documentation written. Then improvements based on what real use reveals.
[ What actually changes ]
The systems I most often build.
Different industries, same underlying mechanics: a diary that must not clash, money collected reliably, and one record instead of four.
Booking, clients & care
- Clinic & practice management — patients, appointments, clinical notes and billing for medical, dental, physio and veterinary practices.
- Salon, spa & gym systems — multi-resource booking, memberships, prepaid packages and staff commission.
- Appointment & booking platforms — real-time availability, deposits, reminders and self-service rescheduling.
- School & coaching management — admissions, attendance, fee structures, exams and a parent portal.
- Learning platforms — courses, cohorts, assessments and certificates, with no revenue share to a platform.
- Custom CRM — your pipeline and your fields, light enough that the team actually updates it.
Operations, stock & money
- Inventory & order management — real-time stock across locations and sales channels, with reorder points.
- Billing & invoicing — recurring invoices, usage charges, part payments and automated chasing.
- Field service management — job scheduling, an engineer app that works offline, photos, signatures and invoicing from site.
- Restaurant & cafe systems — every delivery channel in one order queue, plus recipe costing and stock.
- Property management — units, tenancies, rent, arrears, maintenance and compliance dates that warn you early.
- HR & payroll systems — employee records, leave, shifts and payroll inputs, with staff self-service.
[ Example engagement ]
Three tools and a spreadsheet, replaced by one screen.
A services business tracking jobs in a spreadsheet, invoices in one tool and customer notes in another, with a member of staff reconciling all three daily.
Illustrative example of a typical engagement. Figures vary with the state of your systems and are not a guarantee of a specific outcome.
1 systeminstead of four
6 weeksto first live version
~10 hrsof admin saved weekly
0per-seat licences
[ Free · no obligation ]
Not sure it is worth building?
Describe how you work today. If an off-the-shelf product would serve you better and cheaper, I will name it instead of selling you a build.
[ Pricing ]
Pricing that fits your budget.
Tell me the number you have to work with. I'll tell you honestly what's achievable within it — and if it isn't enough, I'll say so before we start rather than halfway through.
Fixed project price
Scope agreed in writing, price agreed in writing, before any work starts. No hourly creep and no invoice you haven't already approved.
Monthly retainer
For ongoing work — maintenance, monitoring, updates and small changes. Month to month, cancel whenever, no minimum term.
Hourly for small jobs
For a single bug or a short task where writing a full scope would cost more than simply doing the work.
Budget too tight for the whole thing? I'll often suggest doing the highest-value part first and the rest later, rather than doing all of it badly.
[ Questions ]
Common questions.
How much does custom software cost?
It depends entirely on scope, which is why the first step is mapping the work rather than quoting blind. What I will commit to is a fixed price agreed in writing before development starts, and a first scope small enough to deliver something usable in weeks rather than a year.
Is it not cheaper to buy something off the shelf?
Very often, yes — and I will tell you so. Off-the-shelf wins when your process is ordinary. Custom wins when the workarounds, per-seat licences and manual re-keying already cost more than a build would, or when your process is the thing that makes you competitive.
My industry is not in your list. Can you still help?
Almost certainly. The list is examples, not limits. Underneath, most business software is the same handful of problems — scheduling something scarce, tracking what is owed, keeping one record instead of four, and getting the right information to the right person. The industry changes the vocabulary, not the engineering.
What about sensitive data, like patient records?
Handled as sensitive from the start: role-based access, full audit logging, encryption in transit and at rest, hardened servers and tested backups. My background is in security engineering as well as application development, which is exactly where that matters. For healthcare work I will also be explicit about which obligations are yours rather than the software's.
What if my requirements change halfway?
They will, because seeing something real changes what you want. The build is structured in stages so changes land between them rather than mid-flight. Genuine additions get re-quoted honestly rather than absorbed silently and resented later.
Who owns the software?
You do, completely. The code lives in your repository, uses no licence you cannot renew, and any competent developer can pick it up. There is no lock-in and no per-seat fee to me, ever.
What happens if you are unavailable?
A fair question for any solo engineer. The mitigation is that everything is version-controlled, documented and built with standard, widely-known tools, so another developer can take over without archaeology. That is a deliberate design goal, not an afterthought.
Can you take over a half-finished project?
Yes, and it is common. I start with a review and an honest assessment of whether finishing it costs less than restarting, with the price of each option laid out.
[ Related services ]
Related development work.
Laravel DevelopmentAPIs, dashboards and long-term maintenance of Laravel apps.Node.js DevelopmentAPIs, services and background workers that stay up.Python & FastAPITyped, async Python APIs and data services.Next.js DevelopmentApp Router, rendering strategy and Core Web Vitals done right.WordPress DevelopmentCustom themes, plugins and integrations built to be maintained.Shopify DevelopmentTheme work, custom apps and checkout that converts.
[ Let's talk ]
Tell me what you're building.
Describe it in a few lines and you'll get a straight answer on scope, cost and timeline — same working day, from the person who'd actually build it.