Software development
Custom software development, then someone who maintains it
The expensive part of custom software is not building it. It is year three, when the person who built it is gone and nobody knows how it works.
The problem
What usually goes wrong
A business commissions an application, the agency delivers it, and the relationship ends at launch. Eighteen months later a dependency is out of date, a browser change breaks a workflow, the one contractor who understood it has moved on, and the quote to fix it approaches the original build.
We build things we expect to still be running in five years, and we price for the maintenance rather than pretending it is not coming. That means boring technology choices, written documentation, and code your next developer can read without an archaeology phase.
We will also tell you when not to build. A configured off-the-shelf product usually beats custom software, and the projects worth building are the ones where your process is genuinely the thing that makes you money.
What you get
What changes once this is running
Scoped before it is priced
Discovery first, fixed price where the scope is genuinely fixed, time and materials where it is not. We tell you which one your project is.
Technology chosen to be maintained
Widely used, well-documented, hireable. Nothing that makes your next developer dependent on us.
Handed over properly
Documentation, environment setup, and deployment written down. You own the code and the accounts from day one.
Maintained after launch
Dependency updates, monitoring, and a support path. The launch is the start of the cost curve, not the end of it.
Services
Everything under software development
Web application development
Portals, internal tools, and customer-facing applications built to still be running in five years.
Read moreMobile app development
iOS and Android applications, built cross-platform where that fits and native where it does not.
Read moreCustom software development
Discovery, a written scope, and a real number — before anyone commits to building anything.
Read moreApproach
How engagements run
Most projects start with a paid discovery: a fortnight of mapping the process, the integrations, and the edge cases, ending in a written scope and a real number. It is chargeable, and it is credited against the build.
The project minimum is $5,000 and hourly work runs $110 to $155. Both are published so anyone whose budget is well under that can self-select out before spending an hour on a call — that is a service to both sides.
$110 to $155 an hour, $5,000 project minimum. Dedicated developers from $9,500 a month. See the pricing page.
FAQ
Questions people ask
What is the minimum project size?
$5,000. Below that, the discovery, testing, deployment, and handover overhead consumes most of the budget and you end up paying for process rather than software. For smaller needs, configuring an existing product is almost always the better answer and we will say so.
Do we own the code?
Yes. You own the code, the repositories, and the hosting accounts from day one, and they are in your name rather than ours. Any provider who holds your accounts hostage has told you something important about the relationship.
Fixed price or hourly?
Fixed price when the scope is genuinely fixed and understood, usually after discovery. Time and materials for discovery and for work where the requirements will move. Quoting a fixed price on an unknown scope means one of us is going to be wrong about it.
What happens after launch?
A maintenance arrangement covering dependency updates, monitoring, and support, sized to the application. Software that nobody maintains does not stay still — it decays, and the repair bill arrives all at once.
Also worth a look
Next step
Find out what this would look like for you
A 20-minute call. We ask what breaks, what it costs you, and who handles it now. If we are not the right fit we will say so.