P/05Custom software
The tool you wish existed, and you own it.
Software built around your process when nothing off the shelf fits.
Mostly over screen share and a shared channel, in working sessions with your team.
- Free · 30 minutes
The walk-through
You show us one recent case on screen.
- Free · two business days
What we'd fix first
A one-page note, yours to keep.
- After a signed brief
The first result
One working screen with your real records, matched to the answers your spreadsheet gives.
What owners tell us.
Recognize one of these? It is the kind of job we take on. Where we have written a field guide on it, it is linked below the problem.
“The estimating sheet only one person understands.”
Excel
“Dealers email us for order status.”
email · your order system
“Our accounting software doesn't fit how our projects run.”
QuickBooks · spreadsheets
“We still run on an Access database.”
Microsoft Access
“Our crews fill in paper forms and someone types them up.”
paper forms · spreadsheets
“Approvals live in email threads, and documents get lost.”
email · shared drives
What you have at the end.
Working software built around how your team already works.
The code, documentation and admin access, assigned to you in writing.
No per-seat fees from us. Hosting and any third-party subscriptions are listed before you sign.
Training for the people who use it, and a next-fix list from what we noticed along the way.
One problem, shown on screen.
Nothing is built and we get no access to your systems until you have signed a two-page brief. The first result is checked against the bar in it, with stop points along the way.
The walk-through
You show us one recent case on screen, the way your team really does it.
What we'd fix first
A one-page note: the real problem, the first job, a draft bar for "working". Yours to keep.
The first result
One working screen with your real records, matched to the answers your spreadsheet gives.
Four steps, the same every time.
Mostly over screen share and a shared channel, in working sessions with your team.
Learn the work
We sit with the people who do the job, over screen share, and watch how it really runs, workarounds included.
Build on your data
We report on, fix, clean up, automate or build what the job needs, on your real data, with the least access it takes: read-only first, a test copy where possible, everything in your accounts.
Prove it against a bar you agree
Before we build, we write down with you what "working" means. The first working result is checked against that bar on your data, with stop points along the way.
Hand it over or run it for you
You run it: code, data, admin access, documentation and training, then our access is removed. Or we stay on and run it, including any AI worker.
Described by type, never by name.
We describe client work by the kind of company and the kind of work only: no names and no figures.
Accounting software built around how the client works, plus a document management system, for a project management and consulting group working on construction projects. Ongoing.
A rebuilt CRM and inventory management for a B2B supplier selling through Shopify.
Consumer mobile apps.
Marketing websites.
Builds to a brief written from outside. We learn how the work runs first.
Field guides on custom software.
The first field guides here are on their way. Leave your email and we will send them as they publish.
Short answers to the long worries.
Do we own the code?
Yes: the code, the data, the documentation and admin access, assigned to you in writing. No per-seat fees from us.
How long does it take?
It depends on the scope, and we do not commit to delivery dates here. Larger builds run in short cycles, so you see working software with your real records at each weekly session instead of waiting for one big launch.
Can it connect to the tools we already use?
Usually. We list every connection in the brief before building. If a tool has no way to connect, we tell you before you sign.
What if our process changes after launch?
You have the code and the documentation, so your team or any developer can extend it. Or we stay on and change it with you.
Why not a no-code tool?
Sometimes that is the right answer, and the note will say so. Custom software makes sense when the parts specific to your business are where off-the-shelf tools get slow, expensive or impossible.
Walk us through one problem. We'll tell you what we'd fix first.
Free · 30 minutes · a one-page note within two business days