Custom software for a business that does not fit off-the-shelf
Applications Standard at $3,499 a month. Senior engineer, 2-4 day cycles, Work Made for Hire (full ownership). Cancel anytime. 14-day money-back.
Who this is for
SMB owner or ops manager whose business is held together by spreadsheets and one specific SaaS that does not fit.
The pain today
- The workflow is unique; no SaaS matches it closely.
- Current SaaS subscriptions total $1,500 a month and still need 5 spreadsheets.
- Every year the SaaS raises prices and adds features I do not need.
- Data lives in 6 places and nobody has the full picture.
The outcome you get
- Custom software that fits the workflow exactly.
- Full data ownership, migration, and portability.
- Senior engineering on a monthly cadence I can pause.
- Team trained to maintain and extend without vendor lock-in.
When to build custom vs buy SaaS
The build-vs-buy call for SMBs turns on three questions. Is the workflow unique enough that no SaaS fits within 30 percent? Will a custom tool cut subscription costs or ops time by more than the build cost inside 18 months? Does the team have the appetite to run a custom tool (trained owner, backup process, clear upgrade path)? If yes to all three, custom wins. If not, buy the closest SaaS and work around the gaps. I run this decision with SMB owners in a single kickoff call. Roughly 40 percent of the time I recommend SaaS.
Data migration from spreadsheets and legacy tools
SMB custom builds almost always start with data migration. Spreadsheets, legacy SaaS exports, handwritten records, Access databases from 2008. The migration is half the work and the reason most SMB custom builds fail: migrations drag on, quality deteriorates, and the new tool launches with bad data. I spec the migration explicitly at kickoff, run a pilot migration in week two, and refuse to launch the new tool until the migration quality passes a written test. Done right, migration takes 2-4 weeks. Done poorly, it takes 6 months.
Training your team on a custom tool
A custom tool only pays back if the team uses it. I train the team in two sessions: one for daily users, one for the owner and ops manager. Training includes the happy path, the common errors, the recovery process, and how to request new features. Written docs live on the tool itself. Most SMB teams are running the tool confidently inside 2-3 weeks post-launch. The training pays back by eliminating the 'ask the owner' dependency that plagues spreadsheet-based workflows.
Ownership and portability
Custom SMB tools under Work Made for Hire are yours from day one. Code on your GitHub, deployment on your AWS or Vercel, database on your account. If I disappear, you hire another developer and hand them the repo. No lock-in. No hidden dependencies on my infrastructure. This ownership model is the reason SMBs should prefer custom over proprietary SaaS when the workflow justifies it: after the build, the running costs are low and the portability is total.
Recent proof
A comparable engagement, delivered and documented.
Rebuilt a real estate portal at a fraction of the cost
Rebuilt Imóveis SC's real estate portal as ImoHub — a faster, more scalable successor — handling 120k+ properties with sub-second search and drastically reduced AWS costs.
Frequently asked questions
The questions prospects ask before they book.
- How much does a typical SMB custom build cost end to end?
- Most SMB builds land between $15,000 and $45,000 total, spread across 5-12 months at $3,499/mo. The retainer model lets you phase the cost across operating cash flow.
- Can you migrate data from my existing SaaS?
- Yes. API exports, CSV imports, database dumps, screen scraping if needed. Migration is planned explicitly at kickoff.
- What if I need new features later?
- Restart the retainer for a month or two. Or I hand over the code cleanly so any senior engineer can extend it.
- Do you provide training?
- Yes. Two sessions at launch, written docs, and a recorded walkthrough. Team runs the tool confidently inside a few weeks.
- What happens if my business grows or shrinks?
- The tool scales with you. Most SMB custom tools I ship run for 3-5 years without major rework. If growth changes the workflow, we come back for an extension retainer.
Ready to start?
Tell me what you need in 60 seconds. Tailored proposal in your inbox within 6 hours.