Quoting, scheduling, job sheets, certificates, invoicing chasers. The website matters, but the thing behind it usually matters more.
No "contact us for a quote". These are the bands we work in, and the proposal names one number inside them.
| What you want | Price | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Custom business site | £1,500 to £4,000 | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Online shop | £2,500 to £6,000 | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Internal tool or customer portal | £3,000 to £12,000 | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Care plan after launch | £75 to £250 a month | ongoing |
| Rescue teardown of an existing build | free, 30 minutes | same week |
Bands, not a quote. The proposal names one number and one date, and the contract carries both.
The pattern is consistent: the work comes in fine, and the admin eats the evenings. Quotes get typed twice, jobs live in a mix of WhatsApp, a diary and memory, and the invoice goes out late because nobody had an hour spare.
What usually fixes it is small and specific. A quote calculator that turns a five minute phone call into a priced email. A job board that everyone on the van can see. A photo log attached to the job rather than lost in a camera roll. None of these are big builds.
First drafts of screens, markup and logic. The repetitive 80%: forms, lists, plumbing, the fifth variation of the same page.
Scope, architecture, security, data protection, and the decision about what not to build. Every line reviewed and signed off by name.
Every project gets a build log: what was asked for, what it cost, how long it took, what the machine did and what the human did. Published, not summarised.
If a £30 a month product already does 90% of this, we'll tell you to buy it. Custom is worth it when the fit is the problem or the per seat cost has got silly, not by default.
The risk with AI generated code is real and well documented: more bugs, more security holes, when nobody reviews it. That's why review is the product here. A senior engineer reads everything, security and UK GDPR are deliverables rather than extras, and their name goes on it.
Maybe not. If it fits and the cost is sane, keep it. Custom earns its place when the fit is wrong, when per seat pricing has outgrown its value, or when the thing you need doesn't exist as a product.
Because the typing got faster and we passed that on. The thinking, the review and the testing didn't get faster, which is why we're cheaper than an agency but not as cheap as a DIY tool. Anyone charging pre-AI day rates for AI-assisted work is pocketing the difference.
Yes. Code, repository, hosting and accounts, all in your name, no lock in. You can take it to any other developer the day after launch.