Custom software development, built around how you already work.

Most businesses should buy software rather than build it. If a product exists that does eighty per cent of what you need and the remaining twenty per cent is preference rather than principle, buy it. We will tell you that, and we have told clients that.

Custom becomes the right answer in three situations. When the process is genuinely how you compete, so bending it to fit a product costs you the advantage. When the off the shelf options each solve part of the problem and you would end up paying for three of them and rekeying between them. And when the licence cost of a product across your headcount exceeds the cost of owning something outright within two or three years.

A single process automated, with the interface and the integrations it needs, sits at the lower end. A multi user platform with roles, reporting, mobile applications and third party integrations sits at the upper end.

Every project is quoted as a fixed price against a written scope that includes an explicit list of what is not included. Larger work is quoted per phase, so the budget cannot drift halfway through. A day rate pays a supplier for being slow and penalises them for being fast, which is exactly backwards, so we do not work that way.

Two to six weeks depending on surface area. That surprises people, and the reason is worth understanding: most project delays are not engineering delays, they are decisions waiting on somebody.

We remove that by agreeing the scope and the acceptance criteria in writing before anything is built, showing working software within the first few days, and keeping one named contact on each side. The projects that overrun are the ones where nobody wrote down what finished looks like.

The code, the repositories and the provider accounts, from day one rather than on final payment. At go live you receive documentation, credentials, a runbook and a recorded walkthrough, plus a training session for the people who will use it daily.

The test we hold ourselves to is simple. If we disappeared tomorrow, another developer should be able to pick the work up without talking to us. That is also the honest answer to the reasonable question of whether a small supplier is a risk.

How much does custom software cost in the UK?

Augustova quotes £8,000 to £30,000 for most business applications, as a fixed price against a written scope. A single automated process sits at the lower end, a multi user platform with mobile apps at the upper end. Larger work is quoted per phase so the budget cannot drift.

Is it cheaper to buy off the shelf software?

Usually yes, and we will say so. Custom pays back when the process is how you compete, when you would otherwise pay for three products and rekey between them, or when licence costs across your headcount exceed ownership within two or three years.

How long does custom software take to build?

Two to six weeks depending on surface area. Most overruns in this industry are decisions waiting on somebody rather than engineering time, so we agree scope and acceptance criteria in writing before starting and show working software within the first few days.

What happens if the supplier disappears?

You own the code, the repositories and the provider accounts from day one, and at go live you receive documentation, a runbook and a recorded walkthrough. The standard we hold is that another developer could pick the work up without speaking to us.