Software Development
Custom software scoped after a paid discovery phase and delivered in phases that each end in something you could use on its own.
What this is.
Most software disputes trace back to a number given before anyone understood the requirements. We avoid that by selling discovery first: a short, paid phase that produces a specification, screens, a data model and a costed plan. The document is yours to take anywhere.
Then we build in phases drawn around outcomes rather than layers. Not front end, then back end, then admin — but customers can book, then staff can manage, then owners can report. That structure survives a budget freeze; the other one leaves you with nothing.
Related reading: How to price a first software project you have never built before.
The scope.
Discovery
Specification, screens, data model and a costed build plan you own outright.
Web applications
Portals, dashboards, booking systems, internal tools and admin interfaces.
Integrations
Payments, CRM, accounting and whatever else has to talk to it.
Data migration
Usually the least visible and most time-consuming part of any build.
Documentation
Enough that another developer could pick it up without ringing us.
Support arrangement
Defined and quoted, not absorbed and resented.
Four phases.
Discovery
Paid, scoped and self-contained. You can stop here and take the plan elsewhere.
Phase build
Each phase ends in something usable and reviewable.
Handover
Training and documentation for the people who will operate it.
Support
An agreed arrangement for the month after launch, when the real requirements arrive.
The outcome.
- A quote based on understood requirements rather than a guess
- Working software at the end of each phase, not only at the end
- Ownership of the deliverables on payment in full
- A system your team can operate without us
Before you ask.
Why is discovery paid?
Because it is real work and produces a real deliverable. It also means the build quote is defensible instead of speculative.
Who owns the code?
You do, on payment in full. We retain our pre-existing tools and know-how, and grant you a licence for anything of ours embedded in your build.
Can you take over an existing project?
Sometimes. We will review it honestly and tell you whether continuing or restarting is cheaper — the answer is not always the one that suits us.
Starting investments are on the pricing page. The figure for your project comes from a written proposal you see before anything begins.