Preston
For work that's outgrown a spreadsheet but doesn't need a big enterprise system. We keep it small, write down how it works and give you the code.
01
Instead of a paper diary, a shared inbox and four emails to agree a time. Customers book themselves, the system follows your rules, and your staff stop spending the day on the phone.
02
Somewhere your customers can log in and see their own documents, job progress and invoices. If you get a lot of calls asking 'where are we up to?', this is what stops them.
03
Most businesses have one spreadsheet that runs the quoting, the job tracking or the stock. We turn it into proper software, with logins, a history of changes and checks on what goes in.
Most business problems are already solved by software you can rent by the month. If yours is one of them, we'll tell you and send you the link. Recommending things we don't build is part of our advisory work.
Custom software is worth it when the off-the-shelf options make you work their way, when you're paying monthly for ten features and using two, or when everyone's scared to touch the spreadsheet that holds it all together.
The first version does one job well. No 18-month roadmap and no features built just in case. We get the smallest useful version into your hands quickly, then add to it if it's earning its keep. Growing software that works is much cheaper than rescuing something that tried to do everything at once.
01
You describe the job, usually by describing the spreadsheet, and we tell you whether custom software is the answer. Sometimes it isn't, and it's better to find that out on a free call.
02
Before any code
We write down what we're going to build in plain English, with a fixed quote and a timeline. Most projects take ten to sixteen weeks from here. If there are surprises, they turn up now, on paper, while they're cheap to deal with.
03
We build it in stages you can actually use, so you see it working early. You try the half-built version and change your mind while it's still easy to.
04
We test it against your real work, train your team, and hand over the code and the documentation. After that, it's yours.
1 week
back every month
Expense claims were coming in as spreadsheets by email, with the receipts following in separate emails. The finance team had to match them up and type every claim in again by hand, and it took a week every month.
We built them an expenses tool that takes a claim from submission to approval in one place. Claims now arrive complete and in the same format, and the finance team has that week back.
The software's yours: the code, the documentation and the intellectual property. You can run it on your own servers, or we can run it for you on managed hosting, monitored, backed up and kept up to date. Most clients let us host it, but nobody has to.
It depends on the job, but you'll know before you commit. We write the spec first, in plain English, and it sets out how many days the build will take.
Once the spec's agreed, the quote is fixed and in writing before we start building, and the invoice matches it.
Working it out on paper is cheaper for both of us than finding out halfway through the code.
Ten to sixteen weeks for most projects, from first chat to handover, and smaller tools are quicker. The spec gives you a real date, and you'll see working versions all the way through instead of waiting until the end.
Yes. The code, the documentation and the intellectual property are all handed over when we finish. We use dependable, well-supported tools on purpose, so any good developer could maintain or extend it without us.
The documentation's written for the next developer, the technology is standard, and you hold the code and every login. Your software shouldn't depend on us still being here, so we build it that way from the start.
Usually, yes. Most of what we build talks to something else, like a calendar, a payment provider or your accounts software. Tell us what needs to connect to what, and we'll tell you on the call if there's a problem.
If you'd like us to. We can host and monitor it, or you can take the code and run it yourself. You're not tied in either way.
Tell us about the spreadsheet, or the process that keeps going wrong, and we'll tell you whether custom software is the answer. Sometimes it isn't, and a first call costs you nothing.
