Development & Projects

Software that fits how you already work.

Custom builds where off-the-shelf genuinely won't do, plus scoping and project management for development you're running elsewhere — including projects that have stalled.

Build or buy

The most expensive software an SME can own is the custom system it didn't need.

Off-the-shelf tools are cheaper, maintained by someone else, and tested by thousands of other businesses. We build custom software. We also talk clients out of it, regularly.

Build when it's an advantage

Your process is genuinely different, and that difference makes you money or saves you serious time. No standard product does it.

Buy for everything else

If you're building bespoke to dodge a subscription fee, you've swapped a predictable monthly cost for a maintenance liability that lands on you forever.

What we build

Usually the smallest thing that solves it.

  • Line-of-business applications where nothing off-the-shelf fits the process.
  • Integrations between systems that should talk to each other and don't.
  • Browser extensions and in-platform tools that surface information inside the screen your staff already work in.
  • Portals — customer, supplier or contractor-facing, removing manual admin at both ends.
  • Apps built on Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, using the platform you already pay for.
  • CRM and system integrations, including connecting customer data to point of sale.
A principle

The best custom software doesn't look like software. It looks like the screen your staff were already using, with the answer already on it.

Before you buy a new system, ask whether the problem is missing information or information in the wrong place. Those need very different answers — and the second is far cheaper to fix.

Project management

For development you're running elsewhere.

Not every project needs us to build it. Some need someone accountable for whether it lands.

Scoping before you commit

Getting the requirements right before money is spent. This is where most projects are won or lost.

Managing your suppliers

Coordinating external developers, holding them to scope, and translating between your business and their team.

Rescuing stalled projects

By the time we're called in, the code is rarely the real problem. Usually nobody could say in one sentence what “done” looked like.

Managing existing teams

Interim leadership for in-house development teams that need direction rather than more people.

Questions

Common questions

How do you price development work?

After scoping, not before. Any figure quoted before anyone understands the process is a guess, and guesses are how projects end up costing double.

What happens after it's built?

Someone has to own it. For managed IT clients that's us as part of the arrangement. For standalone builds we agree support explicitly rather than leaving it vague.

Our project has already stalled. Is it recoverable?

Usually. Start by asking whether everyone agrees what finished means — more projects are stuck on that than on anything technical.

Will we be locked in?

No. You own what we build for you, and we document it so someone else could pick it up.

Is your IT actually working for you?

If nobody in your business owns that question, a half-hour conversation is worth having. No obligation, and no pitch if we're not the right fit.