Customer and member databases
One record per customer, with the full history attached — quotes, orders, conversations, documents. The single change that makes everything downstream possible, including any useful AI.
Bespoke Software, Apps & Systems
One system that fits how you work — instead of five that nearly do.
Most small businesses run a website holding some customer data, spreadsheets holding what it doesn't, a subscription for email, another for scheduling, something industry-specific and a social tool on top. That happened because one system was never affordable. It is now.
FIG. 07
One system, shaped around how you work
- One record per customer01
- Your tools joined up02
- Screens your team needs03
What is bespoke software and when is it worth it?
It is a system written for the way your business actually works, instead of bending your business around several off-the-shelf tools. It is worth it when your workarounds, retyping and per-seat fees cost more than owning something that fits — and we will tell you honestly when off-the-shelf is the better answer.
- Good for
- Booking, records, quoting, portals, apps
- Replaces
- Spreadsheets and tools that nearly fit
- Licence fees
- None — you own it
- Works with
- Accounts, email, payments and more
- Built by
- The same small team, start to finish
- Where to start
- One working piece, then the next
At a glance
The case for building
Renting software has a ceiling
Off-the-shelf is the right answer more often than agencies like to admit — for accounts, for payroll, for email. It stops being the right answer at the point where your business does something specific and that is usually the thing you compete on.
You bend to fit the tool
Every workaround your team has invented to make the software cope is a small permanent tax on the business. Consolidating a fragmented stack typically cuts software costs by 60–80% — and removes the workarounds with it.
The cost grows with your headcount
Per-seat pricing means growing costs you money before it makes you money. A system you own costs what it costs whether you have eight staff or eighty.
Your data is somebody else's asset
Export restrictions, API limits and a migration that gets harder every year you stay. Owning the system means owning the data in it, in a database you can read.
Outcomes
What changes for your business
- One place for every customer and every job
- No more retyping between systems
- No per-seat fees as you take on staff
- Your data in a database you own and can read
- Fewer workarounds, fewer mistakes
- A system that grows with you rather than against you
What we build
Systems, not projects
Everything here we have built and run in production. ClubBrander and SmartGiftShop are our own — designed, built, deployed and still evolving under one roof.
Booking and scheduling systems
Appointments, resources, staff availability, deposits, reminders and cancellations. Built around how your business actually books rather than how a generic calendar thinks you should.
Business and loyalty apps
iOS and Android apps for customers or members: accounts, bookings, points, offers, notifications. Built once and deployed to both, so you are not paying for the same work twice.
Internal tools and dashboards
The screens your team needs and no more. Job boards, stock views, approval queues, the Monday figures. Usually the fastest thing to build and the quickest to pay for itself.
E-commerce and ordering platforms
Product catalogues, personalisation, trade pricing, multi-supplier fulfilment. SmartGiftShop has run this for 15 years and 25,000+ verified reviews.
Integrations between what you already run
Sometimes the answer is not a new system but making three existing ones talk properly. We will say so — it is cheaper and we would rather be right than busy.
How a build runs
Working software, early
No six-month silence followed by a reveal. You see something real within weeks and steer it from there.
-
One
Scope and fixed price
A written specification and a fixed price before anything is built. If the scope changes, that is a conversation and a change order — not a surprise on the invoice.
-
Two
The first working version
The core of the system, working, in front of you within a few weeks. Real data, real screens. This is where most of the useful feedback happens.
-
Three
Live, with your people on it
We deploy to our own servers, migrate your existing data and stay close during the first weeks while people find the things nobody thought to mention.
-
Four
Owned and maintained
The code and the data are yours. We maintain it if you want us to and we review it with you twice a year to decide what is worth doing next.
Is it right for you?
This is the right project if…
- Your business runs on spreadsheets someone guards
- You pay for several tools that each nearly fit
- The same information is typed in more than once
- Per-seat fees are climbing as you grow
- You do something your software was never designed for
- You want to own the system and the data in it
In detail
How this works in practice
What to expect when you commission software from us.
Start with one working piece
We do not disappear for six months. We agree the most valuable piece, build it and put it in front of your team within weeks. What we learn from real use shapes the next piece.
If it does not deliver, we have both found out cheaply.
It talks to what you keep
Your accounts package, email, payment provider and website stay where they are if they work well. We connect to them rather than replacing them for the sake of it.
Yours to own
No licence fee per user, no export restrictions and no hostage data. The code and the database are yours. If you ever want someone else to look after it, you can take it with you.
Looked after after launch
We host, monitor, back up and keep the system up to date and we are on the phone when something needs changing. Software is never finished; it just keeps getting more useful.
How we work
Always
- Written in-house — no outsourcing and no offshore teams
- Mainstream technology any other developer could pick up
- A fixed price against a written scope before work starts
- The source code and the database are yours outright
- Hosting, SSL and backups included
- Twice-yearly reviews to plan what comes next
Never
- A proprietary framework only we can maintain
- Per-seat licensing on software you paid us to build
- Holding your data or domains as leverage
- Rebuilding something that off-the-shelf already does well
Common questions
What does a system like this cost?
It depends entirely on what it needs to do, so we do not publish a price list. We give a fixed price against a written specification before anything starts and the audit is the cheapest way to find out what you actually need before committing.
What happens if you get hit by a bus?
A fair question and one nobody asks often enough. That is exactly why we build on mainstream technology — TypeScript, React, Node, PostgreSQL — and hand over the source. Any competent developer can pick it up. A proprietary framework would make you dependent on us, which is good for us and bad for you.
Can you work with the system we already have?
Often, yes. Extending or integrating what you have is usually cheaper than replacing it and we would rather tell you that than sell you a rebuild. The exception is a system whose supplier will not give you access to your own data.
How long does it take?
A focused internal tool can be live in three to four weeks. A full customer-facing platform is usually two to four months. Either way you see something working early rather than at the end.
Do we have to host it with you?
No. We host on our own servers because it is fast, cheap and we control it, but the system is portable and you can take it anywhere. That is rather the point of owning it.
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Tell us what your business
keeps working around.
Usually the answer is already obvious to whoever does the job every day. Start there and we can tell you quickly whether it is worth building.