A 45-minute call, free, with no proposal attached. You will leave it knowing the realistic range and whether building is the right move at all.
Before you call — our prices are published
You do not need to speak to us to find out what things cost. The full ranges are on the pricing page.
The short version:
| Discovery & scoping | £3,000 – £8,000 |
| Small system | £10,000 – £25,000 |
| Mid-size platform | £25,000 – £70,000 |
| Large / core system | £70,000 – £200,000+ |
| Support retainer | From £800/month |
Minimum build engagement: £10,000. If that does not work for you, say so in the first message and we will point you at something that does rather than take the meeting.
What happens on the call
We ask three things:
- What does the problem cost you now? In hours, errors, lost sales or risk. If you do not know, we will work it out on the call — most people are surprised by the annual figure.
- What would fixing it be worth? We calculate the payback period with you, using your numbers rather than ours.
- Do the numbers overlap? If your budget and the realistic cost do not meet, you should know in 45 minutes rather than after three meetings.
You leave with a number and a payback period, not a brochure. That is what the call is for.
What we will not do: present slides, demo unrelated work, ask your budget before telling you what things cost, or follow up more than twice.
What to have ready
Nothing formal. These help, and none is required:
- A one-paragraph description of the problem — the problem, not the solution you have in mind
- Which systems are involved — what you already run that this would touch
- Roughly how often the process happens — daily, weekly, how many times
- Who decides. A project with one decision-maker moves faster and costs less
- A rough budget range. Ours are published, so this is a fair exchange
If you have a written specification, send it. If you do not, that is normal and not a problem.
Support response times
For clients on a retainer. Published so you can compare them against anyone else’s.
| Severity | Definition | Response | Target resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 — Critical | System down, or a core business process blocked | 2 working hours | Same working day |
| P2 — High | Significant feature broken, workaround exists | 4 working hours | 2 working days |
| P3 — Medium | Non-critical fault, limited impact | 1 working day | Next release cycle |
| P4 — Low | Cosmetic, or a change request | 2 working days | Scheduled |
Response means a human has picked it up and told you what is happening — not an automated acknowledgement. Resolution targets are targets; where something will take longer, you are told why and when.
Ad-hoc clients without a retainer are handled on a best-efforts basis, scheduled against current work. If your system is genuinely business-critical, take the retainer — not because we want the revenue, but because best-efforts is a poor arrangement for something you depend on.
Existing clients
Use the support channel rather than this page — it is monitored against the response times above and it keeps your request in the tracked queue.
| Change requests | Send through the same channel. Quoted before any work starts, never invoiced afterwards. |
| Your retainer allowance | Stated in your agreement. Unused time does not roll over; we will tell you when you are close to the limit rather than silently exceeding it. |
Requesting your code or data back: you already hold both — the repository is yours and the infrastructure sits in your accounts. If you need anything regenerated, ask through the support channel and there is no charge for it.
What happens after the call
No mystery, no drawn-out sales process.
Within one working day: a short written summary of what we discussed — the problem as we understood it, the realistic range, and the payback arithmetic we worked through together. One page. Yours to keep whether or not you proceed.
If you want to go further: a discovery proposal with a fixed price and a defined deliverable. Not a sales document — a scope of work.
If the numbers do not work: we say so in that summary, with what would need to change for them to work. Sometimes that is a bigger scope, sometimes a smaller one, sometimes waiting six months.
Follow-up: twice, maximum. If we do not hear back, we assume you have made a decision and we leave you alone. Nothing about custom software warrants a pursuit sequence.
What we need in order to quote
A genuine quote — rather than a range — needs four things. You do not need all of them to have the first conversation.
1. The problem with a number attached. Not “our systems are a mess” but “month-end takes four days, of which two and a half are assembling data by hand.” If you do not have the number, we will work it out on the call.
2. A list of systems involved. What you already run that this would touch — accounting, stock, CRM, scheduling, anything. Including the spreadsheets.
3. A sample of your data. This is the one that most affects accuracy. Record count tells us almost nothing; data quality tells us everything. A sanitised export of a few thousand rows is enough to turn a guess into an estimate.
4. Who decides. A project with one decision-maker genuinely costs less than one requiring four departments to agree. Telling us early helps us scope realistically.
Where we work
UK-wide. Development is UK-based and delivery is remote-first, with in-person workshops where they earn their place — discovery sessions and major milestone reviews, typically.
We work regularly with businesses across England, Scotland and Wales. Our pricing does not change with your postcode: we charge national rates, not London rates, for the same engineers doing the same work. London clients, read this.
Sectors we are most useful in: manufacturing, wholesale and distribution, logistics, construction and trades, professional services, and healthcare administration. Operations-heavy businesses with physical processes, real stock, or document-heavy workflows.
Sectors where you want a specialist instead: regulated financial services requiring specific FCA track record, and clinical systems requiring MHRA classification. We will say so on the first call rather than three meetings in.
If you are not ready yet
Entirely normal, and there are useful things to do that cost nothing.
Count the hours. One week, across everyone, honestly — time spent on data entry, reconciliation, chasing and retyping. Most people are surprised by the annual figure. How to calculate it.
Export a sample of your data and look at it. Count duplicates. Check how many required fields are empty. This single exercise changes most people’s view of what a project would involve.
Write down what is out of scope. Before anything else. It is the cheapest protection against scope growth there is.
Name the owner. One person with authority to decide. This affects cost and timeline more than almost any technical factor.
Read our pricing. It is published in full. You can work out whether a conversation is worth having without having it.
Working with us — the commercial basics
| Minimum build engagement | £10,000 |
| Discovery | £3,000 – £8,000, fixed price, paid up front |
| Build payments | Milestones against accepted deliverables |
| Typical schedule | 30% signature · 40% midpoint · 30% acceptance |
| IP | Assigns to you on final payment |
| Hosting | Your accounts, your billing, your keys |
| Retainers | Monthly in advance, 30 days’ notice either side |
| Contract | English law, UK jurisdiction |
The questions we get asked most on a first call
Answering them here so the call can be about your problem rather than ours.
“How do I know you can actually build this?”
Fair, and the honest answer is that you cannot know from a portfolio — every firm’s portfolio shows launches rather than what happened afterwards. Three things are more useful:
Ask what we would do first. A firm that knows the domain will describe the awkward part of your problem without being told. A firm that does not will describe a process.
Ask to speak to the engineer, not only the person selling. We will arrange that on request, and you should insist on it with every supplier.
Start with discovery. £3,000–£8,000 buys a requirements document, a technical approach and a costed plan — and it is yours, including the right to take it to another firm. That is the cheapest possible way to find out what we are like to work with.
“What if we change our minds halfway through?”
Expected, and normal. Projects that learn nothing during the build were not worth doing. Changes are quoted before work starts, never invoiced afterwards. What we will not do is absorb a change quietly and surprise you with the cost at the end.
“How much of our time will this take?”
More than most suppliers admit. Realistically: three to five hours a week during discovery, one to two hours a week during the build, and more around data migration decisions and training. A project where the client is unavailable stalls, and stalling is expensive.
“Can you take over a project someone else started?”
Sometimes. It depends entirely on whether the code is documented and whether you hold it. We will do a technical assessment — typically one to two days — and tell you honestly whether continuing or rebuilding is cheaper. Occasionally the answer is rebuilding, and you should hear that before spending more.
“Do you work with in-house developers?”
Yes. Shared repository, agreed conventions, code review in both directions. We would rather leave your team more capable than more dependent on us.
“What happens if we fall out?”
You hold the source code, the documentation and the infrastructure from week one, so leaving is a logistical matter rather than a hostage negotiation. The contract carries a notice period and a handover obligation. Why this matters more than it sounds.
Frequently asked questions
Is the first call really free?
Yes. 45 minutes, no proposal attached, no obligation. We charge for discovery, not for conversations.
Will you sign an NDA?
Yes, before any detailed discussion if you prefer. Send yours or we will provide a standard mutual one.
What if my budget is under £10,000?
Tell us in your first message. We will point you at an off-the-shelf product or a smaller approach rather than take a meeting that cannot go anywhere.
Do you do free consultations to win work?
The 45-minute call is free. Discovery is paid, because free discovery is always recovered elsewhere — usually in the build price. Charging for it is what lets us recommend against a build honestly.
Will you pressure me after the call?
No. You get the proposal if you asked for one, and at most two follow-ups. Nothing about custom software is urgent in a way that justifies pressure.
Can I talk to the person who would do the work?
Yes. You should insist on that with every supplier you speak to, including us.
Do you sign contracts under English law?
Yes. English law, UK jurisdiction, UK company. One of the practical arguments for UK delivery is that a contract you can actually enforce is worth more than one you theoretically could.
What if our budget is bigger than £10,000 but we are not sure what we need?
That is the normal starting position and it is exactly what discovery is for. One to two weeks, £3,000–£8,000, producing a requirements document and a costed plan you own outright.
Can you help us decide between building and buying?
Yes, and discovery includes a written build-or-buy recommendation. Here is the comparison with five-year cost models.
What information should I send before the call?
Nothing is required. A one-paragraph description of the problem helps; a sanitised sample of your data helps more than anything else, because data quality is the largest single variable in any estimate.
Will I speak to a salesperson or an engineer?
An engineer. There is no separate sales team to hand you over to.
What if we need something built urgently?
Tell us the deadline and what is driving it on the first call. Some deadlines are real and workable by narrowing scope. Some are a licence renewal date, in which case there are usually cheaper options than a rushed build.
Last updated 8 October 2026.
