Service · Web apps & SaaS

Software your team logs into

A website is something people read. An app is something people use. Client portals, CRMs, dashboards, booking systems and the internal tools that replace a spreadsheet everyone is afraid of.

What this actually is

A web app is software that runs in a browser. Someone types a web address, logs in, sees their own information, does a job, and the work is saved. No app store, no downloads, no separate version for iPhone and Android. It works on a laptop and on a phone in a van.

That covers a lot of ground. A booking system where customers pick a slot and your calendar fills itself. A CRM where every enquiry has an owner, a stage and a next action instead of living in someone's inbox. A client portal where customers log in and see their own files, invoices and progress. An internal tool that does the exact job your business does, the way your business does it, which no off the shelf product will ever quite fit.

The honest test for whether you need one: if the answer to "where does that live" is "in a spreadsheet, three WhatsApp groups and Sarah's head", you need an app. If people are re-typing the same information into two systems, you need an app. If your process only works when one specific person is not on holiday, you definitely need an app.

I also build the first real version of a SaaS product, the one you put in front of paying users to find out if the idea holds. Not a slide deck. A working thing people can sign up for.

Who it is for

  • Businesses running on spreadsheets that have grown past what a spreadsheet can safely hold.
  • Service companies with a process, quoting, scheduling, job tracking, sign off, that currently lives in messages and memory.
  • Agencies and consultants who want clients to log in and see progress instead of asking for an update every Tuesday.
  • Teams paying for software that nearly fits and working around it with manual steps every single day.
  • Founders with a SaaS idea who need a first version real users can touch, not another mockup.

What is included

  • Accounts and logins, with password resets that work and permissions so people only see what they should.
  • A real database, so your information is stored properly, backed up, and can be exported whenever you want it.
  • The screens for the actual job, designed around the way your team already works rather than a generic template.
  • An admin view for you, so you can see everything, fix a mistake and add a user without ringing me.
  • Works on a phone, because half the people using it will be standing up.
  • Hosting and deployment set up on accounts in your name, so the thing you paid for is genuinely yours.
  • Handover, a walkthrough recorded on your own app, plus plain English notes on how it fits together.

One thing I will not pretend about: payments, personal data and medical or financial records all carry rules, and rules add work. That gets flagged at the quote stage, not halfway through the build.

What it costs

I do not publish a price for apps, and I would rather explain why than invent a number. A booking tool for one team and a multi user portal with permissions, payments and reporting are not the same job, so any figure here would be wrong for one of you.

So this is how the money works instead:

  • The scoping call is free. We list every job the app has to do before anyone talks about price.
  • You get a fixed price in writing before a line of code is written, tied to a written list of what is included.
  • Bigger builds are split into milestones, so you pay in stages and see working software at each one, rather than handing over a large sum and waiting in the dark.
  • Changes of mind are normal. If you want something added mid build, I price that separately and you decide. It never quietly appears on the final invoice.

One honest shortcut worth knowing. If all you actually need is booking and a calendar on your existing site, that is a published add on at +€150, and online payments or deposits is +€120. Plenty of people arrive asking for a full app when a well built site plus those two pieces does the job for a fraction of the money. I will tell you when that is the case.

How it works

Scoping call

I ask a lot of questions. Who uses it, what they do all day, what happens when it goes wrong, and what has to be true for you to call this a success.

Written spec and fixed quote

You get a plain English document listing every screen and every job the app will do, with the price. If it says it in the document, it gets built. If it does not, we talk about it before it gets added.

Clickable screens first

Before real code, you get the main screens as something you can click through. It is far cheaper to move a button at this stage than after it is wired up, and this is where most misunderstandings surface.

Built in stages

Each stage ends with something that genuinely works, not a progress report. You log in and use it yourself, and we adjust while it is still easy to adjust.

Tested with real data

We run your actual information through it, including the awkward cases: the duplicate customer, the refund, the person who left. Software that only works with tidy examples is not finished.

Launch, handover and support

It goes live on accounts in your name, with the walkthrough video, the notes and the logins. We agree what ongoing support looks like before launch, so it is never an awkward conversation later.

See it live

These are working demos, not screenshots. Sign up, click around, put data in.

RELAY CRM, real signup and pipeline → VendorIQ, vendor qualification portal → OceanHire, recruitment site and forms → Web PDF Editor, browser tool → All app demos →

Questions people actually ask

What is the difference between a website and a web app?
A website shows the same pages to everyone and mostly gets read. A web app has logins, so each person sees their own data, changes it, and the change is saved. If people need to log in and do a job, it is an app.
Do I own the code?
Yes. The code, the database and the hosting accounts are yours, and ownership is written into the agreement before work starts. If you want a different developer to take it over next year, they get everything with no argument from me.
Where does my data actually live?
On hosting and database accounts set up in your name, with backups, in a region we choose together. I will tell you exactly which services are involved and what each one costs before we commit, because those bills are yours and you should see them coming.
Can it connect to the tools we already use?
Usually, if the tool offers an official connection. Email, calendars, payments, accounting and spreadsheets normally do. Some older or closed systems do not, and if yours is one of them I will tell you at the scoping stage rather than discovering it halfway through.
I do not know exactly what I want yet. Is that a problem?
No, that is the normal starting point. The scoping call and the clickable screens exist for exactly this reason. You do not need to arrive with a specification, you need to be able to describe the problem and answer questions about how your business really runs.
What happens when something breaks?
You message me and I fix it. We agree the support arrangement before launch, including how quickly I respond, so nobody is guessing during a bad week. Bugs in what I built are fixed as part of the job, not billed as new work.
Could I just use an off the shelf product instead?
Often yes, and if an existing product fits I will point you at it and charge you nothing for the advice. A custom build earns its money when the off the shelf option forces your team into daily manual workarounds, or when the thing you are building is the product you sell.
Your move

Let's scope yours

Book a free call. Describe the process that is eating your week, and you will leave the call knowing whether an app is the right answer and roughly what it takes.

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