Custom software
Custom web applications -
usually not what you actually need.
When that fifth case in five genuinely applies, a well-built system takes several hours a week off a business and pays for itself within a year. I write 'fifth in five' because in the other four an off-the-shelf tool at two hundred zloty a month does exactly what a thirty-thousand-zloty system would - and I will tell you that even though it is my own offer on the table. Below is how to tell which case is yours.
1
project at a time
Applications cannot be built three in parallel. I take one and finish it before starting the next. The earliest start is two weeks after the workshop, and later if another project is running. You hear that at the first meeting.
PLN 1,500
scoping workshop
Before anything starts, we sit down for a day and write out what the system has to do. You get a document with the scope and the price - yours, even if you then hire someone else. The amount is deducted from the project.
2-6
months
The real time from workshop to a working version. Nobody honest will tell you it takes three weeks - and if they do, it means they do not yet know what they are building.
When a bespoke system makes sense and when off-the-shelf is enough.
I would rather lose an enquiry than take a project that goes badly for both of us. Honestly, then: when it is worth getting in touch, and when you will do better elsewhere - in which case I usually point you there.
Get in touch if
- You do something repetitive in a spreadsheet and it eats several hours a week
- You have checked the off-the-shelf tools and none of them handles how your business actually works
- You retype data between two systems by hand because they do not talk to each other
- Customers call with questions they could answer themselves in a panel
I am not the right choice if
- You have not checked off-the-shelf tools yet - start there, it is almost always cheaper
- You need an App Store or Google Play application - I do not build those, but I will refer you
- You are looking for a team to develop a product over years - that is not my scale
- Nobody on your side will have time for questions along the way - without that the project stalls
What a custom web application includes. Point by point.
01
A workshop before a single line of code
One day to write out what the system does, who uses it and what it deliberately does NOT do. That document is worth more than the first month of programming, because it shows what the project really costs.
02
Working pieces every two weeks
I do not disappear for six months and return with a finished thing. Every two weeks you get something you can click - and you can tell me we are going the wrong way while there is still time to turn.
03
Works on a phone like an app
Web applications install to the home screen, run full-screen and stay logged in. No waiting for store approval and no commission to hand over.
04
Your data stays yours
The database, the code and the server are yours. Data export works from day one, rather than being a feature someone has to build when you decide to leave.
05
Documentation somebody can read
How to run it, where the backups live, what to do when it breaks, and what each part of the code does. Written for the developer who takes over after me - because one day somebody will.
06
Tests where it hurts
I do not test everything, because that doubles the cost. I test what is most expensive to get wrong: payments, calculations, permissions. The rest we check by clicking.
What custom software costs? The prices are here, not in an e-mail next week.
The ranges are real and every project I have done so far fits inside them. We agree the exact figure before we start and it does not move after that - nothing gets added along the way.
- most often chosen
Workshop and quote
One day of work. You leave with a document, not a promise.
PLN 1,500
- Scope and screens written out
- An honest quote with a range
- A recommendation to use off-the-shelf tools if they suffice
- The document is yours, no strings
- Amount deducted from the project
Application from scratch
A full system: logins, panel, database, permissions. Priced after the workshop.
from PLN 12,000
- A clickable version every 2 weeks
- Works on a phone like an app
- Documentation and training
- Code and data yours from day one
- A month of fixes after launch
Development and automation
You already have a system and it needs extending or connecting to something else.
PLN 180per hour
- Integrations between systems
- Automating repetitive work
- Billed monthly, for hours actually worked
- No minimum commitment
Custom web applications - questions. The ones I get asked most.
01How do I know whether I really need my own system?
Count the hours. If repetitive work takes you or an employee under two hours a week, a bespoke system almost never pays for itself - at PLN 50 an hour that is around PLN 5,200 saved a year, while a system costs tens of thousands and needs maintaining. Above five or six hours a week the arithmetic starts to work. That is the first thing we calculate in the workshop, and it does lead me to talk people out of projects.
02Why is the workshop paid? Others quote for free.
Because a free quote is guesswork, and guesswork always comes in too low and ends in change orders. For PLN 1,500 I spend a day with you and you leave with a document describing what the system does, what it costs and how long it takes. The document is yours - you can take it to anyone else and get comparable offers. If we do build the project, the amount is deducted, so in practice it costs you nothing.
03Will you build a phone app, the kind from the app store?
A native one - no. Different technology, different tooling and a different kind of maintenance, and I would rather say plainly that it is not my field than learn it on your money. I build web applications that install to a phone's home screen and behave like an ordinary app. For most business uses that is the same thing, only cheaper and without waiting for store approval. If you genuinely need native, I will refer you to someone who builds them.
04What happens if the requirements change halfway through?
They will - they always do, which is exactly why I show working pieces every two weeks. Small things fit inside the scope. Large ones I quote separately before building them, and I show you how they affect the deadline. Nobody here finds out about extra costs from an invoice.
05What if you stop maintaining this in two years?
That is the right question and hardly anyone asks it. Which is why I write in technologies every developer knows rather than niche ones; why the documentation is written for a successor; why the code, the database and the server are yours from day one. You can hand it to somebody else without my permission and without my involvement. I am one person, and you need an emergency exit.
Your question is not here?
Ask it directly - I answer within two working hours, in plain words, without obligation.
Describe what is grinding you down. I will tell you whether it is worth building.
Write down what you do by hand today and how many hours a week it eats. I will do the arithmetic and reply with whether your own system pays off, roughly what it costs and how long it takes. And if an off-the-shelf tool at two hundred zloty a month is enough, I will name it. Either way you leave with a concrete answer.
Phone
+48 605 941 333E-mail
biuro@luroweb.plAddress
Słoneczna 15, Nowa Kuźnica
42-350 Koziegłowy