Off-the-shelf tools solve the problems everybody has. The ones costing you real money are usually the ones specific to you. We build the web apps, internal tools, and platforms that don't exist yet, and you own every line of them.
Project-based pricing, fixed before we start. Denver based, working remotely nationwide.
The problem
Nothing talks to anything.
Six subscriptions, four spreadsheets, and a person whose actual job is copying data between them. You're paying a salary to be middleware.
The software almost fits.
You've bent your process around a tool built for someone else's business, and the workaround is now the process. Every new hire learns the workaround first.
Every quote is six figures and six months.
You asked a dev shop what it would cost and got a number with an account manager attached to it. So you didn't build it, and you're still doing it by hand.
What we build
If it runs in a browser and nobody sells it off the shelf, it belongs here. Most projects are some combination of these.
Full products with accounts, permissions, data, and payments. The thing your business runs on, not a tool bolted to the side of it.
The numbers you actually run on, pulled from wherever they live, in one place you can open on a Monday morning without exporting anything.
The admin panel, the intake form, the approval queue, the thing your team currently does in a shared spreadsheet with color coding and prayer.
Where your customers check status, approve work, pay invoices, and stop calling you to ask. Fewer interruptions, better experience, same headcount.
Getting your CRM, accounting, scheduling, and payment systems to move data between themselves without a human in the middle doing it by hand.
Software where a model does real work inside the product: reading documents, drafting quotes, classifying leads, answering customers. Built in, not bolted on.
The difference
The work is the same category. The terms are not.
The repository, the database, the infrastructure accounts, and the documentation are yours and in your name. No proprietary platform you rent forever, no license to renew, no leverage held over you at contract time. Hand it to another developer next year and everything they need comes with it.
Talk through a projectScoping produces a written spec and a fixed price. That price holds unless you change what you asked for. You are not funding an open-ended discovery process and you are not getting a surprise invoice in month three because something took longer than someone estimated.
How pricing worksMost shops treat AI as a feature they add later, badly. We build products where the model does actual work: reading a document, drafting a quote, routing a lead, answering a customer at midnight. When AI does not improve the product, we leave it out and say so.
See how airquote was builtNot sure a custom build is the right answer? Often it isn't. Plenty of problems are solved better by connecting tools you already pay for, which is what The Workflow Build is for. We will tell you which one you are looking at before you spend anything.
How it works
Scope
We map how the business actually works, not how the software should. You leave with a written spec, a fixed price, and a timeline. If the honest answer is that you don't need a custom build, that's what you get told.
Build
Built in our environment first and tested against real data before it goes near your systems. You get a working preview URL early and often, so feedback lands while changes are still cheap.
Ship
Deployed to your infrastructure, connected to your live tools, documented, and handed over. Repository and accounts transferred to your name. Your team gets walked through it.
Support
14 to 30 days of bug fixes included. After that a managed plan is available if you want one, and your software keeps running if you don't.
Pricing
Custom software is the one thing we won't put a single number on, because a two-week internal tool and a full platform aren't the same product. Here's how it actually gets priced.
Scoping
1 to 2 weeks
from $1,000
We map the workflow, define what gets built, and produce a written spec with a fixed build price attached. Yours to keep even if you build it somewhere else.
The Project
weeks to a few months
fixed on the spec
Designed, built, tested, deployed, documented, and transferred. The number comes from the scope, and it doesn't move unless the scope does.
Managed Plan
optional, monthly
from $250
Hosting, uptime monitoring, fixes, and ongoing improvements once it's live. Optional and cancellable. Your software runs either way.
Founding rates shown. Standard rates apply after our first 5 clients. For reference: agencies quoting this kind of work typically start in the mid five figures before anyone has written a line of code. We're not cheaper because we cut corners. We're cheaper because there's no account manager, no project coordinator, and no office downtown between you and the person building it. See what ongoing support covers on the managed AI services page.
Proof
What we built
airquote, an AI-powered job management platform for contractors and the trades. Not a single-feature tool: AI quoting, job scheduling, invoicing, AI contracts, job tracking, profitability reports, customer communication, and payments, all in one connected system. Product, AI systems, and infrastructure, built from nothing.
Why it matters here
Most shops pitching custom software have built features inside somebody else's product. This is the whole thing: schema, auth, billing, AI, deployment, and the parts nobody demos. When your project needs a platform rather than a page, you're talking to someone who has already shipped one.
50+
contractors on the platform
8
job functions in one system
5
weeks from zero to launch
Read the full build in the case studies.
The stack
We pick based on what the project needs and who maintains it after we're gone, not on what's fashionable this year.
If your team already standardizes on something else, we'll build on that instead. The point is that whoever picks it up after us can actually read it.
FAQ
What counts as custom software?
Anything that doesn't come off a shelf. Internal tools, customer portals, booking and scheduling systems, operations dashboards, quoting and estimating tools, back-office automation, and full platforms. If you're running your business out of spreadsheets and four subscriptions that don't talk to each other, that's the shape of the problem.
What does a custom software project cost?
Project-based, and we don't quote it blind. Scoping starts at $1,000 and produces a written spec plus a fixed price for the build. If you take the build, that price doesn't move unless you change the scope. A focused internal tool lands well under the cost of a full platform, and part of scoping is telling you which one you actually need.
How long does a custom build take?
A focused internal tool is usually a few weeks. A full platform is measured in months, though not many of them. We built airquote, a complete job management platform with quoting, scheduling, invoicing, contracts, and payments, in five weeks from nothing. You get a timeline alongside the fixed price before anything starts.
Who owns the code when it's finished?
You do. The repository, the infrastructure accounts, the database, and the documentation are all in your name. There's no proprietary platform you have to keep paying us for and no license that expires. Hand it to another developer next year and everything they need comes with it.
Can you work with the systems we already have?
Usually yes, and usually that's the better answer. Most businesses don't need a rebuild, they need the tools they already pay for connected properly. We integrate with CRMs, accounting systems, scheduling tools, and payment processors through their APIs. In most cases we never need access to your source code.
What do you build with?
React and Next.js on the front end, Supabase or Postgres for data, serverless functions on the backend, and the Claude API where AI genuinely improves the product. If your team already standardizes on something else, we'll build on that. The choice is about who maintains it afterward.
What happens after launch?
14 to 30 days of bug fixes are included in every build. After that, a managed plan starting at $250 a month covers hosting, monitoring, and ongoing fixes. It's optional. Your software keeps running whether you take it or not.
Do you only work with businesses in Denver?
No. We're based in Denver and a lot of our clients are on the Front Range, but software work happens over calls, shared previews, and a repository. Location has almost nothing to do with whether the project succeeds.
30-minute call. No sales pitch. We'll look at the workflow, what it's costing you, and whether building something is actually the right answer.
Scope a custom build →