How it works
One meeting. One page. Nothing gets built until you approve it.
A build starts with a meeting, at your place if you are near Leeds and online if that is easier. We ask what is eating the time and which systems you use. Then we go away and write down what we understood: what the tool will do, what it connects to, what it will not do, one price and a date. You read that page and tell us what we got wrong. Nothing gets built until you have approved it, and you pay half at that point and half when it is working.
Agencies need weeks of discovery. We need one meeting, and here is why.
A discovery phase exists because the thing being quoted has no edges. If someone asks an agency for "a system to manage our jobs", nobody can price that honestly without weeks of meetings, so the meetings get billed and the number arrives a month later.
We only build tools that do one job. An invoice chaser has edges: it watches Xero, it chases what is overdue, it stops when they pay. That can be priced from a single conversation, because there is a definite thing being priced. The reason we need one meeting rather than six is not that we are faster, it is that we take on smaller problems.
Start to finish
Five stages, and nothing is built until you have signed off stage two.
The meeting
At your place if you are within reach of Leeds, online if that suits you better. Your choice, and it makes no difference to the price. You describe what is eating the time, we ask which systems you use and how the job gets done now. With your permission we record it, so that what gets built is what you actually said rather than what we remembered on the way back. By the end of it you know whether we can help. If we cannot, you find that out here rather than three weeks in.
We write it down, and you approve it
One page: what it will do, what it connects to, what it will not do, one price and a date. You read it and tell us what we got wrong, and we change it until it matches what you meant. Nothing gets built until you have said yes to that page. The "what it will not do" line matters as much as the rest, because a fixed price only works if both sides can see the edges of the thing.
Access — about an hour of your time
You connect the accounts it needs, and hand over whatever it works from: a price list, a company document, a folder of photos. You grant access yourself and you can withdraw it at any point, from your own settings, without asking us.
We build it
You hear from us when there is something to look at, not before. Most of what you would see in the middle is not useful and asking you to review it would be asking you to do our job.
Handover
It goes live, you use it while we watch it, and anything that is not right gets fixed. Then the monthly fee starts, and it keeps running.
Your side of it
Under three hours, in total.
Worth stating plainly, because most people assume a software project eats their month.
The meeting
Reading it back
Connecting accounts
Checking the tool
Your side of it, in total2 hr 50
An hour for the meeting, or twenty minutes if we do it online.
Twenty minutes reading what we wrote back and telling us what we got wrong.
About an hour connecting accounts and gathering what it needs.
Half an hour looking at the finished tool and telling us what is not right.
A few minutes a week afterwards, and less than that on most of them.
If your side of it starts taking longer than that, something has gone wrong with how we scoped it, and that is our problem to fix rather than yours to absorb.
Money
Half up front, half when it works.
Half on accepting the quote
Nothing before that. The call and the quote cost you nothing and carry no obligation.
Half on handover
When it is doing the thing the quote said it would do, connected to your systems and running. Not when we say it is finished — when you can see it working.
Then a monthly fee
Hosting, monitoring, and fixing it when something upstream changes. Xero and the social platforms change their interfaces without warning; that is the ongoing job, and it is why we do not hand things over and disappear.
When it changes
Changing what it does changes the price. We will say so before we start.
A fixed price only works if the thing being priced holds still. Halfway through a build people often realise they want something different, and that is completely normal. But it is a new number, not a favour.
So: if you want it to do something the quote did not describe, we price that change and you decide whether to have it. We do not quietly absorb it and then be later than we promised, and we do not put it on the invoice at the end without telling you. The terms in your contract set this out in writing so nobody is relying on memory.
If it goes wrong
We fix it until it does what the quote said.
Not as a goodwill gesture. It is what you paid for.
The quote describes what the tool will do. If the finished thing does not do that, it is not finished, and we keep working until it does at no extra cost. That is a real commitment, and it is the reason the quote is specific. A vague quote would let us argue about what we promised, and we would rather write it down properly at the start.
What it does not cover is a change of mind about what you wanted, which is the section above.
Common questions
What people ask before they commit.
Do you actually come out to us?
If you are within reach of Leeds, yes, and we would rather. An hour in your office watching how the job gets done now tells us more than an hour of describing it down a phone line. Further afield we do it online, and that works fine too. It is your choice either way and it makes no difference to the price.
Do you record the meeting?
Only if you are happy for us to, and we will ask before anything starts recording. It exists so that what gets built is what you actually said, rather than what two people remembered afterwards. We use it to write your quote and for nothing else, the only thing that touches it besides us is the software we use to record and transcribe it, and we delete it once the build is finished. If you would rather we did not record, we take notes instead and nothing else about the process changes.
What if you have misunderstood what I want?
That is what stage two is for. You get a page describing what we are about to build, before we build it, and we change it until it matches what you meant. It is much cheaper for both of us to find a misunderstanding in a document than in a finished tool, which is the entire reason that step exists.
How long does a build actually take?
It depends on the tool and on how quickly the access comes through, and we would rather give you a date on the quote than a promise on a web page. What we will say is that these are small tools by design, so the answer is usually weeks rather than months, and the date on your quote is a date we intend to keep.
What if I go quiet halfway through?
Nothing bad happens. We pause and pick it up when you are ready. The half paid up front means we are not chasing you, and you have not lost it.
Do I own what you build?
Yes. It runs on accounts in your name and the work is yours. If you stop working with us you keep it, and we will help you move it rather than making that difficult.
Can I start with something small?
That is usually the right way in. Pick the job that annoys you most, we build that one thing, and you find out how we work on something small before deciding whether to do more.
What happens if I stop the monthly fee?
The tool stops being hosted and watched by us. We will tell you plainly what that means for your particular tool before you decide, rather than after.
Who actually does the work?
Sam builds it. Richard handles the commercial side. You will speak to both, and there is no third person to be handed off to.
Next step
Twenty minutes, no obligation.
Tell us what is taking the time. If we can help, you will get a number and a date. If we cannot, you will hear that on the call.