Custom software development for the step no app handles.
For Minneapolis, St. Paul and south-metro businesses that have outgrown the spreadsheet. Customer portals, quote builders, booking systems and dashboards, planned with the people who'll use them and built by the person you talk to.
Custom software starts at $5,000 · per project
When the workaround becomes the job
Nobody sets out to need software. It creeps in: a spreadsheet for quotes, a group text for the schedule, job photos scattered across three phones, and one person who knows how it all fits together. Off-the-shelf apps handle the common cases well. The trouble is the step that makes your business different, because that's usually the one they can't do.
a.
The same details, typed three times
The same details, typed three times
A customer's name, address and job notes go into the quote, then the calendar, then the invoice. Every retype is another chance for a wrong number or a missed appointment.
b.
One person holds it all together
One person holds it all together
The spreadsheet works because one person understands its formulas. When they're out, quotes stall and nobody can find last month's numbers.
c.
Customers calling to ask where things stand
Customers calling to ask where things stand
“Is my order ready?” “Did you get the photos?” Each call interrupts real work, and the answer usually lives in someone's head or inbox.
What we build for Minneapolis and St. Paul businesses
01
Customer portals
Customer portals
A private login where customers approve quotes, upload photos, check job status and pay invoices, instead of calling to ask.
02
Quote and estimate builders
Quote and estimate builders
Enter measurements or pick options and get a consistent, branded quote priced by your rules, not by whoever opened the spreadsheet today.
03
Booking with your rules
Booking with your rules
Scheduling built around the rules that make your calendar hard: shared bays or equipment, crew availability, travel time between jobs, deposits held until a job is confirmed.
04
Dashboards and internal tools
Dashboards and internal tools
One screen with today's jobs, open quotes, unpaid invoices and new leads, pulled together from the apps you already use.
05
Small tools that do one job
Small tools that do one job
A price calculator, a service-area checker, a report generator: one screen that replaces a recurring phone call or a spreadsheet tab.
06
Logins for every role
Logins for every role
The owner sees the money, crew leads see their day, the front desk sees the schedule. Everyone gets the screens they need and nothing they shouldn't touch.
07
Connections to what you already run
Connections to what you already run
Square, Google Calendar, your CRM or your payment system, wired in through API integrations so nothing gets typed twice.
08
Hosting and support
Hosting and support
Launched on enterprise-grade cloud hosting with monitoring and backups, then kept current on a monthly support plan, priced with the project.
The page that ends “where are we at?” calls.
A job-status page your customers open from a text: your own steps, your photos, one login. This one is for a made-up contractor.
Your Business
Inspection
Photos and notes from the visit
Estimate
Sent and approved
Scheduled
Crew booked for Tuesday
Work day
Photos added as the job goes
Final walkthrough
Sign-off and invoice
- 01
Your steps, not a vendor's
The stages match how your jobs actually run, named the way your crew says them.
- 02
Opened from a text
Customers tap a link. No app to download and no password to forget.
- 03
Photos where they belong
What the crew shoots on site shows up on the job, not in a group chat.
- 04
One login per role
Customers see their job. The office sees every job. Crews see today's.
How a custom software project runs
Discovery
We walk through the work as it happens today, in person when you're in the Twin Cities: who touches what, where things stall, what you'd fix first. If an app you can buy today is the better answer, we'll tell you. If not, you get a written scope and price.
Prototype
Before the real build, you tap through a clickable prototype of the key screens on your own phone. Moving a button at this stage is easy; moving it after launch is a project.
Build
We build in React, Next.js and TypeScript and hand you working pieces as they're finished, starting with the part that saves the most time. You test on real devices, not screenshots.
Launch
We bring your existing records over, walk your team through the screens they'll use, and switch it on once you're confident it works the way you do.
Support
Hosting, monitoring, fixes and new features continue on that monthly support plan, so the software keeps up as the business changes.
Built in-house: Pastiche
Built in-house: Pastiche
We ship our own software, too. Pastiche (opens in a new tab) is a free clipboard manager for the Mac: a native macOS app with a searchable clipboard history, pinboards and automatic updates, plus a download site with a working in-browser demo. Find it in our work.
Build or buy?
Build or buy?
- A popular app already does the job and your team will actually use it.
- Your process is standard for your trade, and adjusting how you work costs less than changing the software.
- You need something running this week and can live with its limits.
- The subscription, added up over a few years, still costs less than a build.
- The way you quote, schedule or serve customers is the reason people choose you.
- You pay for several apps and still move data between them by hand.
- Customers or crews need a view no product offers, like a job-status page with your own steps.
- A workaround eats hours every week, and those hours cost more than the software would.
What custom software looks like in a local business
| Business | The daily headache | What we'd build |
|---|---|---|
| Roofing contractors | Inspection photos and measurements spread across crew phones | An inspection report tool that turns photos and notes into a clean report the homeowner can keep |
| Home services | Maintenance-plan customers tracked in a spreadsheet, so tune-ups get missed | A service-plan tracker that flags who's due for a spring AC or fall furnace check and queues the reminder |
| Restaurants and cafés | Catering requests arriving by phone, email and direct message | A catering order form that checks lead time and headcount, then prints the kitchen's prep sheet |
| Barbershops and salons | Booth rent from independent barbers and stylists tracked in texts and memory | A booth-rent ledger that shows who's paid and who's due, and sends the reminder for you |
| Auto shops | “Is my car done?” calls all day long | A repair status board that texts the customer when the car is ready |
| Specialty retail | Workshop sign-ups kept in a notebook, and supply kits that run out before the seats do | Class booking that counts seats and supply kits together, with a waitlist when either runs out |
Custom software starts at $5,000 · per project
Compare pricesWhat custom software costs
$5,000per project
The final price depends on scope. It's set in writing after a short discovery call, before any code is written.
Custom software questions owners ask
How much does custom software cost?
Projects start at $5,000. The price moves with how many kinds of people log in, how many other systems it connects to, whether it takes payments, and how much existing data has to come over. You get a written price after discovery, before any code is written, and you can tell us what you're trying to fix to set up that call.
How long does a custom software project take?
It depends on scope, so the timeline is set in writing during discovery instead of guessed on a first call. The order doesn't change: a prototype first, then working pieces you can test as they're built, never one big reveal at the end.
Do we need an app in the App Store?
Usually not. We build custom web applications that run in any phone's browser from one codebase, and customers or staff can add them to their home screen like any other app. Since iOS 16.4, a web app added to an iPhone's home screen can even send push notifications once the user allows them, as Apple's WebKit team announced (opens in a new tab). If your project truly needs an App Store listing, we'll say so in discovery.
What do you build it with?
React, Next.js and TypeScript for the application and a PostgreSQL database for your records, running on enterprise-grade cloud hosting. All four are widely used open-source tools, so the project doesn't sit on a proprietary app builder that can change its terms on you.
Have you built custom software before?
Yes, starting with our own. The free site audit on this site is a web app we wrote: it pulls Google's performance scores for any address, checks the page and its security headers, and builds a downloadable PDF. We run the studio itself on an internal dashboard we built for leads, bookings and invoices synced from our CRM platform. Client sites follow the same habits: the menu on the site we built for Wishi Co. ran from a single source of truth of about 73 priced items.
Can you work with the software we already use?
Yes, and most projects should start there. If your booking, payment or accounting tools let outside apps connect, we build around them with API integrations. If they don't, we'll tell you what that limits before you spend anything.
Do you only work with Minneapolis businesses?
No. We're based in Lakeville and work across Minneapolis, St. Paul and the south metro, where discovery can happen in person. Businesses farther away work with us by phone and video, and the process is the same.
Scope it before anything is built.
Tell us what you need built or connected. We scope it with you and put the price in writing before any code is written.