Should you build custom software, or keep bending off-the-shelf tools to fit how you work?
When off-the-shelf stops fitting
There is a point where spreadsheets, disconnected tools and manual workarounds cost more than they save. Custom software replaces that friction with a system designed around your actual process.
The signs show up before the bill does: staff rekeying the same data into three systems, a spreadsheet only one person can fix, and quotes that wait on a workaround. Below are the builds we do most often to replace them.
What custom software development covers
The builds we do most often, each with its own page: what it is, when it pays, and what it costs.
Web apps
The system your team or customers log into, opened in a browser.
Mobile apps
iOS, Android or both, built to work when the signal drops.
Legacy system modernisation
Keep it, wrap it or replace it, without stopping the business.
All software services
Every kind of software we build, in one list.
How a custom build runs
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Before a line of code, we define what the software has to do and what it is worth. A scoping or rapid insight workshop turns a rough idea into a costed, buildable plan.
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Regular builds you can see and use, not a black box that reappears months later. You steer as it takes shape.
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We launch it, back it with a warranty, and stay available. The codebase and the IP are yours.
How we deliver custom software
Web App Development
A custom web app built in Adelaide typically starts with an Ignite prototype at $25K to $50K over four to eight weeks, then an Amplify build from around $100K at a fixed price. Most builds take two to 12 months, include a 12-month warranty, and you own the code.
Mobile App Development
A custom mobile app for iOS and Android usually starts with a $25K to $50K Ignite prototype over four to eight weeks, then a fixed-price Amplify build from around $100K. Most builds take two to 12 months and include a 12-month warranty, and the app is yours.
CTO as a Service
A fractional CTO — a senior technology leader part-time, owning your roadmap, managing your developers, and making the calls that cost real money when they go wrong.
Intelligent Automation
Robotic process automation (RPA) follows fixed rules, while intelligent automation also handles inputs that vary and need judgement, like an invoice in a new format. We map your process first, then automate the work that actually slows your team down.
Custom software questions we get asked
There is no single figure, because custom software is priced to what it has to do. The honest answer comes from scoping: a short, paid discovery step where we define the requirements and hand back a fixed price before any build begins. Most builds start around $100,000 as a fixed-price Amplify project, or run as an Apex partnership from $15,000 a month; that discovery step is a $9,000 + GST Rapid Insight Workshop. You will never get a real number from a rate card, only from someone who has understood the problem first.
Off-the-shelf wins when your process is standard and a product already fits it. Custom wins when the way you work is the advantage: when you are bending three tools and a spreadsheet to fit, paying per-seat for features you will never use, or being told 'the software can't do that.' If the workaround is now part of the job, that is the signal you have outgrown off-the-shelf.
Most builds run from a few months for a focused tool or MVP to six months or more for a full platform. We work in sprints with regular builds you can use, so you see progress continuously rather than waiting for one big reveal. Scoping sets a realistic timeline up front, and because it is fixed price, the timeline does not quietly stretch to pad hours.
You do. The codebase and the intellectual property are yours, handed over in full. You are never locked into us to keep your own software running, though most clients stay on because the partnership is worth it, not because they are trapped.
Ready to build something great?
Local partners, global standards – full service design and development.