Custom Software Development
Off-the-shelf software is cheaper until the day your team starts keeping a spreadsheet beside it. Custom software is worth paying for when the way you work is the thing that makes you money, and no product fits it without bending.
We build business applications: order and job management, booking and scheduling, customer portals, internal tools that replace spreadsheets and email chains. Before writing code we will tell you if a product you can buy would do the job, because sometimes it would.
Signs you have outgrown bought software
Nobody commissions software for fun. These are the situations that usually bring people to us.
The spreadsheet that runs the company
One file, several tabs, a few people who understand it. It works until two of them edit at once or one of them leaves.
Paying for seats you cannot use
A large platform licensed for everyone, used for a tenth of what it does, and still missing the one screen you need.
Typing the same data twice
Orders entered in the shop, again in accounts, again in the warehouse system. Every re-typing is a delay and a chance of error.
A process nobody else has
Your pricing rules, approval chain or production flow is unusual, and it is the reason customers choose you.
An old system nobody dares touch
It still works, the person who wrote it has gone, and it runs on a server that should have been retired.
Customers asking for a login
They want to see their orders, documents or job status without ringing you. You want that too.
How a build runs
Four stages. You can stop after any of them and keep everything produced so far.
Discovery
We sit with the people who do the work, map the process as it is, and write down what the software must do. You receive a scope, a data model and a cost range.
First release
The smallest version that is useful to real users, not a demo. Built in two-week cycles, each ending with something you can click.
Roll-out
Data migration from the old system, user accounts, training notes, and a period of running both side by side if the risk warrants it.
Running it
Hosting, monitoring, backups and changes. With us on a retainer, or handed to your own team with the documentation to do it.
What you hold at the end
Everything below is yours. None of it depends on continuing to work with us.
- Source code in a repository under your account
- A written description of how the system works
- The database schema and a copy of your data
- Automated tests for the parts that handle money or stock
- Deployment scripts, so a release is one command
- Backup and restore procedure, tested once before hand-over
- Administrator and user guides in plain language
- A list of known limitations and what we would do next
What we build with
We choose boring, well-supported technology on purpose. You should be able to hire someone else to maintain it.
- Back end
- PHP / LaravelNode.jsPython / Django.NET
- Front end
- ReactVue.jsNext.jsTypeScript
- Mobile
- FlutterReact NativeKotlinSwift
- Data
- PostgreSQLMySQLRedis
- Operations
- DockerGitHub ActionsAWSAzure
What custom software costs
Our rates are published. Pick the role and move the sliders for an indicative budget.
Rate card
| Role | Hourly | Monthly* |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend / WordPress | AED 110 | AED 17,600 |
| Backend / API | AED 118 | AED 18,880 |
| Full-stack | AED 129 | AED 20,640 |
| Mobile (React Native / Flutter) | AED 129 | AED 20,640 |
| DevOps / Cloud | AED 147 | AED 23,520 |
| AI / Automation engineer | AED 165 | AED 26,400 |
| QA / Test engineer | AED 92 | AED 14,720 |
| UI / UX design | AED 103 | AED 16,480 |
*160 hrs/month full-time. Rates are indicative for planning, in UAE dirhams (converted from our US-dollar rates at the fixed peg of 3.6725), before VAT where applicable, and depend on seniority, contract length and timezone overlap. Longer engagements and multi-role teams are discounted — ask.
Should you build at all?
Building is reasonable when
- The process is specific to you and gives you an advantage.
- You have tried existing products and can say exactly where they fall short.
- Someone on your side can give a few hours a week to answer questions.
- You expect to keep changing the software as the business changes.
Buy a product instead when
- The need is standard: payroll, bookkeeping, email marketing.
- You need it live next month and a product exists today.
- Nobody in the business has time to be involved.
- The budget covers the build but not the years of upkeep after it.
Before you commit
Can you give a fixed price?
After discovery, yes, for a defined first release. Before discovery any fixed price is a guess with a safety margin added, and you pay for the margin.
How long does a first release take?
It depends on scope, which is why discovery comes first. We would rather give you a range we can defend than a date that sounds good.
What happens if we stop working with you?
You already hold the code, the data and the documentation. Another team can pick it up. We will hand over properly.
Can you take over software someone else built?
Yes. We begin by reading it and writing down how it works, then agree what to fix first. Expect the first weeks to be investigation rather than new features.
Where will it be hosted?
Wherever suits you: your own cloud account, your existing server, or an account we set up in your name. We do not host client systems under our own account.
Do you sign a confidentiality agreement?
Yes. Confidentiality and ownership terms are part of the agreement signed before discovery begins.
Describe the problem, not the solution
Tell us what your team does today and where it hurts. You do not need a specification. We reply within one business day.