Service 01

Web app development for small businesses.

Most small businesses outgrow their spreadsheets long before they outgrow their accountant. The booking sheet gets a second tab. Someone starts a WhatsApp group to chase unpaid invoices. By the time it breaks properly, two or three people are spending an hour a day holding it together. A web app is what replaces that.

What we mean by a web app

We build browser-based software that runs your operations. Not a brochure site with a contact form bolted on. Software with logins, permissions, a database behind it, and the specific rules your business runs on written into the code.

The projects that work best are the ones where you can point at a person and say what they spend their Tuesday doing. That job is usually the thing worth automating first.

The stack, and why it is deliberately boring

We build on Next.js and TypeScript with Postgres behind it, hosted on Cloudflare or Vercel, with Stripe for payments. That combination is unfashionable on purpose. It means any competent developer can read the code, the hosting bill stays in double figures a month rather than four, and nothing sits on a platform that might reprice or shut down next year.

You own the code. The repository is transferred to you at launch. If you stop working with us, another developer can pick it up on a Monday morning without a handover call. We will not build you something that only we can maintain, because that is a trap for you and a distraction for us.

How a build runs

01

Scoping call

An hour working out what the software has to do and, more usefully, what it does not. You get a written summary afterwards whether or not you go ahead.

02

Fixed proposal

A written scope with a fixed price and a delivery date against it. No day rates and no open-ended hourly billing that drifts past the estimate.

03

Build in the open

You get a staging URL in the first week and watch it fill up. Changes cost almost nothing in week two and a great deal in week eight, so we would rather you looked early.

04

Launch and after

We migrate your existing data, train whoever needs training, and stay reachable. Most clients keep a small monthly retainer for changes and hosting.

Software we have built and run

Working with a studio in Cheshire

We are based in Cheshire and a good share of our clients are within an hour of us: Chester, Warrington, Northwich, Macclesfield, Crewe, and across into Manchester and Liverpool. That matters less than it once did, because most of the work happens over video calls and a shared staging link. It does mean we can spend a morning in your office at the start of a project watching how the current process really works, which is usually where the requirements you did not think to mention turn up.

We work with businesses anywhere in the UK. If you are further away, nothing about the process changes except that the first meeting is on a screen.

Common questions

How much does a web app cost?

It depends entirely on scope, but a first working version of an internal tool usually lands between four and twelve thousand pounds, and a full customer-facing product costs more. We quote a fixed price against a written scope before any code is written, so you are never billed hourly against an estimate that quietly grows.

How long does it take?

A focused internal tool typically takes six to ten weeks from the scoping call to launch. Larger products run in stages, so you have something usable in your hands inside the first two months rather than waiting until the end.

Do we own the code?

Yes. The repository is transferred to you at launch, along with the hosting accounts if you want them in your name. There is no licence fee and nothing is locked to us.

We already have something half-built. Can you take it over?

Often, yes. We will review what exists and tell you honestly whether it is worth continuing or starting again. Sometimes the answer is that the existing code is fine and you need two weeks of fixes rather than a rebuild, in which case we will say so.

Do you offer ongoing support?

Yes, on a monthly retainer covering hosting, monitoring, security updates and an agreed amount of change work. Plenty of clients use it, and none are tied into it.

The other three things we do