Custom tools & automation
The software you wish existed, built for your business.
Most small businesses run on a spreadsheet held together with hope, three subscriptions that each do 60% of the job, and a pile of admin nobody has time for. I build the small, specific tools that fix that — quote calculators, booking forms, trackers, automations — custom-made for how you work. Same promise as my websites: a fixed price agreed upfront, no per-seat subscription, and you own it outright.
What I build
Small tools that earn their keep from week one.
Not enterprise software. Not a six-month project. Small, sharp tools that remove one specific headache — built quickly, priced clearly, and shaped around the way your business already works.
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Quote calculators & estimators
Let customers price the job themselves, right on your website — and arrive at your inbox already qualified. Fewer "how much roughly?" emails, more enquiries that actually convert.
e.g. a decorator's room-by-room estimate · a caterer's per-head quote · a salon's treatment combination price
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Booking & enquiry flows
Forms that do more than collect a name: gather the right details upfront, route the enquiry to the right place, send the confirmation, and add it to your calendar — without you touching anything.
e.g. per-stylist booking · job application forms with CV upload · consultation requests with the questions you always have to ask anyway
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Tools that replace the spreadsheet
Stock trackers, job sheets, client lists, simple dashboards — the spreadsheet that's quietly running your business, rebuilt as a proper little tool that works on your phone, doesn't break when someone sorts a column, and shows you what matters at a glance.
e.g. a maker's stock & orders tracker · a tradesperson's job sheet · a studio's class register
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Automations that chase the admin
The repetitive stuff, handled while you work: review requests that go out after every job, gentle invoice reminders, a monthly summary of how the business is doing landing in your inbox. Set up once, running quietly forever. Chasing unpaid invoices is such a common headache it has
its own page.
e.g. "leave us a review" texts after appointments · unpaid invoice nudges · a Monday-morning bookings digest
Honest scoping
When custom is right — and when it isn't.
Custom software isn't always the answer, and I'd rather tell you that in the first conversation than after you've paid me. Here's the honest split.
✓ A good fit for custom
- A spreadsheet that's become load-bearing and fragile
- An off-the-shelf app that's 90% wrong for how you work
- Subscriptions charging you per seat, forever, for one feature
- A calculator or booking flow on your own website
- Repetitive admin a machine should be doing
- A workflow specific enough that no product serves it
× Where I'll point you elsewhere
- An existing product genuinely fits — I'll name it and step aside
- Accounting, payroll and payments — use the proper regulated tools
- Anything where "cheap and custom" would mean "fragile and risky"
- A big idea that needs a team, not one builder — I'll say so
If a £10/month product solves your problem, the honest answer is to buy it. Custom is for when it doesn't — and that's more often than the software industry would like you to think.
Fixed price, agreed first
Every tool gets a clear, fixed quote before any work starts. A small tool often costs less than a year of the subscription it replaces.
You own it
No per-seat pricing, no platform that holds your data hostage, no price rise email next January. Built once, yours outright.
One person, accountable
The person who scoped it built it, and the person who built it fixes it. No ticket queue, no account manager — just me, on the end of a message.
Bigger ideas
Got an app idea? Let's scope the smallest version that proves it.
Some ideas are bigger than a tool — a product, a platform, the app you've been describing to friends for two years. I build WealthR, a full wealth platform used by UK investors, so this territory isn't new to me. The honest route for a big idea is a scoping conversation first: what the smallest useful version looks like, what it would cost, and — sometimes — whether it's worth building at all. If your idea has a flaw, you'll hear it from me for free, not from the market after you've paid for a build.
Common questions
What people ask about custom tools.
What does a custom tool cost?
It depends on the tool, so every job gets a clear fixed price agreed before any work starts — never an hourly meter. As a rule of thumb, a small tool (a calculator, a form, a simple tracker) often costs less than a year of the subscription software it replaces. Bigger builds are scoped and quoted properly, in plain English.
Do I pay monthly for it?
Not by default. The build is a one-off price and the tool is yours. If it lives on your website and I'm already hosting that, it's covered. If it needs its own hosting or ongoing care, I'll say so upfront with a clear figure — no surprise fees appearing later. It can also fold into the
care plan if I already look after your site.
Why not just use an off-the-shelf app?
Sometimes you should — and if an existing product genuinely fits, I'll tell you and point you at it rather than build something for the sake of it. Custom makes sense when the off-the-shelf option is 90% wrong for how you actually work, charges per seat forever, or forces your business to bend around its workflow instead of the other way round.
Can it connect to the systems I already use?
Usually, yes. Tools can connect to your email platform (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Brevo), your calendar or booking system, Google Sheets, and most modern software with an API. I'll confirm what's possible during scoping, before you commit to anything.
What about my data and GDPR?
Taken seriously from the start. I've completed formal GDPR training, and anything that touches customer data is designed with that in mind — what's collected, where it's stored, who can see it, and how it's deleted. The same discipline as my
email list health work.
I've got a bigger app idea — can you build that?
Quite possibly. I build
WealthR, a full wealth platform, so a proper app isn't out of range. For bigger ideas the honest route is a scoping conversation first: what the smallest useful version looks like, what it would cost, and whether it's worth building at all. I'd rather talk you out of a bad build than take your money for one.
What happens if it breaks or needs changing later?
I built it, so I fix it. Small fixes on something I've recently built are handled as part of the job. Ongoing changes and additions work like everything else here: message me, get a clear fixed price if it's a bigger job, or fold it into a
care plan if the tool lives on a site I look after.
What's the job you keep putting off?
Tell me the spreadsheet you dread, the admin that eats your evenings, or the idea you can't stop thinking about. I'll tell you honestly whether it's worth building — and exactly what it would cost.
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