Custom software development
An application built around your processes instead of the other way around. Here is exactly what that involves, what it costs, how long it takes, and when we will tell you not to do it.
- Starting at
- CAD $5,000
- Typical range
- $5,000 to $50,000
- First delivery
- 3 to 5 weeks
- Model
- One time fee, no subscription
What is custom software development?
Custom software development means having an application built around a company's actual processes, rather than reshaping those processes to fit generic software bought on subscription. The end product exists only for you: your fields, your statuses, your calculation rules, your vocabulary.
The practical difference from rented software comes down to three things. The price is paid once rather than monthly and per user. The scope matches what you actually do, without the eighty percent of features nobody will ever open. And the source code is handed over, which turns software into a company asset instead of a recurring expense that leaves nothing behind.
When custom is the right call, and when it is not
Custom makes sense when
- You pay per seat for features your team uses a fraction of
- Half your process lives in spreadsheets beside the platform you already pay for
- The software forces you to change how you work rather than the reverse
- Your client data is held by a vendor who controls your exports
- Two or three tools should talk to each other and will not without a paid integration
- Your annual software bill is approaching the cost of building once
Stay on your current tool when
- Your team genuinely uses most of the features you are paying for
- Your process is standard and well served by an off the shelf product
- Your industry requires a certification the vendor carries and you would have to earn
- You are under five users: the maths does not favour you yet
- The need is temporary and will be gone in six months
The systems companies ask for most
Each replaces a monthly subscription with an application you own. The full breakdown of every system, with its price range, is on the home page.
How a project runs
Scoping
A call and a screen share to map what your team does today. We come out of it with the screen list, the data model and a firm price.
Week 1Clickable mockups
Navigable screens built on your real data structure. You react to something concrete before a single line of logic is written.
Week 1 to 2Build
Phased construction, each phase ending in a working version you can try. No status report standing in for software.
Week 2 to 5Migration
Export from your current system, map every field, import onto a staging copy, verify, then go live. The old system keeps running until you confirm.
Before launchHandover
Team training, written documentation, repository access. Monthly support is optional and ends without penalty.
On deliveryA template build starts at $5,000: a proven module adjusted to your fields and your process, in production in three to five weeks. Most complete projects land between $5,000 and $50,000, depending on the number of screens, the complexity of the rules and the state of the data being migrated.
The amount covers scoping, mockups, build, migration, training and the source code handover. It is given in full before the project begins, and nothing is invoiced beyond it without written agreement. Hosting, security updates, backups and support are then available from $79 per month for the first module, plus $25 per additional module, since a wider system needs more watching. The plan is cancellable at any time without losing the system. Features added after delivery are billed separately, by time or fixed price, and you remain free to hand that work to someone else.
The useful comparison is not the purchase price but the three to five year total. A $65 per user subscription for fifteen people is roughly $35,000 over three years and leaves nothing behind. The calculator on the home page runs that comparison with your own numbers.
Build your SaaS stack, then compare.
Add the tools your business needs and set, for each one, how many users actually need access. The calculation shows what those subscriptions cost over the period, and what the same set would cost built as one cohesive system.
Departments stack. Click as many as you need.
Add a department or a tool to start the calculation.
One system, paid for once, plus hosting and support
- As separate modules
- As one cohesive system
- Hosting and support
- New features laterOn quote
Support starts at $79 for the first module and rises $25 per additional module: more surface, more dependencies to keep current, more that can break.
Not included in the calculation. A feature added after delivery is a separate project, billed by time or fixed price depending on scale. Nothing obliges you to come back to us: the code and the documentation are yours.
Pressure test these numbers in 30 minutesAverage published list prices for the named vendors at entry and mid tiers, rounded. You set the user count per tool yourself, since nobody buys a dispatch seat for accounting. Hosting and support scale with the number of modules. Features added after delivery are not counted here. This is an estimate, not a quote: the firm price comes after the scoping call.
Why one system costs less than the sum of its modules
Every subscription you add brings its own database, its own user list and its own invoice. A custom system builds authentication, permissions, the data model, the interface and the deployment once. Every module after the first reuses all of it, which is the gap between separate modules and one cohesive system.
- An accepted quote becomes a job without retyping anything
- A finished job becomes an invoice with the hours already in it
- The same client carries the same identifier everywhere
- One password, one employee list to keep current
- No paid integrations between your own tools
What comes with every build
Delivered in your own Git repository from the first commit, not at the end of the project.
Permissions are defined with you before the first screen is designed.
TLS in transit, encryption at rest, secrets kept out of the source code.
Who changed what, when, and from where.
Daily, held separately from the live system, and actually restored.
Law 25 and PIPEDA handled at design time rather than bolted on afterwards.
French and English side by side from the start. Spanish available when a market calls for it.
Written for whoever picks the system up next, whether that is us or someone else.
The full detail of our security and data protection practices is on the home page. See the security section.
Questions about custom development
01What is a soft company, and is that the same as a software company?
People searching for a soft company are almost always looking for a software company: a firm that designs and builds applications rather than selling hardware. The shorthand turns up most often from speakers of languages where the word for software shortens naturally. If that is what brought you here, yes, this is the right kind of firm. We build custom business applications, we are based in Montreal, and we work across Canada in English and French.
02How long does custom software development take?
Three to five weeks for a template build, from the first call to your team working in it. A fully custom system runs in phases of two to three weeks each, and most complete projects span six to twelve weeks. What stretches a project is almost never the development: it is pending decisions, messy source data and access to existing systems.
03Who owns the code when the project is finished?
You do. The repository is created in your Git organisation from the first commit rather than transferred at the end. The database sits on infrastructure in your name, or on ours if you prefer, with a full export available at any time. Nothing in our agreement restricts your right to modify the software, hand it to another developer, or stop working with us.
04What happens when our needs change after delivery?
That is exactly the advantage of a system you own: a change is a project, not a feature request submitted to a vendor who may decide someday. Changes are billed by time or by fixed price depending on scale, and you can also hand them to your internal team or another developer, since the code and the documentation belong to you.
05Does custom software development work for a small business?
The best fit is 20 to 100 employees, where processes are specific enough to be poorly served by generic software and large enough for per seat fees to hurt. Under five users, the maths usually favours an off the shelf subscription, and we will say so. Any business ready to invest $5,000 to simplify its operations deserves the scoping call at least.
06Can you integrate our existing software?
Yes, when that software exposes a usable programming interface. Accounting, payroll, payment gateways, email delivery, electronic signature and warehouse systems are integrated routinely. We verify the feasibility of each integration during scoping rather than after signing, because a poorly documented API is the leading cause of overrun on this kind of project.
07Do you work outside Quebec?
Yes. We are based in Montreal and serve companies across Canada, including Toronto, Ontario, Edmonton, Alberta, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver. Scoping, mockups and delivery all happen remotely, and on site meetings are available in Greater Montreal. The province changes neither the price, the scope, nor the timeline.