Custom software for small businesses
When the spreadsheet stops coping, we build what comes next.
Is one workbook quietly running your whole business? Are you typing the same job into a sheet, an email and then your accounts? If that's the shape of your day, it is possible to build the software, AI tools and integrations to put a stop to it, so the work flows through one place everyone can see, shaped around how your team already works and owned outright by you.
Built by a team that has made software for small businesses for 30 years, a sister company to CETA Software.
The Process
You shouldn't have to picture software from a written description and hope for the best. With us, you wouldn't. Early on you'd be clicking through a working version, not reading a quote and hoping. Here's how it would go.
01 · We listen
We'd sit down with the people who do the work and learn how the business really runs: the rules, the exceptions, and the things that only live in someone's head.
02 · We gather your material
We'd collect the documents, drawings, spreadsheets and notes the business already runs on, and collate them into a really basic spec for you to review, so we agree the shape before anything's built.
03 · We mock it up
Within days, not months, we'd put a working example in front of you. Not slides, but something you and your team could use and react to.
04 · We refine it together
You'd tell us what's right, what's wrong and what's missing. We'd change it and show you again. This is where the design gets decided, with you in the room.
05 · We build it properly
Once the shape's right, we'd build the real thing: made to last, connected to your other systems, and owned outright by you.
06 · We support and evolve
As the business moves, the software would move with it. We'd extend it as you grow rather than leave you with something frozen on day one.
Sectors we build for
Most of the businesses we work with didn't set out to build software. They built a spreadsheet, then another, then a workbook nobody dares touch, and made it work until the business outgrew it. The symptoms differ by trade, but they're familiar, here's the kind of thing we see, and what we could do about it.
The problem
Jobs booked by phone and text, paperwork filled in on site and lost on the way back, invoices chased from memory at month end.
What we could do
We could put scheduling in the office, give the crew a simple app, and raise the invoice the moment a job's marked done, straight into your accounts.
The problem
Tenancies, maintenance, deposits and safety certificates spread across spreadsheets and email, renewal dates easy to miss.
What we could do
We could bring properties, tenancies and maintenance into one place, with rent, deposit and certificate reminders that chase themselves before anything lapses.
The problem
Stallholders, contractors, pitches and schedules juggled in spreadsheets that change by the hour, with no version everyone trusts.
What we could do
We could handle bookings, pitch and stall allocation and contractor sign-off, with a live plan everyone can see right up to the day.
The problem
Availability in a shared sheet, contracts in Word, invoicing by hand at month end.
What we could do
We could give you a booking and availability calendar, generate the contracts, and invoice straight into the accounts package, so a kit going out could book, price and bill itself.
The problem
Tiered pricing, stock and orders across several workbooks that never quite agree.
What we could do
It is possible to build an ordering and stock system with prices set per customer, live stock levels, and a link to the accounts and online-shop tools you already run.
Whatever the trade, that's the point where custom software stops being a luxury and starts paying for itself, in hours saved, errors removed, and a clearer view of the business.
What can we build together?
Whatever's slowing you down, the answer is shaped around your business, never off the shelf. Here's the kind of thing it is possible to build.
Quotes, jobs and invoices live in different places, so things slip.
Quote to invoice, one thread
We could join the lot into a single thread from enquiry to invoice, so nothing's lost and everyone can see where a job stands.
Your team's on site or on the road, filling in paper that gets lost on the way back.
An app where the work happens
We could give them job sheets, photos, signatures and stock on their phone, working with or without signal.
Clients and suppliers chase you by email for orders, documents and approvals.
A private login for them
We could give them a secure window onto just what concerns them, orders, documents, status, sign-off, without the back-and-forth.
People, jobs and vehicles clash because there's no shared view.
Scheduling that shows clashes early
We could plan people, jobs, vehicles and equipment in one place, so gaps and clashes surface before they become problems.
You rebuild the same report by hand every month.
Dashboards that stay current
We could pull the numbers that actually run your business together automatically, always up to date.
Repetitive typing and chasing eats your team's time.
Automation of the busywork
We could hand the copy-paste and the chasing to software, so the team spends its time on the work that matters.
Connect what you already use
You're probably typing the same thing into three places, the accounts package, the email, the spreadsheet. If a tool you rely on can share its data, we could connect your new software to it so it's entered once and flows everywhere.
Re-keying invoices and customers into the accounts at month end.
Your accounts package
Send invoices, payments and customer details straight to Xero or QuickBooks.
Updates and bookings that never reach the right diary.
Email & calendar
Plug into Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace to send updates, book jobs and keep everyone's diary in step.
Photos, certificates and paperwork scattered, and the paper chase for sign-off.
Documents & sign-off
Keep them in one place and get them signed off without the chase.
No clear view of what's been paid.
Card & online payments
Take payments through Stripe and the tools you already use, and show you what's paid at a glance.
Rely on something we haven't named? Tell us about it. If it can share its data at all, we can almost always connect to it.
Your own AI
If you've used ChatGPT, you know the feeling: ask a question in plain English, get a straight answer. It is possible to build that same experience on top of your own data, so instead of generic replies, you'd get answers about your jobs, your customers, your schedule and your money. It wouldn't be a bolted-on chatbot with menus to learn or reports to build; anyone on the team could just ask, the way they'd ask a colleague who knows the business inside out.
You'd be able to ask things like:
What invoices are due this week?
A straight answer about your money, without building a report or opening the accounts package.
When is my next appointment in Oxfordshire?
Your diary by place, person or date, just ask.
Which engineers are available on 23 July?
Check who's free before you promise a date, instead of cross-checking sheets and calendars.
Who still owes us money from last month?
Surface overdue invoices the moment you think to ask.
Which jobs are running over budget?
See where margin is slipping while there's still time to do something about it.
Show me every job waiting on materials.
Filter your work the way you'd describe it out loud, with no menus to learn.
It could work both ways, too: as well as answering questions, it could draft the quote, write the customer update or summarise a long thread of site notes, always from your own information, so it sounds like you and not a generic template.
Tell us about the spreadsheet that's holding you back.
We'll put something you can click through in front of you within days, not a quote and a six-week wait.