Before you ask

Scope, price and ownership

• What does a project cost?

  It depends on scope, and anyone who quotes before understanding the work is guessing. What we can promise is the shape: a short conversation, then a written proposal with a fixed price and timeline, at no charge. You decide with the number in front of you.

• Who owns the code and the data?

  You do — completely, from day one. Code lives in your repository, hosting and domain are in your accounts, and the database is yours. There is no licence to keep paying and nothing held back to lock you in.

• Can you work with a system someone else built?

  Usually yes. It starts with a review: what it does, what state the code and data are in, and whether fixing it costs less than replacing it. You get that answer in writing before committing to either.

• Our system was built by someone who has left. Can you take it over?

  Yes, and it is a common reason people call. We start by reading what is actually there rather than proposing a rebuild: the database, the code if there is any, and what the people using it do to work around the parts that broke. You get a written description of how it works, an honest assessment of whether repairing costs less than replacing, and a list of what is risky about it today — missing backups, no roles, a server nobody has updated in four years. Often the answer is that the database is sound and only the reporting on top of it needs replacing, which is a much smaller job than anyone expected.

• Can you connect our old database to something new without replacing it?

  Usually, yes. If the data model holds up, a dashboard, a portal or a new interface can sit on top of the database you already have, and it can be joined to the other systems it should have been talking to. Replacing a database is the expensive option and it is not always the right one — we will tell you which case you are in before you spend anything on a rebuild.

• Why build something instead of buying software that already exists?

  Often you should buy it, and if that is the answer you will get it from us — it is the cheapest advice we give. But off-the-shelf software has a price that never appears on the quote: you change how you work to suit it, you pay per user every month forever, you pay a consultant to configure the parts you do not need, and your data sits somewhere you cannot easily get it out of. Built for you, the data model matches the questions you ask, there is no monthly licence, nothing needs re-learning because it follows the process your team already knows, and you own the source and the database outright. The honest test is whether your business works like everyone else’s. If it does, buy. If it does not — and most do not — the workarounds cost more than the build.

• Do you reuse work from other clients?

  The data model, the screens and the decisions are designed for you and are yours alone. What we do not reinvent each time is the plumbing every system needs — login, roles, backups, export, the parts of an interface nobody should pay to have invented twice. That is why a custom build can be quoted at a sane price rather than an agency one, and none of it is shared with anyone else.

• We still keep our records on paper. Can you do anything with that?

  Yes — it is the work we are asked for most. Years of binders and spreadsheets become a real database, your team gets a portal to add new records instead of filling in the paper form, and a dashboard sits on top so a question about last year takes seconds. Every page is scanned and kept alongside its record, so the original is always there to check against. It starts with a short paid review of your actual forms, which comes off the build if you go ahead. How it works, in four phases.

• Which languages do you work in?

  English, French and Arabic — all three fluently, for meetings, documentation and training as well as for the software itself. Interfaces and content can be delivered in any combination of them, including proper right-to-left layout where a language needs it rather than a mirrored afterthought. Being able to write the specification in the language your team actually uses matters more than it sounds: it is where most misunderstandings about scope begin.

• What happens after launch?

  Every project ends with documentation and a walkthrough so your team can run it without us. After that, support is optional: a monthly block of hours if you want one, or nothing at all if you do not.

• How do we keep in touch during the build?

  A short written update at each milestone plus a link to working software you can click. Email, WhatsApp or a weekly call, whichever suits you — but decisions get written down either way.