What Businesses Actually Ask For
Customer Portals
Clients log in to see their orders, invoices, statements, job status or documents, which stops the endless "can you just email me that again" phone calls.
Internal Dashboards
One screen showing what's actually happening: jobs in progress, stock levels, outstanding payments, staff workload. Pulled live instead of assembled monthly by hand.
Booking & Scheduling
Availability, online booking, confirmations, reminders and rescheduling, with the double-booking rules your business actually needs enforced properly.
Quoting & Job Cards
Structured quotes, approvals, job tracking and invoicing in one flow, so a job can't quietly get done without ever being billed.
Document & Compliance Systems
Upload, categorise, version and expiry-track documents, certificates, contracts, licences, POPIA records, with alerts before things lapse.
Workflow Automation
The repetitive chain of steps someone currently does by hand every week, running itself. Often combined with AI automation.
I Build These for Myself Too
SoFinance is my own web application: a full accounting, invoicing and payroll platform built specifically for South African businesses, handling PAYE and UIF calculations, SARS tax logic, payslip generation, multi-user access and client portals. It's a real product with paying customers, not a portfolio piece.
That matters when you're choosing a developer. I've dealt with the unglamorous parts, user permissions, data integrity, audit trails, PDF generation, email deliverability, backups, migrations and the reality of supporting live users who can't afford downtime. Those are exactly the areas where inexperienced builds fall over six months after launch.
How I Scope a Build
The first conversation is deliberately about your process, not features. What happens today, who touches it, where it breaks, and what it costs you when it does. Most feature wish-lists shrink by half once we identify the two steps causing most of the pain, and that's a good thing, because a smaller first version launches sooner and teaches you more.
You then get a fixed-price proposal for a defined first version, with a clear list of what's in and what's explicitly deferred. Phase two gets quoted after you've actually used phase one.
Common questions
How is a web app different from a website?
A website mainly presents information, who you are, what you sell, how to reach you. A web app does something: users log in, records get created and updated, calculations run, documents generate, notifications fire. If your requirement includes the words 'log in', 'dashboard', 'approve', 'track' or 'automatically', you're describing a web app.
Isn't custom software much more expensive than off-the-shelf?
Upfront, usually yes. Over three years, often not, especially once you count per-user monthly fees for a tool that only does 60% of what you need, plus the manual work filling the other 40%. The honest answer is that custom only wins when off-the-shelf genuinely doesn't fit. If a R400-a-month product does the job, I'll tell you to buy it.
What do you build with?
Modern, boring, well-supported technology, standard web front-ends, a proper database (usually PostgreSQL via Supabase), and clean APIs. Nothing exotic that leaves you unable to find another developer in three years. SoFinance, my own accounting platform, runs on this stack, so it's proven at real scale rather than theoretical.
Do I own the code?
Yes, entirely. The code, the database and the data are yours, and I'll hand over the repository and infrastructure whenever you ask. I've seen too many businesses trapped in systems they paid to build but can't take with them.
Can it integrate with what we already use?
Usually. If your accounting package, CRM, payment gateway or supplier system exposes an API, it can be connected. Where there's no API, scheduled imports and exports are the fallback. I check integration feasibility during scoping rather than discovering it mid-build.
How long does a web app take?
A focused first version, solving one real problem well, typically runs 6 to 12 weeks. I strongly recommend that route over an eighteen-month project that tries to do everything, because the first version always teaches you things the specification didn't. Build the part that hurts most, use it, then extend.
Let’s sort out your IT
Tell me what you need and I’ll come back to you within 2 to 4 hours during business hours. Usually with a fixed quote rather than a sales call. You deal directly with me.