Software and AI
Business software that replaces the spreadsheets, paper timesheets and group texts
We build the software that runs the office side of a business: a shared customer list that tracks every lead and job (often called a CRM), an employee time clock on staff phones, job schedules the office and crews share, and reports that put themselves together. Each system follows the steps your team already uses, opens in a web browser on a phone or computer, and keeps your records in an account in your business's name.
01New lead
02Contacted
03Estimate sent
04Won
Lost, with a reasonPrice · Went with someone else · No reply
Concept · sample data
- Common builds
- Customer list, time clock, scheduling
- Runs on
- Phone, tablet or computer
- Your records
- In an account in your name
- Based in
- Cedar Grove, NJ
Starting point
Signs the spreadsheet has become the system
A custom system usually starts as a spreadsheet that worked with three people and stopped working with ten. Two people edit it at once and overwrite each other. Leads from the web form, the phone and text messages don't all get entered. Hours go on paper and get typed into payroll on Friday.
What we build in its place is a private web app your team signs into. It holds customers, jobs, hours and files in one place and handles the repetitive steps: the reminder, the timesheet, the weekly report.
A public site with online booking or a price calculator falls under web development. Work that has to happen offline, or track a driver in the background, may need a phone app.
Modules
What a system is usually made of
Most systems combine a few of these, all reading from one database (a single organized store of your records), so a customer entered once appears on every screen.
Customer and lead list
Web form submissions, calls and referrals land in one list with their source, so nobody copies leads out of emails or texts.
Follow-up on estimates
Stages you name, such as estimate sent, scheduled and paid, and a reminder when an estimate goes unanswered for as many days as you set. Useful for remodelers and other contractors who send more estimates than anyone can track.
Jobs and scheduling
Jobs tied to a customer and assigned to a crew, driver or vehicle, on a calendar the office and the field share.
Employee time clock
Punches from a phone or a shared tablet, break tracking, overtime flags by your rules, and an export for payroll.
Records and files
Photos, signed forms and certificates stored with the job, customer or vehicle. A medical transportation fleet can get reminders before an inspection or driver certification expires.
Who sees what
The office sees everything; a part-time employee sees only their own hours. For sensitive records such as patient or payroll details, the access rules can be set inside the database itself, so changing a web address can't pull up records someone isn't allowed to see.
Automatic tasks
A nightly sync with your accounting software, a morning email with the day's appointments, a weekly hours report for whoever runs payroll.
Stack
How it is built and who owns it
The screens are a web application built with Next.js, a widely used toolkit for web apps, so it opens in any current browser and can be pinned to a phone's home screen. Data lives in Supabase, a hosted PostgreSQL database that also handles logins and file storage. PostgreSQL is open source and offered by many hosts, so your records can be exported or moved.
Scheduled jobs such as imports, syncs and reports run in a separate Python service built with FastAPI, so a long import doesn't slow the screens your team is using.
We open the database and hosting accounts in your business's name, with us added as collaborators, and any table can be exported to a spreadsheet.
Integrations
Connecting the tools you already pay for
An API is a documented way for one program to read and write data in another. When a tool you use has one, your system can usually connect to it: a paid invoice in QuickBooks Online marks the job paid, a booking lands on Google Calendar, a customer gets a text through Twilio when the crew is on the way.
Tools without an API often have a scheduled export, and importing that file each night still ends the retyping.
Providers change their APIs, so connections need upkeep. We log every sync and set an alert for any that fail.
Trade-offs
What you give up by building instead of subscribing
| Off-the-shelf software | Custom build | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Off-the-shelf softwareSign up and use it right away | Custom buildA build phase before anyone logs in |
| Fit to your process | Off-the-shelf softwareYour team adapts to its screens and fields | Custom buildScreens and fields follow your steps |
| Cost as you hire | Off-the-shelf softwareUsually priced per user, per month | Custom buildHosting cost follows usage; a new hire adds no license fee |
| Your data | Off-the-shelf softwareIn the vendor's system; export options vary | Custom buildIn a PostgreSQL database in your name |
| Changes | Off-the-shelf softwareWhenever the vendor's roadmap gets to them | Custom buildBuilt when you ask, as paid work |
| Upkeep | Off-the-shelf softwareHandled by the vendor | Custom buildHandled by us or any developer who knows the stack |
If an existing product covers most of what you need, buy it, and we can connect it to your other tools. Custom makes sense when the process is specific to you or the per-user bill keeps climbing.
Process
From spreadsheet to first login
- 01
Walk-through
We go through the current process with the people who do the work: the spreadsheet, the paper forms, the text threads. The proposal then prices each module and connection.
- 02
First module
The module that removes the most retyping comes first, on a private preview your team clicks through and corrects.
- 03
Moving the data
Spreadsheets and exports are cleaned up and imported, with duplicate customers merged, so the first day starts with real records.
- 04
Switch-over
Each role gets a short training session on its own screens, and the old spreadsheet is locked to read-only.
- 05
Next modules
Once the first module is in daily use, the next is scoped and priced the same way.
Try it
Try the employee time clock
Clock a sample crew in and out at a job site, take breaks, and watch the weekly timesheet and overtime fill in.
Questions
Ownership, running costs and where to begin
What is a CRM, and do we need one?
CRM stands for customer relationship management. In practice it is a shared customer list that also tracks each lead, estimate and job, with reminders so nothing goes unanswered. If a spreadsheet and a shared inbox still keep up with your leads, you may not need one yet.
Who owns the software and the data?
You do. The database, hosting and code repository sit in accounts under your business, with us added as collaborators. If we stop working together, you remove our access and keep everything.
What does a custom system cost to keep running?
Two things: hosting and database fees, which grow with usage rather than headcount, and support for changes and fixes. The proposal lists both, so you can set them against the per-user subscriptions you pay today.
Can employees clock in from their own phones?
Yes. The time clock opens in the phone's browser, with nothing to install. You choose PIN or personal login, whether location is recorded at each punch, and which places count as on site. A shared tablet at the shop works too.
Can we see software you have built for other businesses?
Not the systems themselves. They run inside our clients' businesses and hold customer and employee records, so the clients stay unnamed and their screens stay private. The private systems section of our work page explains what each one does, using animations made from sample data. On a call we can walk through how the modules on this page would map to your process.
We know the process is a mess but not what to build. Where do we begin?
With the task that causes the most double entry or missed follow-ups. In a proposal request, describe who handles it and which spreadsheets, forms and apps it touches, and the first module is scoped from that.
Next step
Describe the spreadsheet you want to retire
Send a short description of the process and who uses it. We reply with questions or a written proposal that prices each module separately.