What a custom management system costs
What pushes the price of a custom management system, which costs sit outside the build and what to bring to the first conversation.
Juan Ignacio De los SantosCo-founder · Engineering and productPublished on 12 min read
If your business runs on Excel and you are asking for a quote, a figure on its own is not enough. First we need to know what goes into the system and what stays out, and the price comes from that.
This note covers what drives the price, what it means to build one and put it to work, what changes for an inventory system, which costs to look at apart from the build, how it compares with staying on a spreadsheet or buying off-the-shelf software, and what to bring to the first conversation.
What drives the price
The price depends on the system. Tidying up inventory is one job. Adding orders, cash, role permissions and a close for the accountant is a much bigger one.
That is why we do not publish a rate. We write the scope in the proposal and the price follows that scope. We look at the parts together: a short flow with no integrations takes less work than one with permissions, migration and closing reports.
A distributor that wants an order to reduce stock needs something different from a booking business that wants the team's schedule and the day's takings. How that order system is put together is in order management system. These are the parts that move the price the most:
- Modules and screens. Inventory, orders, cash, bookings or clients add screens, states and rules. A short path takes less work than an operation with several stages.
- Users and permissions. With one person the system is simple. When owner, admin, warehouse or branch each see and do different things, there is more to build.
- Integrations. Connecting invoicing, payments, email or an API is work on top of the screens. If the tool lets data in and out, we use that route.
- Migration from Excel. Moving products, clients or movements means unifying names, resolving duplicates and deciding which history to bring. If a spreadsheet still works for you, it can stay out or stay connected.
- Reports. Seeing what is still unpaid, what to restock or how the cash closed is designed around your team's rules.
If the system is large, we split it and start with what hurts most, such as inventory or orders. What goes in now and what waits goes in writing, so the price does not include work we are not doing yet.
What it costs to build a management system
Building a management system means constructing it for your operation: the scope of what goes in, the screens and the rules. Implementing it means putting it to work with your people and your data.
Implementation is where users and their permissions weigh in, along with integrations to invoicing, payments or the tool you already use, moving the data out of Excel and, if you hire it, maintenance afterwards. That price sits in the same document as the build.
Scope and price are put in writing before we start: what is in and what stays out.
What an inventory management system costs
An inventory management system, or a stock system, can be the whole system or the first stage. The price follows the scope of the warehouse: one shop or several branches, today's available stock, or every receipt, issue and reservation.
Users, integrations and data migration move it too. The person who counts the goods, the person who sells and the person who only looks do not need the same screen.
If stock has to drop when an order is confirmed, when you invoice or when you sell in the shop you already use, that connection is separate work. Moving the Excel file means unifying names and codes, and deciding whether the history comes across or only what is on hand today. Maintenance, for adjusting replenishment once it is running, is optional.
If the full system is large, starting with inventory ties the price to that stage. What goes in now and what waits goes in writing.
Costs worth knowing apart from the build
The build is one part of the quote. Some costs are worth seeing beside it, named, so they do not show up later.
They go in the proposal only if the system needs them.
- Server, domain and accounts. If you already have a server, a domain, the WhatsApp API or an AI model, we use them. If you do not, we manage them and charge the cost plus management.
- Maintenance. It is optional. It covers changes and adjustments once the system is running. Without maintenance, the project costs less.
- Training. It is optional too. If you want your team to learn to use it, we add it. Without training, the project costs less.
- Bugs in the system. If the fault is ours, we fix it, with or without maintenance.
- Changes in an external API. If an API you chose changes and you did not hire support, you pay for that fix. The build does not cover it.
- Your data. It is confidential. We use it to build the system and, if you hire maintenance, to maintain it.
The document separates what the system is, what is optional and which external services we use or manage.
Excel, off-the-shelf, or custom
The first conversation usually brings up the same comparison: stay in Excel, adopt off-the-shelf software, or commission a custom system. No option fits every small business. It depends on how specific the operation is.
The table is qualitative and does not replace a quote. The actual price comes from the scope, in writing.
| Excel, off-the-shelf software and a custom system: upfront cost, ongoing cost, fit to the process and who maintains it | Excel | Off the shelf | Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | The spreadsheet is already there. It costs the time to build it and to rebuild it when it falls short. | You use the product that already exists. The limit shows up when the operation needs something that plan does not include. | It is the agreed build. It grows with the modules, the permissions, the integrations and the data to move. |
| Ongoing cost | The spreadsheet license, if there is one, and the time of whoever keeps it up to date. | A subscription while you use it. If it falls short, you add another program or go back to Excel. | Maintenance is optional. Server, domain or APIs are charged separately when we manage them. |
| Fit to the process | It bends to how you work, until the formulas, the copies and the loose files cannot keep up. | The team adapts to the program. What does not fit ends up in a patch or in another tool. | We build it around how your team works, with the rules they already use. |
| Who maintains it | Someone on your team. If that person is away, it is hard to work out where each piece of data ended up. | Whoever makes the product. You can ask for what the product allows, and a flow it lacks stays out. | If you hire maintenance, we keep it going. We still fix our own bugs. |
How to ask for a quote properly
A closed quote comes from understanding the operation. The clearer you arrive at the first conversation, the less back and forth it takes to close scope and price.
You do not need a tidy document. It is enough to show how you work today. We listen to the operation, write what is in and what is out, and put the price in that same document, before we start.
- A real case. Pick an order, a booking or a stock movement and walk through it from the moment it comes in until it is paid or delivered.
- The spreadsheets. Even if they are messy. That is where columns, states and data entered in more than one place show up.
- Who does what. Who enters data, who approves, who looks at the cash and who should not see costs or margins.
- What it has to connect to. Invoicing, payments, email, WhatsApp or another tool. If you already have the account or the API, say so in the conversation.
- What hurts today. The part that gets stuck, gets lost or gets argued about. If the system is large, that is where we start.
- What stays out. Saying what is not in this stage keeps the price from including work we are not doing yet.
From that we write the document: what we build, what we do not, what we need from you, what the implementation costs and what maintenance costs. We agree it in writing before we start. We do not publish a typical timeline: the time depends on the system and goes in that document.
Signs that custom is the right fit
Off-the-shelf software is enough when the operation fits what that program already does and the team can work that way without a parallel spreadsheet. A custom system makes sense when the way of working has its own steps and Excel and messages hold the gap together.
An events company ran everything in one Excel file: cash flow, clients and no calendar. They asked us for a quote for a calendar, a client list and cash flow. EventOps came out of that work and covers more than the original request: the event is entered once, and the calendar, the quote, the payments and the expenses come from that. The day-to-day is in the note on organizing an events company.
Quoting a screen and looking at the whole operation are different jobs, and this case shows it. If your business does something else, we write the scope for that operation.
- Your own rules. Discounts, states or exceptions that off-the-shelf software cannot model without patches or another spreadsheet.
- Split data. The same thing is entered in Excel, in chat and in another program, and nobody fully trusts a single list.
- Different permissions. Not everyone on the team should see costs, margins or the cash.
- You already went back to the spreadsheet. You tried off-the-shelf software and the daily work stayed in Excel, because the operation did not fit.
- It has to talk to what you already chose. Invoicing, payments or an API, using your accounts if you already have them.
If the off-the-shelf product covers the day to day and your team uses it without a parallel spreadsheet, there is no need to replace it. In the first conversation we tell you what looks like the better fit, and we write the scope before the price.
Quick checklist
Before the first conversation, go through this:
- Can I walk through an order, a booking or a stock movement from start to finish?
- Do I have the spreadsheets at hand, even if they are messy?
- Do I know who enters data, who approves and who should not see each piece of data?
- Do I know what it has to connect to, and whether those accounts already exist?
- Can I say what goes into this stage and what stays out?
- Does the off-the-shelf program I looked at let me work the way I work today, or does it push me back to Excel?
If you can answer the first ones, the conversation is enough to write scope and price. If the last one is also yes, it is worth looking at a custom system.
Frequently asked questions
We do not publish a rate. The price depends on the system: modules and screens, users and permissions, integrations, migration from Excel and reports. Scope and price are agreed in writing before we start.
Want the price in writing?
Tell us how you work today and what slips between spreadsheets. We reply with scope and price in writing, before we start.
Tell us your problem