Operations software
Custom software or an off-the-shelf job app?
Job management apps such as Tradify and ServiceM8 are built for many businesses at once. For a lot of trades and service businesses that is exactly right. This page is about telling which kind of business you are.
An app is probably the better fit when
- Your work already follows the steps the app has: quote, schedule, do the job, invoice.
- You would rather adjust how you work than pay for a build.
- You need something running sooner than a discovery and a build could finish.
- Nobody on your team needs anything the app does not already do.
Custom software is worth a look when
- You keep a second system beside the app, such as a spreadsheet, a paper form or a shared inbox, because one step of your work does not fit it.
- Several people need to work in the same records at the same time, each seeing only what their role needs.
- A job produces paperwork in a format the app cannot produce, so someone retypes it.
- You need the system to connect to something specific that you already use.
- You want the software itself to be yours, not only your data.
What each one costs you
Custom software
- A paid discovery before anything is built.
- A build fee, quoted in writing after the discovery.
- Time: a build takes longer than signing up to an app.
- A monthly plan for hosting, updates and the changes you ask for.
An off-the-shelf app
- You work the way the app works, and change when it changes.
- Your records live in the provider’s system. Getting them out depends on what the app lets you export.
- The workarounds stay: the spreadsheet or paper form beside it does not go away.
How we work out the price of a build is on what custom business software costs.
Who owns what
With an app you subscribe to, the provider owns the software and you pay to use it. With a build from us, the software is yours. The build fee buys the code: once your build invoice is paid, the source code, version history and assets are yours to keep.
One trade-off to know about: if you come off the managed plan, the security patches, dependency updates and changes stop, because those are the service rather than the software.
Starting with an app is a reasonable plan
You do not have to choose once and for all. Starting on an app, and looking at custom software when the workarounds around it cost more than the app saves, is a sensible order to do it in. If you go that way, check from the start that you can export your customers, jobs and documents, so a later move is a copy and not a retype.
Not sure which side you are on? Book a free intro call and bring a description of how one job moves through your business, from the first call to the paid invoice. If an app fits, we will tell you. Read more about the operations software we build.