Why SMBs get poorly served by software firms
A small business rarely needs a large system. It needs one tool that removes one expensive problem: the spreadsheet that runs scheduling, the double entry between the quoting tool and the accounting software, the customer file that lives in someone's inbox. Most development firms are not built for that scale. Their minimum engagement is too large, their process is designed for procurement departments, and the first working screen arrives months after the first invoice.
We built our software practice around the opposite constraints. A scope written in one page. A first version in four to eight weeks. Prices fixed per phase, so the budget is known before each one starts. Technology chosen for reliability and for being easy for any competent developer to maintain later. And the honesty to say, before quoting, when an off-the-shelf tool or a simple automation would solve it for less.
What SMBs typically ask us to build
- Quoting and job-tracking tools for trades, contractors and shops: estimate, schedule, assign, invoice, all in one place, with the pricing rules your business actually uses.
- Client portals where customers book, upload documents, approve quotes, pay and follow their file without calling you.
- Booking and scheduling systems with the constraints an off-the-shelf plugin cannot express: crews, equipment, service areas, seasonal rules.
- Internal dashboards that pull live numbers from your accounting, CRM and operations tools into one screen that answers the Monday-morning questions.
- Inventory and order management for small manufacturers, distributors and retailers outgrowing spreadsheets.
- Replacing an aging application that a previous developer built and nobody can maintain.
Every one of these runs in the browser, works on a phone, speaks French and English, and lives on hosting in your name. Where a task inside the tool benefits from AI, such as classifying requests or drafting documents, we bring in our AI implementation work rather than adding it for show.
How a small-business software project runs
Week one is a scoping workshop with the people who do the work today. We map the process, the exceptions and the failure points, then write a one-page scope: what version one does, what it deliberately leaves out, and what it must prove to be worth a version two.
Weeks two and three are clickable screens for every role, reviewed with the people who will use them. Changing a screen costs minutes; changing built software costs days, so we spend the time here.
Weeks four to eight are the build, tested with your real data and released to a small group before the whole team. Training is included, and so is documentation written for the person who will inherit the tool.
After launch we measure the number version one was meant to move, hours saved, jobs quoted, days to invoice, and only then scope version two. The custom punch-clock and reporting tools we built for Paysagement Pierre Perrier followed exactly this path and replaced a routine that had run on paper for decades.
What it costs and what you own
A focused internal tool or client portal typically starts in the same range as a full custom website and grows with the number of roles, integrations and edge cases. We quote each phase at a fixed price after the scoping workshop, and version one is designed to prove its value before you commit to anything larger. Ongoing costs are your hosting, set up in your name, and an optional support plan.
There is no per-seat licence and nothing that stops working if you stop paying us. You own the source code, the design files and every account. If you ever want another developer to take over, they can, with documentation to work from. Our custom software guide goes deeper on technology choices and handover; this page is about the SMB fit. When you are ready, the project form takes two minutes and we answer within a day.