04 / bespoke cms, databases & internal tools
bespoke cms & databases
A bespoke CMS is one place where your business data lives, with screens built around how your team already works — so a confirmed booking produces the contract, the invoice and the schedule from a single record.
The unglamorous machinery that decides whether a business runs smoothly. If your real system of record is a spreadsheet, this is the page you want.
typical timeline: First useful phase in 4 to 8 weeks. Systems like this keep growing for years, because daily use always reveals the next obvious thing.
who this is for
pick this if any of these are true.
not this? Solved problems. Do not build accounting, email, calendars, storage or e-signatures — buy those and let the bespoke layer talk to them.
- The software of record is ignored and the spreadsheet is trusted
- The same information is typed into more than one place
- Per-seat licences for tools that fit 60% of your process
- Simple commercial questions take an afternoon to answer
- Contracts, invoices or itineraries are assembled by copy-paste
what you actually get
data model
What things exist and how they relate, so the same fact is stored exactly once.
workflow & stages
Records move through stages, and each stage triggers what should happen next.
document generation
Contracts, invoices, itineraries and statements produced from the record, so they can never disagree with it.
permissions & audit
Who sees fees, who can approve, who can delete — and a trail of who changed what, when.
automation
Reminders, chases, renewals and follow-ups. The work nobody remembers to do.
reporting
The numbers the owner checks on a Monday, on one screen, straight from live data.
how we do it
map the process
Bring the spreadsheet. It is the most accurate specification of how the business actually runs.
model the data
Entities, relationships and states, agreed before any screen is designed.
build the painful part first
One process, properly, in front of the team within weeks — useful on its own.
extend in stages
Each phase has to make someone's week easier or it is scoped wrong.
connect and automate
Accounting, calendars, email and payments wired in, then the manual repetition removed.
the tools we use
Named, not implied. If a tool is on this list we have shipped production work with it.
data
- Postgres
- Supabase
- row-level security
- migrations
- backups
application
- React
- TypeScript
- server functions
- role-based access
documents & money
- PDF generation
- invoicing
- Stripe
- e-signature integrations
connections
- Google Workspace
- Xero & QuickBooks
- webhooks
- scheduled jobs
questions people ask
Is a custom system cheaper than subscriptions?
Over five years, usually — but only if it is built for change. Ask any developer how they handle a process change in six months; the answer tells you whether they have done this before.
What happens to our existing data?
It gets migrated. Spreadsheets, exports and legacy databases are cleaned, mapped and imported, with the mess documented rather than quietly dropped.
Can our team use it on a phone?
Yes. Internal tools are built responsive, because approvals and updates happen in taxis and at events, not only at desks.
read deeper
Written from the work, not from a keyword list.
start somewhere
what are you trying to make better?
Answer a few quick questions and we will come back with a price bracket, a timeline and a scope you can hold us to.