Should we build or buy?

Usually both — buy the commodity, build the differentiator, integrate the two. We've published the full framework, including the cases where doing nothing wins.

You do, throughout. Code, documentation, credentials and accounts, documented as we go. Handover is part of the work, not a negotiation at the end.

What does it cost to run afterwards?

Hosting, updates, security patching and support are a real annual cost, and most quotes you receive won’t mention them at all. We’ll put a number on it for your situation before you commit to anything.

Can AI build this instead?

Sometimes, genuinely. We've written honestly about where that works and where it breaks — the short version is that the build was never the expensive part.

AliveCommerce / What we do / Applications

Custom business applications

Custom software earns its keep in exactly one situation: when how you do something is part of why customers choose you. Everywhere else, buying is cheaper — and we'll tell you which one you're looking at before you commit.

EngagementDefined project, FBSC

Shaped byHow many systems it touches

You ownCode, docs and credentials

Talk to us about this What drives the cost

Fixed budgetAgreed before work starts. Scope flexes, the number doesn’t.

No vendor pays usNo commissions, referral fees or markup. Ever.

You own everythingCode, documentation, credentials — throughout, not at the end.

Nearly 20 years2,000+ projects for 500+ organizations, from SOHO to Fortune 1000.

What's included.

Scoped and priced up front. Exclusions written as explicitly as inclusions.

Order and workflow management

The operational tools no product fits properly, because your process isn't the one the product was designed around.

Internal applications and admin tools

Purpose-built interfaces for the work your team does daily, replacing spreadsheets that have become load-bearing.

Centralised frontends

One interface over several systems, so people stop switching between four applications to complete one task.

Customer and partner portals

Built against live data from your systems of record rather than a copy that drifts.

Reporting and dashboard applications

Built backwards from a decision rather than forwards from whatever was easy to extract.

IOT and equipment companion tools

Where physical equipment needs to reach the office and currently doesn't.

How we approach it.

In this order, because doing them out of order is how these go wrong.

Establish whether to build at all

Roughly a third of these conversations end with a recommendation to buy something or change nothing. We take no commission either way.

Scope in writing, with exclusions

What’s included, what isn’t, and how priorities get reordered as we learn. Exclusions are where disputes actually start.

Build in demonstrable increments

Regular working demonstrations rather than status reports. Anything affecting budget is raised the week it appears.

Hand over properly

Code, documentation, credentials and training. You should be able to continue without us whether or not you choose to.

What moves the cost

Systems touched

More than any other factor, by a wide margin

First phase

8 to 16 weeks

Narrow scope, proven, then extended

Ongoing

Plan for it

Hosting, updates, security and support are a real annual line — most quotes omit them

Not sure this is what you need?

Tell us what's actually happening and we'll say which part of this applies — or that a different approach fits better, or that you don't need us yet. That last answer is more common than you'd expect.

Get a straight answer Or call 416-639-5876, weekdays 8:30–5:30 ET

What we work with.

Chosen on fit. We take no commission or referral fee from any of them.

TypeScriptNode.jsReactAstroPythonPHPLaravelMySQLPostgreSQLREST and GraphQL APIsCloudflareAWSAzure

If this shouldn't be a project.

Some of this work never really ends. When that's true, we'll say so rather than selling you a project that restarts in three years.

Continuous ownership

Champion1 Foundation

Unlimited development under a fixed monthly fee, for businesses where the build never really finishes.

See Foundation

Ongoing management

Champion1 Manage

Once it's built. Support, updates, hosting and administration of what we made and everything else you run.

See Champion1

Straight answers.

Start the Conversation.

No qualification questionnaire. No nurture sequence. A person reads it and replies within a business day — and tells you plainly if we're not the right fit.

01A person reads itNot a scoring model. It goes to whoever would actually do the work.

02A reply within a business dayUsually a question or two rather than a calendar link.

03A conversation, not a pitchTwenty to ninety minutes. No deck, no slides.

04Then, only if it's warrantedA scope or assessment with a price attached before any work starts.

Prefer to talk first? 416-639-5876 · [email protected]

About custom business applications

Three fields. We'll ask the rest on the call.

Related.

Articles are matched by tag; services, capabilities and programs are curated.

Tell us what's breaking.

We'll tell you roughly what this costs, how long it takes, and whether it's worth doing at all — including when the honest answer is that you don't need us.

Start the Conversation

Knowledge and process

Applications and data

Customer and web

Browse by symptom instead

The structure

Continuous ownership

Before you commit

Start with one problem

Priority sectors

Also

Or by situation

Not sure you fit?

Reading

Most read

Proof

Nobody owns the application layer