Bespoke Software Development Cost UK: Is £20k+ Worth It?

£20k Is Not the Decision: The Business Problem Is 

The £20,000 development project might seem like a lot of money when you consider that it costs £100 a month to subscribe to a SaaS service. That’s not the right comparison, however. Assume that a company is using multiple platforms to spend £1,500 per month on a critical workflow. Not counting staff time, integrations and manual work, that’s £18,000 per year! 

That’s £54,000 in subscriptions over three years. 

Now introduce the employee who exports data, does data quality checks in spreadsheets, copies information between systems and resolves errors during integration. 

Suddenly, a bespoke software development project deserves a closer look. 

This is not to say that the bespoke system will necessarily be less expensive. It refers to the business making a total cost evaluation and making a business value evaluation, not just evaluating the bill of the development compared to one SaaS price. 

When Off-the-Shelf Software Starts Becoming Expensive 

If your process matches how the software works, SaaS is a great option. 

Issues come about when the business process is different. 

You might have to: 

• Transfer information from one system to another. 
• Pay extra money for extra software to connect to two platforms. 
• Maintain spreadsheets alongside your other systems. 
• Upgrade to a higher-priced tier for one feature you need. 
• Develop manual approval procedures. 
• Have staff fill out the same data multiple times. 
• Develop solutions that overcome restrictions on the platform. 

None of these costs will necessarily be listed as a line item on the software bill. 

Yet someone is paying for them. 

Typically, this person is your operations team.

The First Test: Is the Workflow Important Enough? 

Not every awkward process needs bespoke development. 

It is likely that building a new system is not a worthwhile investment when the employee needs to spend 20 minutes per month to deal with a software limitation. 

This changes if 10 people work around the same restriction for several hours each week. 

Our first question would be: 

What is the business’s dependency on this workflow? 

A bespoke system is more appropriate if the process is customer experience or day-to-day operations. 

Think about: 

• Quotation management 
• Order processing 
• Stock and Inventory Management 
• Customer portals 
• Booking systems 
• Internal approval systems 
• Reporting and data consolidation 
• Bespoke ecommerce functionality 
• Industry-specific operational processes 

The more often the process occurs, the greater the cost of a bad workflow. 

A Real Example: A Quotation System for Owen Brothers Catering 

RVS Quotation Builder is just one example of how we can help a business by creating software to suit their needs. Owen Brothers Catering have been supplying office breakfast’s, lunch’s and events around London for many years. So we created a quotation builder for them. 

Normally when buying something from a website you can just click buy but when someone wants catering they usually want it tailored to there needs. Whether its for a meeting at their office or if they want to hire us for there wedding. There will always be different products and quantities. So a standard web store would not have worked for this business. 

We built a custom quote system to suit the Owen brothers catering. 

Our quotation builder allows the user to: 

• Pick a customer or create a new one. 
• Select products and services.  
• Change quantities and prices.  
• Create a quotation for that customer.  
• Email a quotation to that customer.  
• Allow the user to save quotes so they can send them out quicker. 

As you can see by creating software to fit a business we can save time by having less admin to complete and help them look more professional. 

When £20k+ Starts Making Financial Sense 

There are a number of circumstances in which a bespoke software development project is the right call. 

1. You’re Paying for Several Tools to Run One Process

Many businesses end up running one process across several tools:

• One SaaS tool manages customer data
• Another handles orders
• A third takes care of automation
• A fourth handles reporting
• And Excel fills the gaps in between

That can be the right approach if each tool solves a different problem. But if they all support one internal workflow, it may be worth consolidating them into a single bespoke system.

2. Your Team Is Doing Repetitive Manual Work 

There should be software to eliminate repetitive administration when possible. 

If staff are routinely recording customers details, looking at records, transferring order information or creating the same documents, then work out the cost. 

Manual work, for instance, means that 15 hours a week can be used at an internal rate of £25 per hour (fully loaded), which is around £19,500 per year. 

Not to mention any errors or delays. 

A £20k development project is very different to an identifiable annual operating cost. 

3. Your Integrations Are Becoming the Product 

Integrations are not an evil thing. 

The issue is when your business process relies on a series of expanding them. 

• Information is transmitted from System A to System B. 
• System B sends something to System C. 
• Then a spreadsheet fills a void. 
• The result is checked by an employee. 

Someone has to update the process if one system alters its API or pricing. 

At this stage, you may be paying for connections between systems rather than improving the process. 

4. The Process Is Your Competitive Edge 

This is likely the most compelling one to argue for bespoke development. 

If it’s a process that your competitors could purchase from the same SaaS provider tomorrow, it might not make much sense to bespokeise. 

However, if your process is integral to your bespokeer acquisition, or is helping you to run more efficiently, owning the software that drives your process may be more of an advantage for you. 

A manufacturer that has a specialised quoting system is one example. 

Another is a distributor that has an extremely niche ordering process. 

Another may be a business that has a complicated service model that it is building around a bespokeer portal. 

You’re not just buying software. 

You’re building the digital foundation around what your business does best. 

Don’t Forget the Cost After Launch 

Custom software solutions don’t just stop once they are developed and up and running. You will have to think about where you are going to host your application and any ongoing costs you may incur such as maintenance and support, bug fixes and new features you may want to implement down the line. 

Here’s an illustrative comparison of the costs to consider over five years: 

Figures are illustrative. Additional hosting, future development, SaaS setup fees, and other costs may apply. 

Compare your costs over 5 years of custom-built software vs what all those SaaS products would add up to plus integration and time. 

You may find that custom built is more cost effective in the long run. It’s just finding what works best for you and your business. 

So, Is Bespoke Software Worth £20k+?

Bespoke software is worth £20,000+ when the cost of keeping your current setup is higher than the cost of building something better. The development price alone shouldn’t be the deciding factor.

If your existing software works well, there’s no reason to replace it. But it’s time to compare the costs seriously if:

• You spend hours every week doing admin or copying data from one system to another 
• Your using multiple subscription services to complete one task
• The process gives your business a competitive edge that off-the-shelf tools can’t support

The real question isn’t “Can we afford bespoke software?”

Its not whether you can afford bespoke software. Its what are you currently paying to do things how you are.

Book a free consultation with us and we will work out what your current software is costing you.