Custom software development for companies
Software development for the jobs a ready-made product does not cover: two systems that should talk to each other, the same data typed into two places, a report someone builds by hand every Friday. We build small, clearly scoped software in fixed-price phases and hand you the source code. And often our first answer is that you should not build anything at all.
- You see the result before it goes live
- Fixed price for the agreed scope, in writing before work starts
- Source code, domain and accounts in your company's name
Who this is for
Companies in Finland that work in English, international teams with a Finnish entity, and companies elsewhere in the EU that are fine working remotely with a supplier in Helsinki. It fits a company with one concrete problem, not a five-year digital program. We meet clients on site in the Helsinki region and work remotely with everyone else.
When ready-made software is the right answer
If you do something the same way as a thousand other companies, someone has already built it: invoicing, accounting, booking, online stores. Custom software here means paying a lot to get something slightly worse than a monthly subscription. Ready-made products also include the dull, costly parts: e-invoicing, bank connections, tax handling and filings to the authorities. A good supplier asks whether you are sure before quoting a custom build.
When your own software pays off
| Situation | Why custom makes sense |
|---|---|
| Your process is genuinely different | A ready product would force you to change how you do the work |
| Two systems do not talk to each other | Something small needs to sit in between |
| The same manual task repeats every week | An automation pays for itself in hours you can count |
| License fees grow with every new user | Your own tool is paid for once, not per seat per month |
| You use three modules out of twenty | A narrow tool is faster to learn and needs no training day |
What we build
- Automations and integrations. Moving data between the systems you already use, so nobody copies it by hand.
- Internal tools. The daily work of one team: hours, jobs, materials, approvals, reports.
- Customer-facing systems. Portals and web apps with logins, payments and data.
- Lightweight CRM and ERP. A customer register or operations system built around how you actually work, paid for once rather than per user.
Everything runs on Cloudflare, where you pay for use rather than for a server switched on all night. That only works if the system is built for the platform from the start.
How we work
- Name the one thing that is broken. Not a feature list: what is costing you money this week. If it cannot be named yet, the project is not ready to start.
- Put a number next to it. An hour a day of pointless typing adds up to roughly 220 working hours a year. Multiply by what that hour costs you, and you have something to compare any quote against.
- Agree the scope on one page. Who uses it and where, what goes in, what comes out, what it connects to, what is not done in this phase, and how we will know it worked. Signed before work starts.
- Build the first phase at a fixed price. Real data from the first week, so errors surface early instead of at launch.
- Put it into use and retire the old way. If the old spreadsheet stays in use, the new tool never takes over.
- Check after three months. Did it fix the problem you ordered it for? If not, fix that before adding anything new.
Why software projects fail
Failure rarely looks like a program that does not run. It looks like a project that went over budget, finished months late, and is used by one person. The causes are almost always the same:
- Scope grows along the way. Every meeting adds one more wish. Wishes go on a list for the next phase, which is priced separately.
- No written scope. Both sides remember the deal differently.
- Nobody owns the project. Decisions wait for weeks. You need one named person who can decide.
- Testing only at the end. Problems surface during rollout, when they cost the most.
Fixed price or hourly
A fixed price suits well defined work, and the supplier carries the risk. Hourly suits work that changes along the way, and you carry the risk. For a small project the best mix is a fixed price for the first defined phase, then hourly rates for later changes, so you pay no risk margin on changes that may never come. Our hourly rate is the same whether the work is easy or hard, and it is published on the pricing page.
What is not included, and when not to buy
We do not take on projects that run for months before anything is in use. If the work does not fit into a few weeks, it is split into phases, and the first one is live before the second begins. Projects too large for a founder-led team are split or referred elsewhere. Do not order from us if:
- You cannot name one thing that is broken.
- The process is about to change. Software would lock in a way of working that is on its way out.
- The real problem is pricing or contract terms. Code does not fix unprofitable pricing.
- Nobody has time to own the project.
- A ready-made product already does it, or the task happens three times a year.
Ownership and maintenance
The source code and database are handed over and belong to you, and the code sits in your own repository so you can see what has been done at any time. Maintenance means four things, separated in writing: running costs, security updates, bug fixes in the first months, which are part of the job, and changes because your business changed, billed by the hour. A small automation can run for years untouched. Any monthly maintenance plan can be cancelled with one month's notice.
DT Nova Tmi, Business ID 3595452-5, Helsinki. The founder, Mustafa Tarabya, brings a background in business development and digital transformation and answers for the work himself. If the calendar is full, we say so on the first call. The phone is answered on weekdays from 9 to 20 Finnish time, with a callback the same working day. Related: app development, IT consulting and AI consulting. Book a free discovery call, or read this page in Finnish: ohjelmistokehitys.
Questions we get
How do I know whether I need custom or off-the-shelf software?
Ask one question: would you have to change the way you work to fit the ready-made product? If not, buy it. If you would, and that way of working is the reason customers choose you, build your own. Most of the time the honest answer is the ready-made product.
Who owns the code?
You do. The source code and the database are handed over, and the code lives in your own repository from the start. That matters because if something happens to us, someone else can pick up the work where it stopped instead of starting again from zero.
Can we stop a project halfway?
Yes, and that is exactly why we work in small phases. After each phase you have something that works and is in use, not half of a large system. You can stop, pause, or continue with us or with someone else, and you keep everything that has been built.
Do you give a fixed price?
For a clearly defined first phase, yes. For a whole project with an unclear scope we often do not, because a fixed price on a vague scope carries a risk margin that you end up paying. We would rather keep the phase small and price it firmly.
What do you need from us to give a price?
About half an hour on the phone and an answer to one question: what is broken right now? You do not need a finished specification. If you already have one, it speeds things up, but we still write the one page scope together before any work starts.
Is the work done in Finland?
Yes, in Helsinki, by the same person who answers the phone. The work is not passed to subcontractors without telling you first. We meet clients on site in the Helsinki region, and clients elsewhere in Finland or in other EU countries work with us remotely, which suits this kind of work well.