TalonInsights
Custom software that fits the way you actually work.
Agencies quote £20,000–£80,000 for tools like these. The £50-a-month website crowd can't build them at all. That gap is exactly where I work: real internal software for local businesses, at a fixed price, scoped at your premises.
- 01
Production planners & schedulers
Who's doing what, on which job, by when — with the conflicts and breaches surfaced before they bite. Like the eight-stage scheduler running at David Jackson & Son.
- 02
Quoting & job tracking
From enquiry to quote to invoice without retyping anything three times. Your prices, your margins, your rules encoded once.
- 03
Dashboards & reporting
The numbers you currently assemble by hand every Friday, live and always current, pulled from where they already exist.
- 04
Booking & payment systems
Multi-step booking, deposits and payments, cancellation handling, admin views. I've built and run one commercially myself.
- 05
The thing only your business needs
Bespoke means bespoke. If you can describe the job, I can scope the tool — and I'll tell you honestly if you don't need one.
Engineering
Built like it has to last — because it does.
Internal tools get used every day for years. That means real infrastructure, not a prototype that falls over when the second person logs in.
- A real database. Supabase — not a spreadsheet pretending, not data trapped in one browser.
- Proper authentication. Accounts, roles and permissions, so the apprentice sees the job list and not the margins.
- A deployment pipeline. GitHub and Vercel — every change reviewable, every change reversible.
- Handover documentation. Written so another developer could pick it up. You're never locked in to me.
From a real build
- Eight-stage drag-and-drop production scheduler with automatic breach detection on stage deadlines.
- Migrated from
localStorageto aSupabasebackend so the plan survives the browser. - Used to plan real jobs in a working joinery factory.
Pricing
Fixed price, quoted after a Groundwork Visit.
Quoting bespoke software off a phone call is guesswork, and guesswork is how scope disputes start. So I look first, then commit to a number that doesn't move.
Small internal tool
£6,000 – £10,000
One workflow, done properly
- A single workflow — a scheduler, a planner, a tracker
- Real database backend
- Built to be used daily, by your people
- Warranty period for bugs after launch
Business application
£10,000 – £25,000
Multi-module, with admin and authentication
- Multiple connected workflows
- Database backend, admin views, roles and permissions
- Handover documentation as standard
- A fraction of the £20k–£80k agency band for the same scope
Common questions
Asked before, answered straight.
Which areas do you cover?
Telford and Shropshire, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and the wider West Midlands — see custom software across the West Midlands. Software work needs fewer site visits than a website, so distance across the region is not a constraint.
Do I own the software?
Yes. On full payment the code, the data and the deployment are yours. I keep my own pre-existing frameworks and libraries — that's standard, and it's part of what makes me fast — but the tool built for you belongs to you, and the handover documentation means another developer could take it on.
What does it cost to run after launch?
Usually very little. Tools this size typically run on hosting tiers costing a few pounds a month, in your own accounts, in your name. I set them up so the bills go to you and nothing routes through me.
How long does a build take?
A small tool is typically weeks, not months; a larger application is quoted with its own milestone dates. You get real dates in the written scope, and delivery is tracked against them — running projects to time is literally my profession.
What if we're not sure software is the answer?
That's what the Groundwork Visit is for. I map how the work actually flows, and if the honest answer is "you don't need software, you need a different spreadsheet," I'll say so in writing and you've spent a few hundred pounds to avoid wasting thousands.
Can you take over a tool someone else built?
Sometimes. I'll review it first — honestly. If it's salvageable I'll quote for taking it on; if rebuilding is genuinely cheaper than rescuing, I'll show you why rather than billing you to find out.
Get started
Book a Groundwork Visit — I'll come to you.
No jargon, no pressure, and a written scope you keep whether or not you go ahead. I reply within one working day.