Custom CRM development and internal tools

When a generic CRM forces your team into someone else's process, or the real work lives in spreadsheets beside it, a custom CRM or internal tool puts the records, the workflow and the reports in one place.

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Custom CRM & internal tools

From $10,000

Usually $10,000–35,000 · 4–8 weeks

  • Fixed quote after a 30-minute call
  • Design, testing and deployment included
  • Your code and infrastructure from day one
  • 30 days of bug fixes after acceptance

The price covers a first version in use by your team. Further modules are quoted as separate fixed-price stages. See all prices and terms

When you need this

Sound familiar?

  • Your CRM covers sales, but operations and accounting happen in spreadsheets.
  • Licence costs grow with every seat while most features go unused.
  • Different teams need different views and permissions on the same records.
  • Your process is specific to your industry and no off-the-shelf tool fits it.

What we build

What this covers.

We build the first version around your actual pipeline and roles, connect it to your email, accounting and other systems, and extend it in stages as the team uses it.

  • Pipelines and records

    Leads, customers, orders or jobs modelled the way your business works, with search and filters.

  • Roles and permissions

    Sales, operations, accounting and management each see what they need, from the same data.

  • Money tied to operations

    Quotes, payables and receivables that follow the status of the work automatically.

  • Connections to your stack

    Email, calendar, accounting and partner systems connected so data is entered once.

  • Reports and dashboards

    Branch, team and pipeline reports built on live records instead of exports.

How a custom CRM development project runs

We start from your pipeline, not from a CRM template. On the first calls we walk through how a lead becomes a customer, and how a customer becomes work and an invoice, with the people who handle each part. We collect the spreadsheets, CRM exports and reports you use today, and note which numbers people argue about.

From you we need one person from each team that will use the system, exports of your current data, and access to the email, calendar and accounting tools it must connect to. We turn this into a data model, a list of roles with what each can see and change, and screens for the main tasks. You approve them before the build.

Each week your team can sign in to a test version with sample data and try real tasks: add a lead, move a deal, raise an invoice. Their feedback shapes the next week. Before switch-over we import your real data into the test version and check the totals with you, so the first day on the new system is not the first time anyone has seen it.

A CRM your team can run without calling a developer

The fear with a custom CRM is reasonable: a system only its builder understands, where every new field or report needs a consultant. We plan for the opposite from the first version.

Routine changes go into an admin area, not into code: users and roles, pipeline stages, picklists, email templates and which fields each team sees. Changes that do need a developer, such as a new record type or a new integration, are made in a codebase with a plain structure, tests and a README, so any competent developer can make them, not only us.

The technology is ordinary on purpose: a relational database, a typed API and a web interface on your cloud account. Permissions are defined once, in a role-permission matrix the API enforces, so a new screen cannot show data a role should not see. Important changes go into an audit trail, so when a deal amount looks wrong you can see who changed it and when.

The freight brokerage platform shows the pattern. Loads, carriers, outside brokers and licences have records with status transitions, comments and files, shared across branches and teams. Payables and receivables follow load status changes, and billing reports per branch are built on the same records. Branches, teams and a role-permission matrix decide who sees what.

What you get at handover, and what happens after

The CRM runs on your cloud account, and its data sits in your own PostgreSQL database, which you can query, export or connect to a reporting tool. You get the code with tests and infrastructure as code. There is an admin guide for the people who manage users and settings, and a technical runbook for deploys, backups, restores and integrations. The migration scripts and their check reports are handed over too.

Once the team uses the first version every day, the next modules become clear: a customer portal, a new set of reports, another integration. Each is quoted as a separate fixed-price stage when you are ready. Monthly support covers monitoring and small changes in between, or your own developers take over.

A custom CRM is a bigger step than it looks:

  • HubSpot or Salesforce fits your sales process but doesn't talk to your other systems? API & system integrations is usually the cheaper fix.
  • Your team runs on one Airtable base? Airtable migration moves it, records and attachments included.
  • The pain is one repetitive process, not the whole pipeline? See Business process automation.

Interactive demo

Click through a CRM dashboard.

A fictional facility-services company with its pipeline, jobs and invoices in one place. Switch between owner, sales, operations and finance views, approve drafted follow-ups and fix a failed sync.

Open the CRM dashboard demo

Fictional data. No signup. Everything stays in your browser.

Related work

Closest published work.

Client project · Freight logistics

One system for loads, carriers and the money between them

A load management platform for a freight brokerage: loads, carriers and partner brokers in one place, with payables, receivables and branch reporting built on the same records.

Client project · Freight logistics

Several load boards and accounts watched at once, from one dashboard

Browser automation that watches freight load boards under several of the brokerage's accounts, collects new offers with their contact details and hands each one to the brokerage's load platform — with a live dashboard of the whole fleet.

How it works

A call, a fixed quote, weekly progress.

You describe the problem on a 30-minute call and get a written fixed quote. We build in fixed-price stages and show working software every week, then hand over the code, infrastructure and documentation on your accounts. See all five steps.

Try the CRM dashboard demo How much a custom CRM costs When to move from spreadsheets to an internal tool

Technology

Typical stack.

We choose for the problem and the systems you already run.

  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Node.js
  • Java / Spring Boot
  • PostgreSQL
  • AWS
  • Role-based access control

Custom CRM & internal tools: questions.

How much does a custom CRM cost?

A first version usually costs $10,000–35,000 and takes four to eight weeks, depending on the number of roles, integrations and reports. Further modules are added in fixed-price stages.

Is a custom CRM better than HubSpot or Salesforce?

Not for everyone. If a standard CRM fits your process, configure it. A custom CRM makes sense when your workflow is specific, when operations and finance live outside the CRM, or when per-seat costs outgrow the value.

Can you migrate our data from spreadsheets or another CRM?

Yes. We map the existing data, agree what moves and what is archived, and run the migration with checks so totals match before you switch.

Can you extend our existing CRM instead?

Often that is the cheaper option. We can build integrations and internal tools around your current CRM rather than replacing it.

Who hosts the system?

Your own cloud account. We set up the infrastructure as code, so it can be moved or handed over to another team without us.

How do you handle permissions and security?

Role-based access, an audit trail for important changes, secrets in a managed vault and separate development and production environments.

Do you sign an NDA?

Yes. We are happy to sign your NDA before you share the details.

When can you start?

We confirm the start date in the written quote, once the scope is agreed. We don't promise a date before we know the work.

Is design included?

Where the work has screens, yes: wireframes and interface design for the agreed scope are part of the fixed price. Brand identity or a full design system are quoted separately if you need them.

Have a project in mind?

Book a 30-minute call. If the scope is clear, you get a written fixed quote within one or two business days.

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