Services
Four service lines. Each one has a defined deliverable, a stated price or a stated range, and an end date. Nothing here is billed as an open-ended retainer against undefined work.
Service one
Custom software development
We build web applications for companies that have outgrown spreadsheets and off-the-shelf tools but do not need an enterprise platform. The result runs in a browser, works on a phone, and connects to the systems you already pay for.
What this typically is
- Internal tools that replace a spreadsheet several people are editing at once
- Client-facing portals, booking systems, and intake forms with payment attached
- Dashboards that pull numbers out of the systems where they are currently trapped
- Integrations and automations between software that does not talk to itself
- Rescue work on an application a previous developer left unfinished
How it is delivered
Every build begins with a paid Discovery & Scope engagement. That produces a written specification, a technical approach, and a fixed-price quote for the build. If you proceed, the discovery fee is credited against the first build milestone.
The build itself is divided into milestones. Each milestone has a defined deliverable and is invoiced when that deliverable is running and you have reviewed it. You are never asked to pay for the next milestone before you have seen the last one work.
What you receive
- A working application deployed to production
- The complete source code, in a repository you own
- Written documentation covering how it runs and how to deploy it
- A handover session, recorded
- Thirty days of defect corrections after final delivery, at no charge
Ownership. On receipt of final payment, the intellectual property in work created specifically for you transfers to you. We retain rights only to our own pre-existing tools and libraries, which you receive a perpetual licence to use within the delivered work.
Service two
Consulting & advisory
Sometimes the correct answer is that you should not build anything. Consulting is how we tell you that before you have spent money finding out.
Strategy session
A single ninety-minute working session. You describe the problem; we map what it would actually take to solve, what it would cost, and what the alternatives are. Within two business days you receive a written recommendation covering the approach we would take, a cost range, and the off-the-shelf options worth considering first.
The recommendation is yours. There is no obligation to hire us to build it, and we will name a competitor or an existing product when that is the honest answer.
Advisory retainer
A monthly arrangement for companies that want ongoing technical judgement without hiring for it. Scheduled calls, vendor and contract review, architecture decisions, and a reachable second opinion when something breaks or a salesperson is applying pressure.
This is advice, not development. Build work is quoted separately.
Systems audit
A structured review of the software a business currently runs on: what each tool costs, what overlaps, where data is being re-entered by hand, and what is exposed if a single account is lost. Delivered as a written report with prioritised recommendations.
Service three
Ongoing support & care plans
Custom software that nobody maintains becomes a liability in about eighteen months. Dependencies go out of date, an integration changes its API, a certificate expires on a Sunday. A care plan is the arrangement that stops that from becoming your problem.
What a care plan covers
- Hosting and infrastructure management, billed at cost with no markup
- Security patches and dependency updates
- Uptime monitoring with alerting, and response to outages
- Backups, with a tested restore procedure
- Defect corrections at no additional charge
- A monthly allowance of change requests — small features and adjustments
What it does not cover
Substantial new features, new integrations, and redesigns are quoted separately as their own engagement. We will tell you plainly when a request has crossed that line rather than absorbing it and slowing everything else down.
Care plans are month to month. You may cancel at any time and the plan runs to the end of the period you have already paid for. We do not require an annual commitment to maintain software we wrote.
Service four
Our own software products
Spencer Labs publishes subscription software of its own. These are sold directly to end customers rather than built to order, and they are priced and supported on their own product sites.
HostRev is a direct-booking and guest CRM platform for short-term rental operators. Subscriptions start at $149 per month and are purchased at hostrev.co.
Not sure which of these you need?
That is what the strategy session is for. Describe the problem in an email and we will tell you which service line fits — or that none of them do.
Contact us