service

Custom tools and calculators

A business answering the same estimating or configuration questions repeatedly, where a customer could self-serve if the answer were made tangible.

Discuss this service

What you get

  • A tool that answers one question well, rather than a suite that answers none precisely.
  • The calculation logic made visible, so a customer can see why the number is what it is.
  • A decision on whether the tool collects a lead, and what it does with the input.
  • Accessibility and mobile behaviour, because these tools are usually used on a phone.

How this differs from web application development

A calculator is a single-purpose, largely stateless interaction with no accounts or persistence. That makes it far cheaper to build and to maintain than an application, and worth judging on different criteria.

How we approach it

  • We build the smallest tool that removes the repeated manual step, and we check it against real data before extending it.
  • We decide where the tool runs and who can reach it, since a useful internal tool exposed publicly is a liability.
  • We hand over the source and the reasoning, so the tool is not a dependency you cannot leave.

What is out of scope

  • A tool whose output would be a quote we cannot honour. The tool states assumptions and the range it produces.
  • Building a calculator as an SEO device with no plan for the visitor arriving at it.

How it is priced

Cost is driven by how it is accessed and by how much of the surrounding process it must understand, not by the size of the interface.

See the pricing page for how that works in practice.

How to start

The first conversation is free and usually takes half an hour. Bring the problem as you experience it — what is not working and what you have already tried.

Tell us what you need

The more specific you are about the problem, the more useful the first reply will be. We read every enquiry ourselves.

We reply to this address. We do not add it to a mailing list.

A range is enough. It helps us say whether we are the right fit before either of us spends time on a call.

What is not working, what it costs you, and what you have already tried.