Custom AI Build
Your vision doesn't fit neatly in a box?
Good. We're in the era of custom.
The things that used to require a dev team of 10 and a six-month timeline? A senior engineer with the right AI tools can build them in weeks. That changed the entire equation for what's possible inside your business.
Tell Us What You're Building →A real conversation about your idea. Not a sales call. Not a “discovery session.”
This is the part that changed recently.
Two years ago, if you wanted a custom client portal, a team operations hub, or an AI tool trained on your business data, you were looking at a $50K-200K project with a 3-6 month timeline. You'd need a project manager, a designer, two backend developers, a frontend developer, and someone to QA the whole thing. Most businesses at your level couldn't justify that.
That math doesn't apply anymore.
AI collapsed the build time. Not the thinking. Not the strategy. Not the part where someone has to understand your business well enough to know what's worth building. That part still takes a senior human with real experience.
But the build itself? What used to take a team of five working for months, we can now build in weeks. With AI handling the repetitive parts while we focus on the architecture, the logic, and the decisions that require judgment.
That's why things that were “someday” projects are now “this quarter” projects.
What we build.
We don't just build AI tools. We make sure the business case is solid first. Every project starts with a strategy conversation: what problem does this solve, what does the ROI look like, and is custom the right answer? If it's not, we'll tell you before you spend a dollar.
Client Portals
Your clients deserve better than a shared Google Drive and a Calendly link. Branded onboarding flows, resource libraries, progress tracking, communication hubs. Everything in one place, with your brand on it.
Team Operations Hubs
The internal tool your team actually needs but no SaaS product quite provides. Project tracking, workflow management, knowledge bases, and reporting designed for how your team actually works.
Custom Intake & Assessment Systems
Smart intake forms that route, score, qualify, and respond. Not a Google Form. A system that does half the thinking before anyone on your team touches it.
Business-Specific AI Assistants
Trained on your data, your processes, your documentation. Not a ChatGPT wrapper with a custom prompt. An AI that actually knows your business because we built it to.
Multi-System Integrations
Making tools talk to each other that were never designed to. Your CRM talks to your project management talks to your invoicing talks to your client portal. No more copy-pasting between tabs.
Custom Dashboards & Reporting
The numbers you actually need to see, in the format you actually want, updating in real time. Not the dashboard your SaaS product decided you should care about.
What makes this different from hiring a dev shop.
At a traditional development agency, your project goes through a sales team, a project manager, a designer, and then gets handed to a developer who has never spoken to you. By the time code gets written, your original intent has been translated through four people.
Here's how this works instead:
You talk to us. We understand your business. We design the solution. We build the solution. We hand it off with documentation. The team that heard you describe the problem is the same team that writes the code.
What you get from a dev shop:
- Your project in a queue behind 15 others
- A junior developer building your strategic tool
- 3-6 month timeline with scope creep
- A project manager who translates (and mistranslates)
- Change requests that cost extra every time
- Code you can't maintain without calling them back
What you get here:
- Direct access to the team building it
- 40 years of engineering experience on your project
- 4-8 week timeline with clear scope
- No translation layer between your idea and the code
- AI handling the repetitive build work so the human time goes to strategy
- Documentation and handoff so your team can maintain it
What this looks like in practice.
We're not going to list every project we've ever built. But here's the kind of thing that shows up in our build queue:
The consultant who needed clients to stop emailing:
Built a client portal with project status, resource library, messaging, and milestone tracking. Their team went from 40+ client emails per day to about 5. The clients loved it because they could see everything without asking.
The agency that was drowning in onboarding:
Built a custom intake system that scores leads, routes them to the right team member, sends the right welcome sequence, and creates the project record. Took their onboarding from a 2-hour manual process to about 12 minutes.
The CEO who needed to see the business:
Built a custom dashboard that pulls data from four different systems (CRM, project management, invoicing, and analytics) into one view. The Monday morning meeting went from "let me pull up those numbers" to "I already see them."
The coaching business that needed a better experience:
Built a client portal with course delivery, community features, progress tracking, and automated check-ins. Replaced three separate tools and cut their monthly software bill by $400.
Every one of these would have been a $30K-80K project two years ago. Not anymore.
What we don't build.
Honesty is the brand, so here's where we draw lines:
AI voice agents for phone intake.
The technology isn't reliable enough yet. We've tested it extensively. It works about 80% of the time, which means 20% of your callers get a frustrating experience. When the reliability crosses the threshold, we'll build them. We're not there today.
Chatbots pretending to be human.
If it's AI, it should say so. Building a bot that impersonates a person on your team is a trust violation with your audience, and we won't do it.
"AI" that's just a ChatGPT wrapper with a custom prompt.
If your idea is "what if ChatGPT but with our branding," that's not a custom build. That's a $20/month subscription with a system prompt. We'll tell you that and save you the money.
Anything without a clear business case.
We love building things. We don't love building things that won't get used. If we get into the discovery conversation and the honest answer is "you don't actually need a custom tool for this, there's a $50/month SaaS that does it fine," we'll tell you that.
How this works.
Discovery Call (30-60 min)
You tell us what you're trying to solve. Not what you want built. What the actual problem is. Sometimes those are the same thing. Sometimes the right solution is completely different from what you imagined. That's why we start here.
Scope & Architecture (3-5 days)
We map out what we're actually building. Tech stack, data model, integrations, user flows. You get a clear document that says: here's what it does, here's what it doesn't do, here's what it costs, here's when it's done. No surprises.
Build (2-6 weeks depending on scope)
We build it. You see progress along the way. We'll ask questions when decisions need your input. The AI handles the repetitive code. We handle the architecture, the edge cases, and the parts that require actual judgment.
Handoff & Documentation
You get the working tool, full documentation, and a walkthrough. Your team (or your VA) can maintain it. If something breaks, you know how to reach us. If you need it extended later, we pick up where we left off.
No retainers required. This is project-based work with a clear beginning and end. If you want ongoing development, that's what the Fractional CMO / CTO / COO + Team engagement is for.
Learn about the Fractional Partnership →Investment.
Custom builds start at $8,000. Most projects fall between $8,000-25,000 depending on scope, complexity, and how many systems need to talk to each other.
You'll know the exact cost before we start. No hourly billing. No scope creep surprises. If the scope changes during the build (it sometimes does because we discover something together), we discuss it before the number moves.
$8,000-12,000
Single-purpose tool
Client portal, intake system, custom dashboard. One or two integrations. 3-4 week build.
$12,000-18,000
Multi-feature system
Portal with AI features, complex workflow automation, 3-4 system integrations. 4-6 week build.
$18,000-25,000+
Full custom platform
Multiple user roles, complex data architecture, extensive integrations, AI workflows. 6-8 week build.
Already done a Technical Diagnostic? Your full diagnostic fee credits toward any custom build started within 60 days.
Is this the right path?
This is right for you if:
- You have a specific operational problem that no off-the-shelf tool solves well
- You've tried to make existing software work and it's costing you time every week
- You're ready to invest in infrastructure that runs for years, not a quick fix
- You can articulate the problem clearly (or are willing to work through it with us)
- You want to own the tool, not rent another subscription
Start somewhere else if:
- You're not sure what the problem is yet → Start with a Technical Diagnostic
- You need a website + CRM + automations, not a custom tool → Full Ecosystem Build
- You want ongoing strategy + builds, not a single project → Fractional CMO / CTO / COO + Team
- You're looking for the cheapest option (custom work is an investment, not a bargain)
What's the thing you wish existed?
The tool your business actually needs probably isn't for sale anywhere. Two years ago, building it would have been impractical. That's not true anymore.
Tell us what you're trying to solve. If a custom build is the right answer, we'll tell you exactly what it takes. If it's not, we'll tell you that too.
Tell Us What You're Building →