At Third Gear Ventures, custom software for a small, owner-run service business costs $4,000 to $12,000 to build and install, at a price fixed before work starts. It begins with a $1,500 Operational Map that defines exactly what gets built. After launch, a Monthly Optimization plan is optional at $500 to $2,000 a month.
The rest of this page explains what sits inside those numbers, what pushes a project toward the top or the bottom of the range, and how to decide whether building is the right call at all.
What you are paying for
- The Operational Map, $1,500, one to two weeks. We walk the operation end to end, from first contact to paid invoice. You get a full workflow map, where time and money leak, a priority build list, and a weekly scorecard. The map is what turns "we need software" into a fixed scope and a fixed price.
- The Build and Install, $4,000 to $12,000, two to six weeks. We build what the map calls for, connect it to the tools you already use, set up the handoffs, and train whoever runs it day to day. You own the code, the data, and the accounts.
- Monthly Optimization, $500 to $2,000 a month, optional. A monthly check-in to watch the numbers, catch drift, and refine what is running. The system should hold on its own without it.
What moves the price inside the range
Two builds can both be "custom software" and still be very different jobs. These are the things that decide where a project lands:
- How many systems it connects. A standalone estimating tool is a smaller build than one that turns the estimate into a scheduled job, the job into an invoice, and the invoice into a payment in Square or Stripe.
- Who uses it and where. One owner at a desk is simpler than a crew on phones in the field with different roles and permissions.
- Whether customers touch it. Customer portals, estimate approvals, online ordering, and payments need more care: security, edge cases, and screens a stranger understands on the first try.
- What data comes along. Moving years of customers, jobs, and parts out of spreadsheets or an old system takes real time.
- How much of it is automation. Follow-up on quotes, booking reminders, review requests, and inbox sorting each get built and then checked against real numbers.
One workflow, one team, and one or two connections sits toward the bottom of the range. Several connected systems, field users, and customer-facing screens sit toward the top. The map settles it before you commit to anything.
What it costs to own afterward
- No license fee to us. There is no requirement to keep paying Third Gear Ventures to keep using what was built.
- Running costs are yours to see. Hosting and any paid services the software relies on run on accounts in your business's name, so those bills come to you directly.
- Optimization is a choice, not a lock-in. Take the monthly plan if you want someone watching the numbers. Skip it if the system is holding.
How to compare it with off-the-shelf software
Do this math with your own numbers, not anyone's averages:
- Add up the monthly subscriptions the business pays for tools that overlap or do not talk to each other.
- Estimate the hours each week someone spends re-typing between them, chasing follow-ups, or reconciling by hand, and put a real hourly value on that time.
- Count the work that slips: quotes never followed up, invoices sent late, jobs double-booked.
If a standard tool already fits the way you work, buy it. It will be cheaper, and we will say so on the call. Custom software pays off when your process is the thing that makes you money and every off-the-shelf tool keeps asking you to change it, or when the owner is the only person who knows how three apps and a spreadsheet connect.
How to keep the cost down
- Map before you build. The map is where scope gets cut, before it is paid for.
- Fix the biggest leak first. Build the smallest thing that removes it, run on it, then add the next piece.
- Keep the tools that already work. Connecting to them costs less than replacing them.
- Be open to "not yet". Sometimes the honest answer from the map is that you do not need a build. You get told that too.
Where this applies
The same prices apply to service businesses anywhere in the United States. Builds and installs are done remotely, and the mapping happens in person wherever we can get to you, including New Smyrna Beach, Florida and Chattanooga, Tennessee. See custom software for owner-run businesses for what we build and how a project runs.
If the thing you actually need is a better website rather than software, read custom website vs template first.