What we build
Custom software in Preston and Leyland
The systems a business runs on, built by a software company registered in Leyland and working from Preston: the job tracker that replaces the spreadsheet, the portal your clients log into, the quote that prices itself.
What it is
Custom software is one system shaped around the way your business already works, instead of bending the business around an off-the-shelf tool built for somebody else.
It is the right answer when the way you work is part of what you sell, or when you are paying for three tools and a spreadsheet to cover what one system should do. It is the wrong answer when a product already does the job at a sensible price, and we will say so.
When a business needs one
- The real system is a spreadsheet, and only one person fully understands it
- A job gets passed between three inboxes and something drops out every week
- Quotes are typed out again from last month's, and two people price the same job differently
- Customers ring to ask where things are because they cannot see it themselves
- You pay for several tools and still copy the same details between them by hand
What we can build
Capability, not a claim about work already delivered. What we have actually built and run is further down the page.
- Internal systems that run a job from enquiry to invoice, with the rules that stop the wrong thing being saved
- Client portals where customers log in, see progress, sign off work and pay
- Instant quote and estimating tools that price the same job the same way, whoever is quoting
- iOS and Android apps for customers, members or staff who are not at a desk
- Booking, membership and subscription systems with payments built in
- Connections between the tools you already pay for, so details are entered once
How we approach it
It starts by sitting with the people who do the job today and watching where it actually breaks. For custom software that first session decides most of what gets built, and being in Preston means it can happen in the room rather than over email.
You get a fixed price in writing before anything starts, a working version to try early rather than one reveal at the end, and ownership of the software once it is paid for in full. Hosting, monitoring and changes afterwards are a separate monthly retainer, said up front.
Why Preston and Leyland
Most of the build happens the same way wherever a client is, and we work for businesses across the UK. What being local changes is the part that goes badly over email: the first afternoon with the people who do the work, and the thing nobody thought to put in the brief.
It also means you can check us. Ownly Digital Limited is registered in England and Wales, company number 17266711, with a registered office in Leyland, Lancashire.
See it working
A short film of one of our own demonstrations, recorded from the running software. Every company in it is invented, and the link opens the real thing.
Brackenhall Property Services · Construction and property maintenance
Every variation priced, sent, answered and captured, and a job that cannot be released for invoicing while there is a hole in the record.
Ironmere Plant · Gyms and leisure
A fault reported off the gym floor becomes a work order, a quote nobody can spend without approving, and a running figure for what the downtime costs.
Things we have already built
Live in software we have delivered, and part of the 123 things we have built.
What the team is doing, live
You can see a bad week on the Tuesday, while there is still time to change it.
A screen that tells you what today is
The day starts already decided, so the first hour goes on work instead of triage.
Automations that tell you when they stop working
A broken automation announces itself the same day instead of being discovered by a customer.
A daily note when something looks off
You are told when something looks wrong, rather than being expected to go and look.
Numbers that cannot contradict each other
Every number in the system comes from one calculation, so nobody has to work out which screen to believe.
A record of who changed what, and when
When something looks wrong you can answer who did it in a minute, rather than reconstructing it from memory.
Onboarding a new person without doing it from memory
Every new person gets the same first week, and you can see at a glance what is still missing.
Training that does not leave when someone does
The way you work survives a resignation, and new people learn it without booking anyone's time.
What happens when a job is marked done
Every finished job produces the proof and the paperwork it should, without anybody remembering to.
Work in this shape
Related to this
Tell us what you are trying to fix
Describe the job in your own words and we will tell you what we would build, roughly what it would cost, and whether something you can already buy would do it cheaper.