Why There Are Numbers on This Page at All
Most UK development firms will not publish a figure, and the usual explanation — that every project is different — is true but incomplete. Below are the ranges we actually work within, in pounds and excluding VAT, along with what moves them and what is never inside them.
Three Reasons We Put the Ranges in Public
Withholding the figure until the third meeting is a sales tactic, not a pricing constraint. It works, which is why it is common. We would rather have fewer and better conversations.
It saves both sides a fortnight
If you have £8,000 and the work is a £45,000 build, both of us would rather know that today than after two calls, a requirements document and a proposal. Nobody enjoys the meeting where the number finally lands and the room goes quiet.
A figure you can budget against
Directors and trustees need a number for a board paper before anyone will approve a first conversation, and a funding round needs a line for build cost. A published range gives you something defensible to write down months before a quote exists.
We have to live with them
Publishing a range means we cannot quietly price a project by what we think a particular buyer will bear. If a proposal lands far outside these bands, we owe you an explanation of exactly which part of your build put it there.
Every figure on this page is in pounds sterling and excludes VAT. VAT is added at the prevailing rate on invoices where it applies. Nothing here is a quote — a quote exists only after scoping, and the difference is explained further down.
Three Bands for Building Something New
Which band you land in is decided almost entirely by the number of user roles, the number of screens and how many systems outside your control the software has to speak to.
Straightforward First Version
£10,000–£20,000 indicative, ex VAT
One platform, one main type of user, a familiar workflow and no unusual integrations.
- Roughly 8 to 15 screens
- Accounts, a core workflow and a simple admin view
- Stripe or GoCardless where payments are needed
- Typically 8 to 12 weeks from kickoff
Standard Build
£20,000–£40,000 indicative, ex VAT
Where most UK SME and funded startup projects land: several roles, real integrations, a proper back office.
- Roughly 15 to 30 screens, or web plus a mobile app
- Two or three user roles with distinct permissions
- Integrations with accounting, CRM or a supplier system
- Reporting, notifications and an audit trail
- Typically 12 to 20 weeks from kickoff
Complex or Regulated
£40,000–£80,000+ indicative, ex VAT
Multi-sided platforms, real-time behaviour, or sectors where an auditor will eventually read the logs.
- Several portals or apps sharing one platform
- Live tracking, messaging or collaborative editing
- FCA, CQC or NHS toolkit constraints shaping the build
- Immutable audit trails and stricter access control
- Typically 20 weeks and upwards
Indicative bands rather than a price list. They exist so you can work out inside a minute whether you are having a £15,000 conversation or a £60,000 one. All figures exclude VAT and none of them is a quote.
By the Month, on Retainer, or One Small Fixed Piece
Not every engagement is a build. Two of these suit software that already exists, and the third is how most cautious clients start.
Dedicated Developer
£4,500–£7,000 per engineer, per month, ex VAT
A named engineer working your roadmap full time, with the rate set by seniority and speciality.
- Invoiced monthly, one month’s notice either way
- Re-prioritised by you at every fortnightly planning session
- No recruitment fee, employer national insurance or notice period
- Suits a live product with a roadmap that keeps moving
Maintenance Retainer
From £650 per month, ex VAT
Three bands, chosen by how much change the product needs rather than by how large it is.
- Essential, roughly £650–£1,200: security patches, dependency and platform updates, defect fixes
- Standard, roughly £1,200–£2,500: the above plus a monthly allowance for small changes
- Extended, £2,500 upwards: continuous small feature work and faster response targets
- Available on software we did not build, after an audit
Code Audit
£1,800–£3,500 fixed, one-off, ex VAT
A finite piece of work on an existing codebase, priced before it starts and delivered as a written document.
- A straight verdict on continuing versus rebuilding, with the reasoning
- Security, data protection and dependency risks listed by severity
- What it would cost to finish, and what it would cost to start again
- Yours to keep and to show anyone, including our competitors
The audit is the least expensive way to start working with us: a small, bounded engagement that shows you how we think before anybody commits to a build. Around half the audits we write end with a recommendation that costs us the larger job.
Why Two Projects That Sound Identical Differ by Threefold
On a first call, most of the things that determine the figure are not the things people describe. These are the ones that genuinely move it.
Pushes the figure up
- Every additional user role, because each one multiplies the permission cases to build and to test
- Integrations with systems you do not control, particularly older UK back-office software with no sandbox
- Two native apps rather than one cross-platform build, which is close to writing and testing it twice
- Regulated obligations: audit trails that cannot be edited, retention rules and evidence an auditor will accept
- Anything that must stay in sync in real time across devices
- Migrating years of messy historical data, which is a workstream and not a weekend
Brings the figure down
- Cutting version one to the single workflow that proves the idea and deferring the rest deliberately
- Launching on one platform and adding the second once you know people use the first
- Using established services for payments, sign-in, messaging and maps rather than building them
- Accepting a clean standard design system instead of a bespoke visual language for release one
- Having your wording, brand assets and business rules ready at kickoff rather than in sprint three
- A back office that begins as a plain admin view rather than a second product in its own right
Inside the Figure, and Firmly Outside It
The second and fourth panels matter more than the first. Most disappointment about a software invoice comes from an assumption nobody wrote down.
Inside every fixed price
- Discovery, screen designs and the clickable prototype
- Build, testing on real devices and accessibility to WCAG 2.2 AA
- Project management, sprint planning and the daily written update
- Deployment, monitoring and store submission under your accounts
- Handover documentation and the post-launch support window
Priced in when you need it
- Migrating data out of an existing system or a decade of spreadsheets
- An independent accessibility audit before you publish a statement
- Third-party penetration testing, which some enterprise buyers insist on
- Running your cloud infrastructure after launch instead of handing it over
- Training your staff, and writing the material they keep afterwards
Third-party charges we never mark up
- Cloud hosting from launch onwards, billed to your account by the provider
- Apple and Google developer programme fees, on accounts in your company name
- Card and Direct Debit processing fees, SMS, mapping and email delivery
- Paid APIs and AI providers, where usage is metered and you hold the account
- Software licences and commercial fonts that carry their own fee
Outside what we sell
- VAT, which is added at the prevailing rate on the invoice
- Legal advice, and drafting your privacy notice or terms of service
- Marketing, store optimisation and paid user acquisition
- Any guarantee of app store approval, which is nobody’s to give
- Certifying you compliant with UK GDPR, which no supplier can do for you
When Money Moves, and on What Terms
You never pay far in front of the work, and there is no single large sum on signature.
On signature
Around a quarter of the total, covering discovery and design. Work begins the day it clears, which on Faster Payments is usually the same day.
At prototype sign-off
Around a quarter, once the screens and the clickable prototype are approved and the scope for version one is fixed.
At feature complete
Around a third, when every agreed feature is built and sitting on a test build you have installed yourself.
At launch
The balance on release and handover. Intellectual property in the work transfers to your company in full at this point.
UK payment terms, stated plainly
- Invoices are issued in pounds sterling by a VAT invoice showing the net figure and VAT separately, so your bookkeeper has what they need without asking.
- Standard terms are 30 days from invoice date unless we have agreed something different in writing. Where your finance process requires a purchase order, give us the number and we will quote it on every invoice.
- Payment is by bank transfer. We do not take card payments for project work, because the processing fee on a five-figure invoice is a cost neither of us benefits from.
- Monthly engagements are invoiced at the start of the month they cover; retainers are invoiced monthly for the agreed block of hours.
- Persistent late payment pauses work rather than escalating quietly, and the position on statutory interest is set out in our terms of service rather than left to a difficult conversation.
The Word Changes at Exactly One Point
Everything on this page is an estimate: a range drawn from projects of a similar shape. It becomes a quote — a fixed figure in a contract, with VAT shown separately — only after discovery, when there is a screen inventory, a list of integrations and a prototype you have signed off.
Anyone who gives you a firm price for a mobile app during a first phone call is either guessing or intending to recover the difference through change requests later. We would rather tell you which of the three bands you are in, and then earn the right to put a number in a contract.
Questions About Money, Invoices and VAT
What does a fixed price actually buy, line by line?
Discovery and the decisions that come out of it, the full screen designs and a clickable prototype, the build itself across the agreed platforms, a backend and database where the product needs one, testing on real devices, accessibility to WCAG 2.2 AA, deployment into cloud accounts held in your company name, store submission and review responses, written handover documentation, and a support window after launch during which defects in what we delivered are fixed at no charge. Project management and the daily written updates are inside that figure rather than added to it. What sits outside is listed in the table above, and it is a short list on purpose.
How does invoicing work, and how is VAT applied?
Every figure we publish or quote is excluding VAT. VAT is added at the prevailing rate on the invoice where it applies, so a £30,000 project is £30,000 plus VAT and your cash flow needs to allow for that in the month you pay even if you reclaim it later. Fixed-price projects are invoiced against milestones rather than in advance of the work. Monthly engagements are invoiced at the start of each month, retainers monthly for the agreed block. We invoice in pounds, work to 30-day terms unless we have agreed otherwise in writing, quote your purchase order number on the invoice when your finance team needs one, and take payment by bank transfer.
What if the build overruns the estimate?
On a fixed-price project that depends entirely on the cause, and the distinction is written into the contract rather than argued at the end. If we underestimated agreed scope, the additional effort is ours to absorb: your invoice matches the proposal and we hold the delivery date wherever it can be held. If the work grew because something was added or a business rule turned out to be different from the one we were given, that is a change request you approved in advance with its own figure. On a monthly engagement there is nothing to overrun, because you are buying a period of capacity rather than a deliverable.
Which costs land on us rather than on your invoice?
VAT at the prevailing rate. Apple and Google developer programme fees, because those accounts belong to your company and not to us. Cloud hosting from launch onwards, billed by the provider directly to you. Paid third-party services the product depends on, such as payment processing fees, SMS, mapping, email delivery or an AI provider. Any software licences or fonts that carry a fee. We help you estimate all of it before you commit and we set the accounts up in your name, but we do not resell any of it with a margin on top, and none of it appears on our invoice.
Will you work on a day rate or an hourly basis instead?
For maintenance, small changes and support on a live product, yes — that is what the retainer is, a block of hours each month at an agreed rate. For a whole build we will not, and the reason is not that it earns us less. Hourly billing puts every scheduling risk on the buyer, gives the supplier no incentive to be efficient, and leaves you with no number to take to a board or an investor. If your scope genuinely cannot be pinned down enough for a fixed price, a dedicated developer by the month is the honest middle option: a predictable monthly figure, capacity you re-prioritise every fortnight, and the freedom to stop on a month of notice.
Turn a Range Into a Number
Describe what you need and we will tell you which band it sits in, what we would leave out of version one, and what the figure depends on. In writing, within two working days, in pounds and excluding VAT.