Do you need custom software or a spreadsheet?

Most of the time, a spreadsheet. I say that as someone who builds software for a living. Here is how to tell when it stops being true.

I've run businesses for thirty years, and most of them ran on spreadsheets for longer than they should have. Some of them ran on spreadsheets exactly as long as they should have. The trick is knowing which kind of spreadsheet you have.

When a spreadsheet is the right answer

One person uses it. The data is small enough to scroll. Nothing else depends on it, and a mistake costs you a few minutes, not a customer. If that's you, keep the spreadsheet and spend the money somewhere else. I'll tell you that on a discovery call, and it won't cost you anything to hear.

Five signs you've outgrown it

1. Two people edit it and someone's copy is always wrong

You have a file called "schedule FINAL v3" and a text thread to work out which one counts. That's the spreadsheet doing a job it was never built for.

2. You type the same thing in more than one place

A quote gets typed into the sheet, then into an invoice, then into accounting. Each retype is a chance for a typo and a few minutes you don't get back.

3. Customers or crew need to see part of it, but not all

You can't hand someone half a spreadsheet. If your crew should see their jobs, or a customer should see their order, and neither should see your margins, you need permissions. That's software territory.

4. One person understands it

There's a "don't touch this cell" rule, or a person who knows how it works. If that person took a two week vacation, would the business wobble? That's a risk, and it's cheaper to fix before it hurts.

5. A mistake costs real money

A wrong quote, a double booking, a missed invoice. When errors have a price tag, the checks that software can build in start to pay for themselves.

One sign on its own isn't a reason to build anything. Three or more usually is.

Check for an existing tool first

Before anything custom, look for an app that already does the job. Bookings, invoicing and basic customer lists are all well covered by tools that cost a few dozen dollars a month. Often that's the right answer, and I'm happy to say so. Custom software makes sense when your process is the thing that makes your business yours, and no off-the-shelf tool fits it without bending you out of shape.

What custom software costs

Our websites start at $4,000, custom web apps at $12,000 and custom business platforms at $25,000. Pricing is fixed and agreed before we begin, and 30 days of support is included. The exact number depends on what you need, and we confirm it on the discovery call.

Here's a way to think about it. Say a spreadsheet job costs you five hours a week, and your time is worth $40 an hour. That's $200 a week, or about $10,000 a year. You can plug in your own numbers on the busywork calculator. If the answer is small, keep the spreadsheet. If it's bigger than the price of a build, that's a real decision worth having.

A middle step that costs nothing

Clean the spreadsheet up first. One tab per kind of thing. One row per job or customer. No merged cells, no colour codes that only you understand. A tidy sheet is easier to work with today. If you do build software later, tidy data is much cheaper to bring across, and we usually start from your existing data so nothing gets retyped.

Not sure which side you're on?

Bring the spreadsheet to a free discovery call. Thirty minutes, no pitch. I'll tell you straight whether it needs replacing, tidying or leaving alone.