How Much Will Custom Application Development Cost Me?

At Ocom, we take pride in the software solutions that we build and provide our clients. The savings in time and money our clients report back and the efficiencies that they see us deliver, make a huge difference to those businesses.

Yet, when we first meet with potential new clients, they are often more concerned about how much the custom application development costs, than what return on investment they will achieve.

Of course, the answer to the question: How much will custom application development cost me?  is: It depends!

Let's break that question down, to provide additional insights:

So how much WILL my custom application development cost me?

Every business we have dealt with is unique (even in the same industry), each aiming to provide their customers a unique (better!) experience. This means that every solution we develop is also unique. We handcraft each software solution individually.

We liken software development to building a house. Imagine going to a builder and asking "How much will my house cost to build?"  They might give you a price of between a few thousands and a few millions. The reason is they have no idea how big a house you want:

• How many bedrooms?
• How many bathrooms?
• Is there a pool?
• What materials?
• Is the ground sloping?

The builder will need plans, meeting your specifications, before the builder can estimate the costs.  The first step is making the plans with the architect - getting really clear on what features and functions are in the house and out, what materials, the time it takes to build and many more factors.  Once that information is known by the builder, he can give you a better price estimate.

Good design adds value faster than it adds cost.
Thomas C. Gale

The same is true of custom software. We need plans to begin with, we call that a Blueprint, so that we know how large your project is, what specific requirements you have, what specific features and functions it needs.  To continue with the housing analogy, we don't know at the beginning, if you need a "shack" or a "McMansion"!

Custom application development or software development is a very creative activity.  We craft our solutions to closely match our clients needs and deliver them the maximum value and ease of use, so our custom solutions can vary greatly.

Some problems can be quite complex and therefore require complex solutions such as machine learning or complex calculations.  We always find a way to build an elegant and highly functional solution that is both easy to use and simple to implement.

Our aim is to provide the simplest possible solution to your custom application development need.  It takes a special kind of person with the ability to break complex problems into simple solutions, to deliver exceptional application development services.  We believe, that the simplest solution is always the best, it will be easier to use, likely be less prone to bugs (software glitches) and work better all the time.

Simplicity is the soul of efficiency.
Austin Freeman (in the Eye of Osiris)

There are many factors that affect the cost of custom application development:

• The appearance: a polished magazine style look or an industrial minimalist look
• The user base
• Security aspects
• Connections to third party software
• Special functions, like billing and payment processing, bookings, scheduling, tracking, messaging, simple or complex reports, stock management, sms alerts
• and most importantly, future compatibility and expansion capability
• as well as many more possible functions

Based on our extensive experience with custom application development and previous projects that we have implemented, we know that any "back of the envelope" cost estimate is not going to help either of us.

The first thing we like to do, is take our potential clients through our Blueprint development process here. Once we've developed your custom Blueprint together, we can give you a much clearer picture of what your custom application development will cost.

In the meantime, you can get a ballpark range of your custom software cost using our Estimator Tool here.  Simple select your options and you'll have some idea of the budget you should plan for implementing your custom software.  Then add your details to the form, so we can help you develop your custom Blueprint.