GBCORP BLOG · IT SERVICES
A Custom App for My Business: What It Takes and What It Costs
You searched custom app for my business because something about your business does not fit the apps you have seen. Sometimes that is true. Often it is a configuration away. This page helps you tell which, and what each costs.
A custom app is worth paying for when the process it covers is how the business wins and no product handles it. It is not worth paying for when a finished app configured to the business would do the same job in days. GBCORP builds both and says which fits in the first conversation, because a custom build sold to a business that needed configuration is money the business could have spent on customers.
Custom or configured
| Your situation | Route | Time and price |
|---|---|---|
| Ordering, booking, loyalty, portal, shop | Configured white-label app | Days, flat monthly plan |
| The same, with one unusual step | Configured app plus one custom release | Days, then two weeks |
| A process no product covers | Custom app | Eight to twelve weeks, fixed price per release |
| An app you must own outright, no monthly fee | One-time build | One to three weeks, one fixed price |
What custom really means
Accounts, payments, notifications, multilingual text and the design system come from GBCORP’s shared core, tested by thousands of users. The custom part is the screens, rules and integrations that make the app yours. You pay for what is yours, not for a login screen built for the hundredth time.
The scoping week
One week with the people who will use the app: workshops, screens drawn, integrations listed, and a written scope with a fixed quotation and dated milestones. The scoping week is priced on its own, so a business can walk away with the documents and a number, and many discover in it that a configured app plus one release is the answer.
What you own
On a custom build or a one-time build, the code. On every route, the brand, content and data, the store developer accounts, the payment account and the domain, all in your name. Documentation another team could use. No credentials retained after a hand-over unless a support contract requires them.
Checklist before the first call
- Describe the process the app covers, and where the apps you have seen fell short.
- List the screens users will spend most time on.
- List the systems it must talk to.
- Name the markets and languages.
- Decide who in the business owns the console and the accounts.
- Choose the one number the app should move in its first quarter.
The numbers to expect
Configured app live within days at a flat plan. One-time build in one to three weeks at a fixed price. Custom app scoped in a week, first release in eight to twelve weeks at a fixed price, releases every two weeks afterwards. Customised or more complex functionality is quoted separately before any work starts. Prices on the GBCORP e-shop.
A worked example
A cleaning company owner asks for a custom app: bookings, staff schedules, photos before and after, invoices. In the first call it is clear that the on-demand engine covers all of it as configuration, and the one thing it does not do is the owner’s way of pricing by room count and floor type. The route is the configured app, live in a week, plus one custom release for the pricing rule, delivered in two weeks. The owner pays a flat monthly plan and one fixed price for the release, instead of a custom build that would have rebuilt bookings and invoices from nothing.
What a custom app costs to run
A cloud project in the business’s name with usage-based costs that start small. Store developer accounts with their annual fees. A support plan at a known monthly figure covering operating-system updates, store rule changes, patches and monitoring. Releases priced one at a time from what the analytics show. GBCORP lists these in the quotation so the running cost is known before the build cost is approved, which is the question most businesses forget to ask.
Three businesses, three routes
A café that wants ordering and a loyalty card is the configured app, live within days at a flat plan. A consultancy that wants a client portal it owns outright with no monthly fee is the one-time build, delivered in weeks. A logistics firm with a dispatch process no product covers is the custom app, scoped in a week and built in releases. All three are GBCORP, and the first call decides which.
Mistakes to avoid
Starting a custom build when a configured app would have proved the idea for a fraction. Letting the developer open the accounts in their own name. Paying by the hour. Launching to everyone instead of the ten customers who asked. Forgetting the app needs a release every time the operating system changes. Each is avoided by one question before paying.
What the first month looks like
Week one, a short call about what customers or staff will do in the app, and the route is chosen. For a configured app, a brief form for brand and content, accounts opened in your name, and the app on your phone within days. For a one-time build, the same with a delivery date and a full hand-over. For a custom app, the scoping week, and from the second month the sprints with a test build every two weeks. In every case, by the end of the first month you have an app you can show, accounts you control and a price you already knew.
Questions we hear first
How much does a custom app cost?
A fixed price per release after the scoping week; the priced starting point is on the e-shop, and configured apps are a flat monthly plan.
Can we start configured and go custom later?
Yes, on the same engine, without a rebuild.
How long before we see something?
A configured app in days; a custom app has a test build on your phone every two weeks from week four.
Do we need to be near GBCORP?
No. Delivery is remote and the app ships to stores worldwide.
Where to start
The GBCORP custom app development hub explains the routes; the GBCORP One-Time Branded App Build is the priced product for a business that wants an app it owns. For the developer question, read what to look for in an app developer for my business.
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