Custom software and AI tools, built in Glasgow for service businesses across the UK.
Software built around how your business runs.
Instant quote calculators, booking tools, certificates and reports that write themselves, customer portals and small apps. Built with AI so it’s fast and affordable, then reviewed, tested and finished by experienced developers so it actually works. You own every line of it.
10 years in business · Rated 5.0 on Google · No minimum contract
Do you actually need custom software?
Most small businesses don’t, and we’ll say so. If an off-the-shelf tool does the job for £20 a month, that’s what you should use, and we’ll happily point you at it.
Custom software earns its keep when there’s a specific job that’s costing you hours or costing you work: typing up the same report every evening, losing enquiries because a customer had to wait two days for a rough price, chasing paperwork that should generate itself, or running your business on a spreadsheet that’s one bad click from disaster. Those are the problems worth building for, and because of how we build, it costs far less than it used to.
Tell us the job that eats your time and we’ll tell you the simplest thing that fixes it. Sometimes that’s a tool we build. Sometimes it’s a setting in software you already pay for. Either way, you’ll know before you spend anything.
What we build
Tools that save time and win work.
Everything we build falls into one of two camps: it either gets you more enquiries, or it gives you back the hours you’re spending on admin. Usually we start with whichever one is hurting most.
Instant quote calculators
A customer answers a few questions on your website and gets a price range in seconds, at 11pm on a Sunday if that’s when they’re looking. You get their details, their answers and the estimate as an enquiry. People who’d never have filled in a “contact us” form will happily get an instant price, and they ring you rather than the next company.
Booking and enquiry tools
Let customers book a survey, a service visit or a call-back online, choosing a slot that works for both of you, without three missed calls and a voicemail. Confirmations and reminders go out automatically, so fewer people forget and you’re not chasing.
Paperwork that writes itself
Reports, certificates, guarantees, inspection sheets and job records generated in your branding from a simple form on a phone, with photos and signatures attached, sent to the customer as a PDF and stored where you can find them. No more typing up the day’s jobs at the kitchen table.
Portals and small apps
A login area where customers can see their jobs, quotes, documents and guarantees, or where your team can log work from site. Not an app in the App Store (you almost never need one of those), just a web page that works on any phone and does one job well.
AI that does the boring bit
Drafting a reply to an enquiry, summarising a survey into a quote, pulling the details out of a photo of a job sheet, sorting incoming messages so the urgent one gets seen first. We use AI where it removes a repetitive task and a person still checks the result, not as a gimmick.
Fits what you already use, and grows with you
Built to sit alongside your website, your calendar, your accounts software and the tools your team already knows, rather than replacing everything at once. We start with the one thing that saves you the most time, prove it works, then add to it as your business changes.
Things we’ve built
Three tools, and the problem each one solved.
Instant quote calculator for a painting and decorating company
The problem: homeowners wanted a rough price before they’d book a visit, and the company was losing enquiries to anyone who’d give one faster, while the owner was spending evenings working out quotes for people who never came back. What we built: a calculator on the website that asks about the rooms, the walls, ceilings and woodwork, the condition and a couple of options, and gives a price range on the spot. Every estimate lands with the company as a named enquiry with the customer’s answers attached, so the follow-up call starts from a real number and a real room list.
Report generator app for a compliance business
The problem: every site visit ended with an hour of typing up a report in Word, and the reports looked different depending on who wrote them. What we built: an app on the technician’s phone that walks them through the inspection, takes photos and a signature on site, and produces a finished branded PDF report before they’ve left the car park. Every report is stored against the customer and the site, so the annual re-visit starts from last year’s findings. This one was built for a service business we run ourselves, which is how we know it works.
2D and 3D garden design software for a landscaper
The problem: customers struggle to picture a patio, lawn and planting from a sketch on the back of a quote, so bigger jobs stalled while they “thought about it”, and the company was paying for design software built for architects. What we built: a design tool where the garden is laid out in 2D from the measurements, then paving, turf, decking, borders and lighting are dropped in and viewed in 3D, so the customer can see the finished garden before a spade goes in. The plan feeds the quote, and a customer who can see the result says yes to a lot more than one who can’t.
How it works
You see it working before we build it all.
Software projects go wrong when the first time the customer sees anything is the day it’s finished. We do it the other way round: you click through a working version early, when changing your mind costs nothing. A simple tool is usually in your hands within a few weeks.
1
Understand the problem
You show us the job that eats your time or loses you work, ideally by walking us through how you do it today. We agree, in plain English, exactly what the tool needs to do and what it doesn’t. That one-page description is what we build to, so there are no surprises.
2
Prototype
Within days, not months, you get a version you can click through on your phone. It won’t be finished, but it will show you how it works and feels. This is where we find the thing nobody thought of, and where changes are cheap and quick.
3
Build and test
We build the full version, then our developers review the code, test it properly, secure it and make sure it handles the awkward cases: a customer typing nonsense, a lost signal halfway through a form, two people using it at once. Nothing goes near your customers until it’s been through this.
4
Launch and support
We put it live, show you and your team how to use it, and hand over the code and the logins. Then we stay on hand for fixes and for the next feature, because the best ideas for version two always come from using version one.
Built with AI, finished by people
Why this costs a fraction of what software used to, and why that’s not a catch.
A few years ago a quote calculator or a report generator was a five-figure job for a software company. AI has changed that completely: the first working version of most tools can now be built in days. That’s why we can offer this to one-van businesses at all.
“AI makes the first version cheap. It doesn’t make it safe. We’ve been asked to rescue tools that someone built in an afternoon with an AI and put live without anyone checking them: customer data sitting in the open, forms that silently lost enquiries, a quote tool that gave the wrong price when you entered a decimal. That’s why everything we build goes through a developer before it goes near a customer.”
Yas, Director
You own the code
The tool, the code and the data are yours, handed over when it goes live. No per-user licence, no monthly fee just to keep using something you’ve paid for, and no being held to ransom if you ever want someone else to work on it.
Reviewed, tested and secured
Every tool is checked by an experienced developer before launch: how it handles bad input, how it protects customer details, what happens when something fails. You get the speed of AI without the shortcuts.
Hosted where you choose
On your own hosting, on ours, or alongside your website. Wherever it lives, the logins are in your name and you can move it. If we disappeared tomorrow, your tool would keep working and any competent developer could pick it up.
Built by people who run a service business
Our first tools were built for a service business we run ourselves, because we were sick of typing reports in the evening. We know what a technician on site with cold hands and one bar of signal will put up with, and we build for that.
What our clients have seen.
37 more leads a month
Flooring company, Glasgow, from Google Ads, within three months
£100k to £2 million
Roofing company, Glasgow, from SEO, turnover over five years
30+ jobs quoted in a week
Essential Roofing, Perth, as the director says on video
Most of our software work sits inside a bigger marketing job: a quote calculator on a website we built, a booking tool on a landing page the ads send people to. The results above are what the whole system produces.
Where software fits with the rest.
The most useful tools we build aren’t separate from your marketing; they’re the bit of it that turns a visitor into an enquiry. A quote calculator on a website converts far more people than a contact form. A booking tool on the landing page your Google Ads send people to makes every click worth more.
The admin tools work the other way round: they give you back the evenings you were spending on paperwork, which for most owners is the only way to find time for the marketing at all.
Because the same team builds the website, runs the ads and writes the software, nothing has to be bolted on afterwards or rebuilt to fit.
Software questions
What business owners ask about custom software.
I’m not sure what I need. Can you help?
Yes, and that’s the normal starting point. Tell us which jobs take up the most time, or where you think enquiries are getting lost, and we’ll suggest the simplest thing that fixes it. Sometimes that’s a tool we build; sometimes it’s a change to something you already use, and we’ll tell you if that’s the case.
Is software built with AI reliable?
Software built with AI and put live without anyone checking it is not reliable, and we’ve been asked to rescue a few of those. Software built with AI and then reviewed, tested and secured by an experienced developer is as reliable as any other, and a lot cheaper. That second one is what we do. You get the speed without the shortcuts.
How much does it cost?
It depends on what the tool has to do. A quote calculator for one service is a very different job from a customer portal with logins, documents and payments. Once we understand your business and the problem, we give you a clear figure and an honest view of the time or work it should win you back, so you can decide whether it’s worth it. We don’t start anything without that.
How long does it take?
A simple tool like a quote calculator or a report generator is usually in your hands within a few weeks, with a clickable version to react to in the first few days. Bigger builds with logins, several user types or connections to other software take longer, and we’ll give you a realistic timescale before we start rather than a hopeful one.
Do I own what you build?
Yes. The code, the data and the logins are yours and are handed over when the tool goes live. There’s no licence fee to keep using it and no lock-in. If you ever want another developer to take it on, they can.
Can it connect to the software I already use?
Usually, yes. Most modern tools, like accounting software, calendars, email and CRMs, can be connected to, so a quote can create an invoice draft or a booking can land in your diary. We’ll check what’s possible with your specific tools before we promise anything.
Do I need an app in the App Store?
Almost never. A web app opens on any phone or tablet from a link, works like an app, can be added to the home screen, and doesn’t need updating through an app store. It’s cheaper to build, cheaper to change and your customers don’t have to install anything. We’d only recommend a native app if there’s a specific reason for one.
What happens if something breaks?
You tell us and we fix it. Every tool comes with a period of support after launch, and after that we can look after it for a small monthly amount or you can call us as and when. Because you own the code, you’re never stuck waiting on us if you’d rather use someone else.
What would you automate first?
Tell us about the job that takes too long or the enquiries you’re losing. We’ll call you to talk it through and come back with:
- Whether it needs custom software at all, or something you already have
- What we’d build, in plain English, and how it would work day to day
- A clear figure and a realistic timescale
- An honest view of the time or work it should win you back
Reports done before leaving the car park
The inspection report tool we built for our own compliance business turned an hour of typing per visit into a finished branded PDF on site. That’s the kind of job we’re after.
Rated 5.0 on Google
Prefer to talk? Call 0141 378 0881, WhatsApp 07542 737977 or email hello@istratagem.co.uk.