Custom Build
When a website isn't enough. Nathan builds the apps, portals, dashboards, and integrations that run inside your business — the stuff Squarespace can't touch.
Not sure if you need this or just a really good website?
Most businesses don't need a custom build. They need Launchpad with the right add-ons. Custom Build is for when your customers need to log in and do things — book, message, upload, track, pay, manage. If that's not you, Launchpad's the move and you'll save five figures. Talk to us if you're not sure.
You don't have a website problem. You have a nobody decided what the website was for problem.
There's a moment in every growing business where the off-the-shelf tools stop fitting. You're stitching together Calendly, Stripe, Airtable, a Google Sheet, and three Zaps to do something your competitors do natively in their app. Your customers are confused. Your team is doing manual data entry. The "duct tape stack" is now critical infrastructure and one broken integration away from disaster.
That's when you need a real build.
It's not because…
You haven't found the right Wix template (you won't — this isn't a template problem)
A redesign will fix it (it won't, you've already redesigned twice)
The right SaaS tool exists somewhere (if it did, you'd have found it by now)
Your team needs more training (your tools are the problem, not your people)
It's because…
You've outgrown what off-the-shelf platforms can do
The workflow your business actually needs doesn't exist as a product
Your competitors have custom infrastructure and you're reading "best apps for X" blog posts
The duct tape works until it doesn't, and "until it doesn't" is getting closer
“When you reach this point, you're not buying a website. You're buying software. And you should hire a software person.”
of users won't return after a bad experience
Founders and operators who need to build something, not just represent something. SaaS, portals, apps, and custom systems.
Nathan's actually building it. Not "the team."
Nathan has spent 20 years building digital products — from simple landing pages for local plumbers to fully bespoke platforms for large corporations. His background is entrepreneurial: he's built things from nothing, worn every hat, and learned what actually makes a digital product ship.
At 1015, Nathan builds every custom app, portal, and dashboard himself. He doesn't outsource. He doesn't subcontract. The person who scopes your build is the person who writes every line of it. When something needs to change mid-build, you message Nathan — he's the one who knows where everything lives.
Three phases. Real timelines. No "discovery deck."
We talk through what you actually need versus what you think you need. Nathan writes a real spec — features, user flows, data model, integrations, what's in v1, what's not. You approve before any code gets written.
- Real conversation about what you're building
- Written spec: features, flows, data model
- Integration map: what talks to what
- You approve before code starts
Nathan builds. You get a working preview link from week one and watch it come together. Weekly check-ins. Async access whenever you have a question. No black-box "we'll show you in six weeks" nonsense.
- Working preview link from week one
- Weekly progress check-ins
- Async access throughout
- You see it built, not just described
Final QA, deploy, hand off the keys. Documentation for whoever's going to maintain it. 30 days of post-launch support included — bugs get fixed, small tweaks happen, you don't pay extra for stuff that should've worked.
- Final QA and device testing
- Deploy and DNS setup
- Full documentation handed off
- 30 days post-launch support included
Most builds run 6–10 weeks total. The big ones run 3–4 months. You'll know which one you are before you sign anything.
Software, not slides.
You own everything. The code, the database, the design files, the deploy scripts, the documentation. If you fire us, you take it all with you.
A real spec document
Features, flows, data model, written before code starts so you know exactly what you're buying
Working software
Built in Next.js + Supabase + TypeScript, the same stack Nathan uses on his own products
Authentication
Proper user accounts, roles, permissions, password resets, the whole thing
Custom logic
Whatever your business actually needs to do, built to do it
Integrations
Stripe, Shopify, HubSpot, Calendly, Zapier, custom APIs — anything with a real API
Mobile-responsive by default
Works on phones because everything works on phones now
Documentation
So the next developer (or you) can pick up where Nathan left off
30 days of post-launch support
Included, no surprise invoice when v1 has bugs
Custom Build isn't a website with extra pages.
This is the section most agencies are too afraid to write. We're not.
- Custom apps with real authentication
- Client portals, member areas, dashboards
- Internal tools that replace your duct-tape SaaS stack
- Real-time data, file uploads, custom workflows
- API integrations between systems that don't talk to each other
- Mobile apps (iOS/Android) when the business actually needs one
- Marketing websites (that's Launchpad — half the price, twice as fast)
- WordPress sites (we don't work in WordPress, on purpose)
- E-commerce stores that just need a Shopify install (use Shopify directly, save the money)
- "Make my Squarespace better" (we can't fix Squarespace from inside Squarespace)
- Native iOS in Swift / native Android in Kotlin (we build cross-platform — same app, both stores, way less cost)
After the build, the upkeep.
Custom builds aren't "set it and forget it." Stuff breaks. Browsers update. Stripe deprecates an API. Your business changes and the app needs to change with it.
Hosting, monitoring, security patches, bug fixes, small tweaks (under 2 hours/month). Nathan keeps the lights on.
Everything above, plus 8 hours of build time per month for new features, improvements, integrations. Most growing businesses land here — they keep adding to what Nathan built instead of starting over.
Some clients take the build and run it themselves. That's fine — you own everything. But most stick around because the alternative is hiring a full-time developer for $150K/year.
$10,000 minimum. Scoped per project.
Custom builds don't fit in tiers because no two are the same. The portal you need isn't the portal someone else needs. We scope every build individually after a real conversation about what you're trying to do.
Half upfront, half on launch. No hidden hourly billing. No "scope creep" surprise invoices — if you change the spec mid-build, we agree on the new number before Nathan writes a line of new code.
You’ll know if it’s you.
Ideal Fit
- Your customers need to log in and do something — book, upload, message, manage
- You've outgrown what Squarespace, Wix, or Webflow can do
- You're stitching together five SaaS tools to make one workflow happen
- You've got a real budget and treat this as software, not a marketing expense
Not a Fit
- You need a marketing site (Launchpad, half the cost, weeks not months)
- You're "exploring an idea" without a real budget (go validate first, then come back)
- You want it built in WordPress (we don't do WordPress and we won't pretend to)
- You're shopping the lowest bid (custom software at the lowest bid is how you get burned)
Project-based. Half up front. Half on launch.
We don't do open-ended retainers for builds. Custom Build is a real project with a real spec, a real timeline, and a real fixed price. You pay half to start, half on launch.
If you cancel mid-build, you keep everything Nathan's written up to that point — code, designs, documentation. We don't hold work hostage and we don't charge "kill fees."
After launch, ongoing maintenance is month-to-month. One email and it's done.
Questions before you book.
Launchpad is a marketing website — pages, contact form, maybe booking and payments through external tools. Custom Build is software — real authentication, custom logic, your customers logging in and doing things inside your product. Different category, different price, different timeline.
Next.js, Supabase, TypeScript, Tailwind. That's the default. We pick this stack because we ship faster, hosting is cheap, the code is clean, and any decent developer can pick it up later if you ever leave us. We don't do WordPress, on purpose.
Yes — ask on the discovery call. Nathan will walk you through real client portals and apps he's shipped. Some are public, some are under NDA, but you'll see real code and real software, not a slide deck.
Fine — we agree on the new scope and price before Nathan writes the new code. No "scope creep" invoices three weeks later. If the change is small, sometimes it's free. If it's big, we'll tell you the number and you decide.
Two paths. You move to a maintenance retainer ($500–$2,500/mo) and Nathan keeps shipping. Or you take the codebase and run it yourself — you own everything, the code is documented, any developer can pick it up. Both are fine.
We build cross-platform (React Native or similar) which deploys to both iOS and Android from one codebase. That's a quarter the cost of building two native apps and 95% of the experience. If you genuinely need native — game, AR, intense graphics — we'll point you to someone who specializes there.
30-Minute Call · No Pitch
Let’s find out if it’s a fit.
Tell us a bit about your business and what you're trying to fix. We'll review it before we talk — so the call is specific, not a generic walkthrough.
- We review your answers before the call. You get specific recommendations, not a pitch.
- Honest assessment — including if we're not the right move for where you are.
- If it's a fit, we'll walk you through exactly what we'd do and what it costs.
We work with a small number of clients at a time. The form takes two minutes. The call is 30.
See how Custom Build fits the bigger picture
Understand where this fits in the full 1015 Brands system for growing your business.
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