Custom software as a service
Skip the six-figure software quote. Pay one flat monthly fee instead.
We build the web platform your business runs on. Then we host it, keep it patched, and keep improving it every month. One fee covers all of it, and the custom code is yours.
- From $1,000/mo, scoped to you
- Built, hosted, secured & improving
- You own 100% of the custom code
- Senior team, decades in IT
Sound familiar?
Your software is aging out, costing a fortune to replace, or costing a fortune to keep.
01
Old & unsupported
An old app on your own server, or a desktop program nobody will patch. It breaks whenever you upgrade anything around it, so you've slowly stopped upgrading anything.
02
Six-figure rebuild quotes
The dev shop wants $100K and nine months before you see anything working. Most owners can't stomach that bet, so the old system stays another year.
03
Software subscriptions that keep climbing
Salesforce, HubSpot, SAP, Acumatica. They're good products, but they're priced for companies ten times your size and sold by the seat. You pay for the whole catalog, use maybe a fifth of it, and had to bend the way your business works to fit it.
The old way
$100K to $200K
up front, and then it's frozen in time.
GO Build Labs
from $1,000/mo
built, hosted, secured and always improving.
The work
Real problems, real software.
What we build are things like dispatch boards that replace the whiteboard, ERPs that end the re-keying, and hiring systems that stop losing candidates. Here's what that looks like.
What we build
Four kinds of work, and we stick to them.
We keep our focus narrow on purpose. If your project isn't one of these four, we'll tell you on the first call and point you somewhere better.
What's included
One monthly fee, and we look after the whole thing.
A platform built around you
Modern web software shaped to how your business already runs.
Hosted & always on
We host it in the cloud and keep an eye on it. Your team never has to touch a server.
Secured & updated
Security updates, monitoring and upkeep happen all the time, and they're already in the fee.
Signs in with Microsoft 365
Your people sign in with the Microsoft 365 account they already have.
AI where it helps
Where it makes sense, we build AI into the daily work so it can take over the jobs people shouldn't be doing by hand.
Improvements every month
Every month includes design and build hours, already in the fee, so the software keeps up as your business changes.
AI usage (model and token costs) is billed separately at cost, outside the monthly fee.
Where it usually starts
You bring the business problem. We work out the software.
Most people come to us knowing exactly what's broken and not at all what should be built. Working that out with you, and telling you honestly when the answer is not to build anything, is what we do before anyone writes any code.
01
A business problem, no obvious fix
Something is holding the business back and you know the symptoms exactly. The double-bookings, the re-keying, the report that takes two days. What you don't have is a clear picture of which software fixes it, or whether software is even the right answer. That's the conversation we're best at.
02
Software that costs too much
Per-seat licenses that climb every time you hire, platform fees that go up with your volume, or a maintenance contract on a system nobody has improved in years. Over time the bill has crept past what the software is worth to you.
03
Software that delivers too little
You've bent your business around a product and still use a fraction of what it does, working around the parts that don't fit. Often it's both at once. You're paying a lot, getting little back, and can't see a way to change either.
How it works
A working demo in a week. Billing when it goes live.
You don't pay a monthly fee while we build toward the first version. Billing starts once it's live and your team is using it. The one exception is an unusually large or old system, which sometimes starts with a short paid discovery phase, and we tell you that up front.
- Day one
We learn how your business runs
We start with a conversation about the business, not a feature list. What you do, what's slowing you down, what it's costing you, who touches each job, and which tools you use today. We also ask what information you handle and who should be able to see it, because that shapes how we build. Afterward we write it up in plain language and you correct anything we got wrong. You don't need to arrive knowing what the software should be. Working that out is our job.
- About a week later
An initial demo
Roughly a week after that call you get a working demo rather than a proposal document. It's built from the write-up, so you're correcting something real instead of describing your processes from scratch. If we got it wrong, we find out in week one, when that costs almost nothing.
- Until the first version
Reviews every two weeks
From there we build in two-week rounds, and every review is a working version you can click through. You steer with real feedback on real screens, so what launches is something your team will want to use.
- Billing starts here
The first version goes live
Your system goes live, with your records moved over and the whole thing hosted, secured and monitored. This is also where billing begins, and where the 12-month term starts. You don't pay a monthly fee, and no clock runs, while we're building toward that first release.
- Just after launch
A 12-month roadmap
With the first version live and real people using it, we plan the year together. By now we can plan around how your team really uses it, which is never quite what anyone guessed at the start.
- Every month after
Support, security & improvements
Upkeep, support and security updates are part of the fee, along with set hours each month for improvements from the roadmap. The software keeps getting better long after launch day.
Pricing
One predictable fee for everything we do.
Design, building, hosting, upkeep and support, all in one line on your books. Outside services we rely on and usage-based AI costs are passed through at cost.
Starter
from $1,000/mo
A focused tool or single workflow, rebuilt as a clean, hosted web app you own.
See full plan detailsGrowth
where most landtypically $2,000 to $5,000/mo
A platform that runs a real part of your operation, connected to your other systems, with multiple users and AI built in.
See full plan detailsEnterprise
typically $10,000+/mo
A system that runs the business, deeply connected to your other systems, with multiple teams and heavy automation.
See full plan detailsWhy us
Enterprise-grade software, without the enterprise baggage.
You own your code
The custom code is yours from day one, kept in an account your company controls. However our work together ends, you keep all of it and can hire whoever you like to carry it on.
Reliability from years in IT
Our team has spent 14 years running the IT and security that Chicagoland businesses depend on every day. We take uptime seriously because we've been the ones getting the 2am call when something went down.
We've sat where you sit
Our team has run multi-division ERP rollouts, owned an enterprise CRM, and built an online ordering system for business customers that went on to carry more than 90% of its company's orders and return 125% on what it cost. We've been on your side of this conversation and signed off on the invoice.
Lean by design
Experienced people, with AI handling the repetitive parts. You talk directly to the people writing your code, and you get one predictable number every month.
Questions, answered straight.
How is this different from a six-figure rebuild quote?
A traditional quote asks for $100K to $200K up front. You get the software, and then it sits at whatever the spec said until you can justify the next big project. We charge a monthly fee. It covers the build, the hosting, the security work, and a set number of improvement hours every month after you go live. There's no change-order fight when the spec meets reality, because changing things is what you're already paying for.
What kind of platforms do you build?
The software a business runs on day to day. Replacements for aging programs that live on your own servers. ERPs and CRMs shaped to how you operate. Dispatch and fleet systems, customer portals, hiring systems. All of it runs in the browser, so there's nothing to install on anyone's computer, and people sign in with the Microsoft 365 accounts they already have.
How fast will I see something working?
Within days. You'll be clicking through a working prototype in the first week. After that it usually takes three to five rounds of your feedback before it's really useful to your team. A focused build goes live in a month or two. A full system takes six months or more, but you see working pieces the whole way through, so you always know where it stands.
Who owns the code?
You do. Everything we write for you is kept in an account your company owns, from day one. If you ever decide to leave, you take the code and the documentation with you and hire whoever you like to pick it up. There's nothing to buy back. Like almost all modern software, it's built partly on free, open-source components that stay under their own licenses. That's true of every software project and costs you nothing.
What if I only need one project, not an ongoing partnership?
Then we're probably the wrong shop, and we'll say so on the call rather than waste your time. Our plans run on a 12-month commitment because the systems we build are the ones a business depends on, and something has to keep them patched and improving long after launch. For a small one-off build, a good freelancer will do it faster and charge you less.
Do you only work with Chicagoland businesses?
We're based in Chicagoland, and it's where 14 years of IT and security work built our reputation, so clients nearby can get us in the room when it helps. The work itself travels fine, though. We build for businesses anywhere in the US.
Tell us what's slowing your business down.
In a free one-hour call we work out what the system needs to do and which plan it fits. Within two business days you have a written plan and a monthly number. No drawn-out proposals, no pressure.
One monthly fee · Built, hosted & improving · You own the custom code