Build it or buy it

An Omira client is considering a custom internal tool to manage their operations, and they asked us to build it. They are a cleaning company with property managers of short-term rental properties as their main client. They currently have manual or clunky systems in place internally.

The call

They came to us with clear ideas, a Claude Code prototype, and many of the features already thought out. They are looking for an internal tool that lets the office schedule and reassign cleanings, lets employees see their jobs and clock in and out from their phones, and produces the monthly employee hours and per-client invoice summaries in one click. In the call we wanted to put a realistic number on the hours of work that these features would save the directors or their team each month. This helped us get a much better understanding of the real value this software has for them. The number we landed on was about 20 hours per month of work, mostly the owner’s, mostly on tasks covered by a couple of features (rather than the full feature list they presented to us in their Claude-made prototype). We are already thinking about which features matter most vs ones that would be nice to have. With a good understanding of their project, the most pressing problems, and their budget, we went back and decided to look around for some solutions before we would quote them on an end-to-end build for this.

Where we are

We found two existing platforms close to their needs and told them to demo those before deciding to pay us to build. With us, the build would cost roughly what 18-24 months of the subscription would. The subscription on these platforms tends to be per-property, or in tiers, which generally means it is going to increase in cost as they scale. The case for a custom build gets stronger as they get bigger.

If the demo covers their workflow we would tell them to buy it - a subscription they can cancel beats a build they have to maintain. If the demo doesn’t cover all the gaps (the services between guest stays that the standard platforms don’t model), a custom build is the right direction for them. Our quote is on the table either way, so the comparison is theirs to make.