LanceTek

Services, with their stopping patterns and prices

Each route lists what you get, how a typical project runs, and the shape of the price. Your written scope turns the shape into a fixed figure before any work starts.

Custom software

For the process that has outgrown its spreadsheet, or the off-the-shelf tool you keep working around.

What you get

  • A working web application: an internal tool, customer portal, booking or quoting system.
  • The source code in a repository you own, from the first day.
  • Automated tests for the parts that handle money, bookings or personal data.
  • A runbook in plain English: how to deploy it, back it up and restore it.
  • 30 days of fixes after handover, included in the price.

Typical shape of a project

  1. Wk 0Call and a look at what you use nowI'll ask to see the spreadsheet, the inbox or the paper form. That is where the real requirements are.
  2. Wk 1Scope and fixed priceTwo to four pages: screens, data, what is out of scope, the price and the dates.
  3. Wk 2–7Build in fortnightly slicesEach slice is usable on a test address. You can change priorities between slices.
  4. Wk 8Move real data across and go liveUsually on a quiet day, with the old way kept running alongside for a week.
  5. +30 dFixes window closesAfter that, Route 4 or nothing; your choice.

Price shapep

Small tool or single workflow
£3k–£6k
Typical system
£6k–£18k
Larger build, phased
£18k+
Day rate, for open-ended work
£550

Paid in stages: a third at scope sign-off, a third midway, a third at go-live.

Agentic-AI automation

For repetitive office work that needs reading and judgement: enquiries, quotes, invoices, supplier emails.

What you get

  • A written audit of one process: where the time goes, and what is and isn't safe to automate.
  • An agent that does the reading and drafting, with a person approving anything that leaves the business.
  • A log of every action the agent took and what it read to decide, kept somewhere you control.
  • A running-cost estimate before the pilot starts, so model usage bills hold no surprises.
  • A plain off switch. The old manual process still works if you turn the agent off.

Typical shape of a project

  1. Wk 0CallWe pick one process, not five.
  2. Wk 1Discovery and auditI sit with the process, with real (anonymised) examples. You get a written go or no-go.
  3. Wk 2–4Pilot alongside your teamThe agent drafts and your people approve. We compare against how the job was done before.
  4. Wk 5ReviewKeep it, adjust it or switch it off. All three are fine outcomes.
  5. AfterExtend to the next processOnly once the first one has earned it.

Price shapep

Discovery and audit
£1,200
Pilot on one process
£4k–£9k
Model and hosting costs
at cost

The audit is a fixed price and useful on its own, even if you never go on to build anything.

DevOps & self-hosted infrastructure

For businesses paying per seat for things they could own, or not sure their backups would actually come back.

What you get

  • A health check of what you run today: servers, domains, backups, who has access to what.
  • Backups with a tested restore, and a second copy kept off site.
  • Deployments that run from one command or one button, not one person's memory.
  • Monitoring that tells you before your customers do.
  • Where it makes sense, self-hosted replacements for subscription tools, on hardware or a UK host you choose.

Typical shape of a project

  1. Wk 0CallWhat worries you most, and what would hurt if it went down tomorrow.
  2. Wk 1Health check reportA ranked list of risks, each with an effort and a price.
  3. Wk 2–5Fix the top of the listEach change comes with a written rollback step before it is made.
  4. Wk 6Restore drill and runbookWe restore something real together, so you know it works.

Price shapep

Health check
£750
Backup and monitoring set-up
£1.5k–£3k
Migration or self-hosting project
£2.5k–£10k

Hardware and hosting are bought in your name, so they stay yours if we stop working together.

Looking after it

For anything I've built, and for systems I've inherited once I've read them through.

What you get

  • Security updates applied monthly, and urgent ones within a working day of release.
  • Monitoring and backup checks, with a short written note each month.
  • A set number of hours for small changes, carried over for one month if unused.
  • A direct line to the person who knows the code.

How it runs

  1. Month 1OnboardingFor inherited systems: a read-through and a list of risks before I take it on.
  2. MonthlyUpdates, checks and the noteOne page: what changed, what I noticed, what I'd suggest next.
  3. Any timeStop with a month's noticeYou keep everything: code, access, documentation.

Price shapep

Essentials, 2 hours
£350/mo
Standard, 6 hours
£700/mo
Extended, 12 hours
£1,200/mo

Working hours are 9:00–17:30, Monday to Friday. I don't offer round-the-clock cover, and I'll say so plainly if you need it.

  1. pIndicative price shapes, published as a guide and excluding VAT. They are not quotes; every job gets a fixed written price after the scope stage.

Not sure which route? Describe the problem, not the solution.

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