Software for the jobs your business still does by hand.
LanceTek is one engineer in the UK building custom tools, careful AI automation and the servers they run on, for small businesses that would rather own their systems than rent a dozen subscriptions.
You talk to the person who writes the code. Replies within one working day.
Three things, done properly
Most projects use more than one of these. A booking tool needs somewhere to run; an automation needs a small screen for the person who checks its work.
Custom software
Internal tools, customer portals and the spreadsheet that has quietly become a database.
A web app shaped around how your team already works: quoting, job tracking, stock, bookings. Built on well-known, boring technology, so another developer could pick it up.
£4,000 to £18,000typical build
Agentic-AI automation
AI that reads, sorts and drafts, with a person signing off anything that matters.
Invoices, enquiries, CVs, job sheets: the documents someone retypes every week. Each automation logs what it did and why, and stops to ask when it is unsure.
£1,800 to £7,500per automation, plus running costs
DevOps and self-hosting
Servers, backups and deployments you own, documented so you are never locked in.
Moving off overpriced hosting, setting up a small office server, or making sure the backups actually restore. Monitored, patched and written down.
£1,200 to £5,000setup, care from £180 a month
How working together goes
No account managers or handoffs. The same person answers the first email, writes the code and picks up the phone if something breaks.
A 30-minute call
You explain the problem in your own words. I ask how it is done today, who does it, and what it costs you in time.
Free, within a weekA written scope and a fixed price
Two or three pages: what will be built, what will not, how we will know it works, and what it costs.
Usually within five working daysBuilt in weekly slices
Every Friday you get something you can click on, plus a short note of what changed. You can change direction early, while it is cheap.
Two to ten weeks, typicallyHandover, then care
You get the code, the passwords, and plain-English documentation. Ongoing support is optional, monthly, and cancellable.
Yours to keep either way
What the work looks like
An automation is only useful if you can see what it did. Every LanceTek automation comes with a review queue like this: each item shows what the agent read, what it checked, and why it wants a person to look.
Nothing is posted, sent or paid without a rule you agreed to, or a click from you.
- Invoice INV-2207, sample supplier ANeeds a lookTotal £1,284.00 is 18% above the PO. Possible price rise on line 3.ApproveSend backOpen PDF
- Invoice 00481, sample supplier BReadyMatches PO 3391. VAT 20% verified. Not seen before.
- New enquiry from website formDraft replyAsking about a quote for 40 units. Draft reply uses price list v12.
From the Journal
Notes on the tools LanceTek builds with, written for the people paying for them: what each one costs you, what it saves, and where it falls short.
- Automation
Why client automations run on n8n, not Zapier
Per-task pricing punishes success. A self-hosted workflow engine costs the same whether it runs ten times or ten thousand.
- Infrastructure
Proxmox for a small office: when one box is enough
A single well-specified server can replace several monthly bills. Here is when that is true, and when it is a false economy.
- Automation
Choosing the model behind an agent that touches your invoices
Hosted or local, large or small: the choice is about your data and your error budget, not benchmarks.
Got a job that eats a morning every week?
Tell me what it is. If software is not the answer, I will say so.