Service
Custom CRMs
A CRM shaped around how your business follows up on inquiries and closes work. Priced in a written plan after a short call. You own the code and the accounts.
Updated October 17, 2026
What does a custom CRM include?
A custom CRM holds a business's customer records and the stages its work moves through, shaped around the steps its people already follow instead of a vendor's idea of a sales team. Ours give each person a login and a role on a database you own, and the written plan sets the price after a short call, before anything is built.
A custom CRM: A custom CRM (customer relationship management system) is a customer database built for one business, so its records, stages, reports and permissions follow how that business works. Where a subscription CRM gives every customer the same pipeline and asks the team to adapt, a custom one starts from the team's own steps, such as a quote that needs a site visit or a job that repeats every month. It usually runs in a browser and keeps each customer's history in one place, connected to the email and invoicing tools the business already uses.
Key facts
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, in effect since January 1, 2004, requires each commercial email to give clear notice of how to opt out and the sender's valid physical postal address.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office, Public Law 108-187 (CAN-SPAM Act of 2003), checked October 17, 2026
Since February 1, 2024, Gmail has required every sender to Gmail accounts to set up SPF or DKIM, and anyone sending more than 5,000 messages a day to set up both plus DMARC.
Source: Gmail Help, Email sender guidelines, checked October 17, 2026
California's Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 gives residents the right to know what personal information a covered business collects about them and to have it deleted, with some exceptions.
Source: California Department of Justice, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), checked October 17, 2026
What you get
A CRM we build starts from your own records, not from a template of someone else's sales process. Every one of them includes the list below.
- Customer records with the fields your business uses, and none it does not
- Stages that match how work moves for you, from the first inquiry to the finished job
- A login and a role for each person, so everyone sees the records they need
- Email sent from your own accounts, logged on the right record
- Reports on the numbers you check every week, without an export
- A database in your name, backed up every night
How it goes
We start with the path a customer takes through your business today, from the first message to the last invoice, and the spreadsheets and inboxes it passes through on the way. The written plan turns that path into records, stages and screens, with the price and the deposit.
Once the deposit clears, we build the records and the main screens first, so your team can try the CRM early on a private preview. The reports and connections follow in small pieces, each one tested before your staff see it.
Where it fits
A CRM is priced as an app, by what it has to do. A focused one for a small team is the smallest build. Several workflows and text messages add to the price, and card and bank payments, with the invoicing that comes with them, add more. The written plan lists each piece with its price after a short call.
If all you need is for each website inquiry to land in a CRM you already use, that is the CRM hook that comes with a Growth site.
- Your price
- Set in a written plan after a short call
Three ways to run your customer records
In short
A subscription CRM suits a team whose sales follow the usual steps. A custom one earns its price when your steps are your own, or when the fees for each seat keep climbing as the team grows.
Plenty of small businesses run well on a subscription CRM. The rows below are the questions that usually decide it.
| A DIY tool | A template | Custom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A subscription CRM you set up yourself | A CRM product customized by a consultant | A CRM written for your business |
| Cost over time | A fee for each seat every month, plus paid add-ons | The subscription, plus consulting hours for each change | A build price in the written plan, then hosting on your own account |
| Your stages | The vendor's pipeline, renamed to fit | Custom fields and stages, inside the vendor's limits | Records and stages that follow your own steps |
| Your data | In the vendor's cloud, exported on its terms | In the vendor's cloud, arranged by the consultant | In a database you own |
| Best fit | A sales process like most others | A team already invested in one product | Work with steps no product handles well |
Swipe sideways to see every column
A worked example (hypothetical)
Picture a moving company with five people, two in the office and three crew chiefs. Quote requests come in through the phone and a web form, and the office tracks each one on a whiteboard until the job is booked.
A focused CRM would give each request a record the moment it arrives, with stages for new, quoted, booked and done. Each crew chief would sign in on a phone to see the week's jobs and nothing else.
Text reminders the day before each move are the kind of step that adds to the build, and card deposits taken inside the CRM add more. The written plan would show each step with its price.
From the work
Both builds below started from the same CRM codebase and were then shaped around one business's records and rules. We can walk through either on a call, with sample data in place of the real records.
- Financial-services marketingA compliance-gated export CRMA list-export CRM for a financial-services marketing business, where every export has to clear a compliance gate first.Read the case study
- Wholesale trading, internal toolA deal desk for a trading businessA deal desk for a wholesale trading business, with a WhatsApp bridge that turns inbound offers into deals.Read the case study
Common questions
Should a five-person business build a custom CRM or use a subscription one?
Start with a subscription CRM if your sales follow the usual steps, since it costs less on day one. A custom CRM makes sense once the fees and workarounds cost more than the build, or when your steps are unusual enough that the team keeps notes outside the CRM.
What does a custom CRM cost?
It depends on what the CRM has to do. A focused CRM for a small team is the smallest build, and each workflow you add, from text reminders to online payments with invoicing, raises the price. The written plan prices yours after a short call, before anything is built.
Can it connect to the tools we already use?
Usually, yes. Most email, calendar and accounting tools let other software read and write their data, and the written plan lists each connection and what it moves before anything is built.
Who owns the customer data?
You do. The database runs on your own account and the code sits in a repository in your name, so your customer records never live on our servers.
How soon can the team use it?
The written plan gives the weeks for your scope before anything starts. The records and main screens come first, so the team can try the CRM on a private preview while the reports and connections are still being built.
Is a CRM hook on a website the same thing?
No. A CRM hook sends each inquiry from your website into a CRM you already use, and it comes with a Growth site. A custom CRM is the system itself, built for your business.
Start with a written plan
Tell us about the business and what you need. We reply with questions, then a written plan that lists the work and its price, and nothing starts until you have read it.