Know what you're building before you build it.
Custom software for Australian businesses. Start with a fixed-price Discovery — typically around $10,000 — and get your process mapped, your screens designed, and a real number for the build. If it doesn't bring full clarity to your solution, you get your money back.
or your money back.
What does it cost?
Discovery is fixed-price and quoted up front. Most land around $10,000; a single well-defined workflow can be $5,000, and something with several user types and integrations runs to $20,000. That's the only number you need today — and the only commitment we'll ask you to make. For context, here's roughly where full builds land once Discovery has scoped yours properly.
Starter
From $50k / build
A focused system for one team or one workflow.
Growth
$200k / build
A multi-feature platform with integrations and ongoing iteration.
Enterprise
$400k+ / build
Business-critical systems, multiple integrations, staged rollout.
Every build is quoted off a Discovery, never off a phone call. We'd rather give you a number we can stand behind than a cheap one we can't.
Don't want the big CapEx spend up front?
Talk to us about our Bespoke SaaS delivery model — all the benefits of custom software, paid monthly, with full IP handover at the end of the term.
Discovery is a deliverable, not a sales meeting.
Most firms will scope your project for free, then bury the cost in the build. We charge for Discovery because it's real work with real output — and because paying for it means you own what comes out, whether or not you build it with us. Here's exactly what lands on your desk.
You get your process, written down
We sit with the people who'll use the software every day and document how the work actually runs — intake, approvals, handoffs, the exceptions everyone works around. In your team's language, not ours. Most clients tell us this document is worth the fee on its own.
You get the screens, designed
Whiteboards first, then real designs for the screens your team will live in. Seeing the thing surfaces disagreements about how the work flows in seconds — the kind a written spec would let slide silently into the build.
You get a clickable prototype
Realistic enough that your team can use it, break it, and tell us what's wrong — cheaply, before a line of production code exists. This is where the expensive surprises get found.
You get a scope you can hold us to
What's being built, what isn't, and in what order. Written so that both sides can point at it later. No moving target, no discovery-by-invoice once the build is underway.
You get a real number for the build
A costed estimate grounded in a design that's already been tested with your team — not a guess against a two-page brief. Take it to your board. Take it to another firm if you'd rather. It's yours.
AND IF YOU WALK AWAY?
You keep all of it — the process documentation, the designs, the prototype, the scope and the estimate. Take it to your board, your internal team, or another development firm. We'd rather lose the build than have you commit to one you're not sure about.
Full clarity, or your money back.
Discovery exists to answer one question: what does your solution actually look like? If we get to the end and you don't have that clarity, you don't pay for it. Not a partial refund, not a credit against a future build — your money back. We've run this process for 30 years and we're comfortable putting the fee behind it.
You carry no risk
The fee is refundable if Discovery doesn't deliver. The only thing you're committing today is a few weeks of your team's time.
You keep the output
Documentation, designs, prototype, scope and estimate are yours either way — refund or not, build with us or not.
No obligation to build
Discovery is a standalone engagement. Plenty of clients take the output to their board first. Some take it elsewhere. That's the deal.
Guarantee applies to the Discovery engagement fee. Full terms are set out in the Discovery engagement agreement and we'll walk you through them before anything is signed.
Software in the wild.
Thirty years of builds that are still running. A few we can talk about publicly.
The software is a perfect blend of the best of both our companies' thinking. We can't speak highly enough of the work Alliance Software has done.
Marcus Andrews
Founder & Counsellor, Life Supports Counselling
Thirty years of not disappearing.
Custom software is a long relationship with whoever builds it. Worth knowing who you're getting into one with.
One team, start to finish
Design, build, deploy and keep improving. The people who scoped it are the people who build it — not a relay race between a strategy firm, an offshore dev shop and a support vendor.
Senior Australian engineers
No offshore relays, no junior-led builds, no overnight handoffs. People you can sit in a room with when a decision actually matters.
You own all of it
The code, the data, the designs, the IP — yours from day one. No lock-in, no per-seat licence creeping up every year, no mystery codebase you can't hand to anyone else.
Find out what you're actually building.
Tell us roughly what you have in mind. We'll come back with an honest read on whether Discovery is the right next step, what it would cost for something your size, and whether we're the right firm for it.
- Fixed-price Discovery, typically around $10,000
- Full clarity on your solution, or your money back
- You own everything Discovery produces — code, designs and IP
- Senior Australian engineers, 30+ year track record
Prefer to talk? Call us on 03 9955 7000