McDorcis Solutions

Guide · Updated for the Kenyan market

What custom software costs in Kenya

We are not going to print a price list, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What we can do is show you the four shapes of work, how they compare in size, what actually moves the number, and the questions worth putting to any firm that quotes you — including us.

Four shapes of work

Almost every project we take on is one of these four. Find the one that sounds like your situation — it is the fastest way to know roughly what you are dealing with before you speak to anybody.

Single process automation

Smallest engagement we take on

One well-defined job taken off a person's plate — a nightly reconciliation, a recurring data entry task, a scheduled download and check. The usual starting point, because it proves the approach before anyone commits to a programme.

What is included

  • Discovery of the current process as it actually runs
  • Build, test, and deployment of the automation
  • Exception handling and alerting
  • Monitoring and fixes for an agreed period

Suits you if: One repetitive task is absorbing hours every week and you want evidence before a larger commitment.

Internal tool or departmental system

Several times a single automation

The system that replaces a spreadsheet an entire team depends on. One record everybody works from, with permissions, an audit trail, and reporting that does not need assembling by hand.

What is included

  • Requirements and process design
  • Web application with role-based access
  • Reporting and export
  • Data migration from existing spreadsheets or files
  • Training and handover

Suits you if: A core part of the business runs on shared files, email threads, and one person who knows how it all fits together.

Multi-user platform with mobile

Several times a departmental system

Field staff capturing structured data on a phone, an office dashboard acting on it in real time, and customers or clients with their own view. This is the shape of the Texas SoluTech build.

What is included

  • Mobile application, offline-tolerant
  • Backend API and database
  • Web dashboard for review and approval
  • Client or customer portal
  • Document generation and file storage

Suits you if: Work happens away from a desk and the office currently finds out about it later, by phone or on paper.

Integration and legacy modernisation

Driven by what exists, not by what gets built

Connecting systems that were never designed to talk, or replacing part of an older system without stopping the business. This is the one tier where a bigger budget does not reliably mean a bigger system — most of the cost is in understanding and reconciling what is already there.

What is included

  • Audit of existing systems and data
  • Integration layer or phased replacement
  • Data migration and reconciliation
  • Parallel running before cutover

Suits you if: A core system cannot be replaced but is holding everything else back, or two systems both hold the truth and disagree.

Why we will not print a price list

Two projects that sound identical across a table can differ by a factor of three once you look at what is underneath. The same described system costs one thing when it stands alone and something else entirely when it has to agree with a decade of records in a system nobody has documented.

A published range that was wide enough to be honest would be too wide to be useful. A range narrow enough to be useful would have to be walked back in half the conversations it started — and being quoted one number and invoiced another is the single most common complaint we hear about this industry.

So we quote after discovery, in writing, against a defined scope. If scope genuinely cannot be pinned down first, we scope the discovery itself as its own small fixed piece of work, so you are never signing something open-ended.

What actually moves the number

Two projects that sound identical in a first meeting can differ by a factor of three. These are the reasons, roughly in the order they matter.

How many systems are involved
One system is a build. Three systems that must agree with each other is a different job, and most of the extra cost is in reconciling what they each believe rather than in the software itself.
The state of the data you already have
Migrating clean, consistent records is quick. Migrating fifteen years of spreadsheets where the same customer appears four ways is often the single largest line in a quote, and it is the one most often left out of cheaper estimates.
Whether an integration path exists
If a system offers a proper interface, connecting to it is straightforward. If it does not, the work becomes automation driving a screen — cheaper to build, more expensive to keep running.
Compliance and audit requirements
Needing to prove who did what and when changes the design throughout, not just at the end. It is worth stating this at the start rather than discovering it during a regulator's visit.
How much has to keep running during the change
Replacing something nobody depends on yet is simple. Replacing something the business runs on, without stopping, means parallel running and a cutover plan — real work that a low estimate has usually skipped.

A real one

From clipboard to platform: 1,000 audit reports a week

Texas SoluTech's field engineers produced electrical safety audits on paper — 2 to 5 days per report. We built a mobile-to-cloud audit platform that now carries over 1,000 reports a week across eight audit types.

In the tiers above this was a multi-user platform with mobile: a React Native app for field engineers, an API holding the record, a web dashboard for review and approval, and a client portal. The client is named and linked from the case study, so you can check any of it.

Read the full case study

Questions to ask anyone quoting you

Including us. If a quote does not address these, the difference turns up later as a variation rather than as a saving.

  1. Does the quote include migrating our existing data, and who is responsible if it turns out to be messier than expected?
  2. What happens to the price if we discover a system has no integration path halfway through?
  3. Is maintenance after launch included, quoted separately, or not addressed?
  4. Who owns the code and the data if we stop working together?
  5. Will the system keep running during the change, and is the cutover plan part of this quote?
  6. Which named people will do the work, and will we be able to speak to them directly?

FAQ

Cost questions we get asked

How much does custom software cost in Kenya?

It depends on how many systems are involved, the state of the data being migrated, and whether anything has to keep running during the change — which is why we quote after discovery rather than from a price list. For relative scale: a single process automation is the smallest engagement we take on, a departmental system is several times that, and a multi-user platform with a mobile app is several times again. The quote itself is fixed and in writing, against a scope agreed before any build starts.

Why do quotes for the same project differ so much?

Usually because they are not the same project. The cheaper quote has often excluded data migration, parallel running during cutover, or ongoing maintenance — the three things most likely to be discovered late. When comparing quotes, check what each one says about those specifically.

Is it cheaper to buy off-the-shelf software than to build?

Often, yes, and we will say so. Building is worth it when your process is genuinely a differentiator, when licence costs scale badly with your headcount, or when no product fits without changing how the business works. If an existing product fits, the honest advice is to buy it.

What does ongoing maintenance cost after launch?

Software that is being used needs changing — that is a sign of success rather than of a fault. Budget for it as an ongoing line rather than a one-off, and agree what it covers in writing before launch. We scope maintenance alongside the build rather than presenting it afterwards.

Can we start small and expand?

That is what we recommend. Take the single most repetitive process, put it into production, and use what you learn to scope the next piece. It costs less to find out early that a process needs rethinking than to discover it at the end of a large build.

Do you charge fixed price or by the hour?

Fixed price against a scope agreed in writing after discovery, so you are approving a defined piece of work rather than an open-ended retainer. Where scope genuinely cannot be pinned down up front, we scope the discovery itself as its own small fixed piece.

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Westlands Road,
Westlands,
Nairobi, Kenya

T: +254704093039

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