A system shaped around the processes you already run: inventory, supply, manufacturing, money, and the exchange with marketplaces and warehouses. Process teardown first, code second, not the other way round. Systems built this way are running in production, and each one has a demo you can click through to see how it works inside.
When the boxed product stops coping
An off-the-shelf ERP covers a standard process cheaper than any custom build. Building your own starts to make sense when at least two of these four signs are present.
The process lives in spreadsheets
Key decisions are made from a file one person maintains. That person goes on holiday and the decisions stop.
Data is entered twice
The same item goes into the marketplace account, the warehouse software and the report. Discrepancies surface weeks later.
The box gets patched
Customising a boxed system costs as much as building, yet the result stays foreign: updates break it and there are no sources.
The numbers do not add up
Revenue is visible, profit per unit is not. Commission, logistics, storage and ads are smeared across separate reports.
What the work includes
The scope is shaped per project, but the skeleton is the same every time. Below is what was actually in each build, not a list of capabilities in general.
Data model
A schema with migrations: item, stock, order, document, money. Every schema change is its own step, and it can be rolled back.
Integrations
Exchange with marketplaces, warehouse systems and messengers. Everything outbound runs on a schedule, the interface reads our own database.
Roles and access
A warehouse worker, a manager, an accountant and the owner see different things. Permission is checked on the page and again in the server action.
Working screens
Not reports for the sake of reports, but the screens people sit in front of daily: receiving, shipping, replenishment, prices.
Automated tests
Calculation rules are covered by tests: pricing, cost of goods, status transitions. So a fix in one place does not break the next one.
Launch and handover
Server, one-command deploy, backups, monitoring. A README per module recording the decisions taken and why.
How the work runs
- Process teardown. I look at how the job is done today: people, files, software, where things leak. It ends with a written scope and a price. The stage is separate and stands on its own.
- First working piece. One whole process reaches production, rather than half of everything at once. The system starts paying off before development finishes.
- Growth one contour at a time. Each next process is added next to a working one. You choose the order, not the sequence in my head.
- Handover. Access, server and code are yours. Documentation covers decisions, not buttons: what the code does is visible from the code, why it does it that way is visible only from the README.
What it looks like in practice
Each system has a detailed teardown and a clickable demo on fictional data. Client names are withheld, the numbers are real.
Common questions
What does a custom ERP cost
No honest number exists before the process teardown, and anyone quoting one upfront is quoting someone else's project. The teardown is a short separate stage and ends with a written scope and a price. After it you can walk away and take that document to any contractor.
Why build instead of buying an off-the-shelf ERP
No reason at all, as long as the boxed product fits the process. Custom earns its place when the process already works and makes money, and the box demands you rebuild it. Usually that is a seam between several systems: a marketplace, a warehouse, manufacturing and your own pricing logic.
What happens if the developer disappears
The code and the server are yours from day one, access is registered to you. Every module carries a README with the decisions and the reasons, automated tests and database migrations. That is the insurance: the next person reads the README, runs the tests and continues.
How long does it take
The first working piece usually reaches production in weeks rather than quarters, because the system is assembled one process at a time. The full contour depends on the number of integrations and on how clean the incoming data is.
Do you only work with marketplace sellers
No. Marketplaces come up often because that is where I came from: before consulting I was COO of an e-commerce company doing 4 million dollars a month. Manufacturing, warehousing and service businesses are built differently, but the teardown and the way the system is assembled are the same.
If this sounds like your situation, write a couple of lines about the process that hurts: LinkedIn or Telegram. What comes back is questions about the work, not a pitch deck.