Off-the-shelf software works until it doesn't. When your business processes don't fit standard tools, or when you're fighting software instead of using it, custom web applications become the answer.
Custom doesn't mean complex or expensive. It means built for your specific needs, your workflows, and your future. Done right, a custom application becomes competitive advantage rather than IT overhead.
When Custom Makes Sense
The build vs buy decision is not about capability. Most off-the-shelf tools can technically do what you need. The question is whether the friction of adapting your business to their assumptions costs more than building something that fits.
Good candidates for custom applications
- Core business processes: The operations that differentiate you from competitors
- Complex workflows: Multi-step processes with conditions, approvals, and exceptions
- Integration requirements: Connecting multiple systems that don't talk to each other
- Unique data models: Information structures that standard software can't represent
- Competitive advantage: Capabilities you don't want competitors to simply buy
When off-the-shelf is better
- Standard functions (accounting, email, CRM basics)
- Rapidly evolving domains where vendors invest heavily
- Commoditised processes with no competitive differentiation
- When you need something working tomorrow, not next month
Build custom where it matters. Buy standard where it doesn't. The goal is not to build everything yourself. The goal is to own the parts that define your business.
Application Architecture Decisions
Every web application makes architectural decisions that determine its long-term maintainability, performance characteristics, and operational costs. These decisions are difficult to change later. Getting them right from the start matters.
Rendering strategies
Where HTML gets generated determines application performance, SEO characteristics, and development complexity. There is no universally correct answer. The choice depends on your specific requirements.
Server-side rendering (SSR)
HTML generated on the server for each request. The browser receives complete pages. Good for content sites, SEO-critical applications, and situations where JavaScript must not be required.
Trade-off: Server load scales with traffic. Time to first byte depends on server response time. Every interaction that changes the page requires a round trip.
Client-side rendering (CSR)
Server sends minimal HTML and JavaScript. The browser builds the interface. Good for highly interactive applications where users are logged in and SEO is not relevant.
Trade-off: Initial load slower (must download and execute JavaScript). Requires JavaScript. Search engines may not index content properly.
Hybrid approaches
Initial render on server, subsequent interactions handled on client. Frameworks like Laravel Livewire, Inertia.js, and HTMX enable this pattern. Good for applications that need both SEO and interactivity.
Trade-off: More complex mental model. Must understand both server and client concerns. Some edge cases where the two contexts diverge.
Static generation with hydration
Pages pre-built at deploy time, served from CDN. JavaScript adds interactivity after load. Good for content that changes infrequently but needs dynamic elements.
Trade-off: Build times grow with site size. Content updates require rebuild and deploy. Not suitable for user-specific or frequently changing content.
Our default: server-rendered with selective interactivity
For most business applications, we start with server-side rendering and add client-side interactivity where it genuinely improves the experience. This approach provides fast initial loads, works without JavaScript for core functionality, and remains SEO-friendly where relevant.
Laravel's Blade templates handle server rendering. For interactive components, we reach for Livewire (server-managed state with real-time updates) or Alpine.js (lightweight client-side behaviour). This combination covers most business application needs without the complexity of a full single-page application framework.
When we reach for Vue or React: Full client-side frameworks make sense for applications with complex, highly interactive interfaces: visual editors, real-time collaboration tools, data-heavy dashboards with extensive filtering and drilling. For CRUD forms and data tables, they add complexity without proportional benefit.
Why We Use Laravel
Framework choice is a 10-year decision. The application you build today will need maintenance, updates, and new features for years. The framework must remain viable, staffable, and productive over that timeframe.
We build with Laravel, a PHP framework with over a decade of maturity and an ecosystem that handles most business application requirements out of the box.
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Proven at scale Powers applications serving millions of users. Disney+, Twitch, and The New York Times use Laravel.
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Comprehensive Authentication, authorisation, queues, scheduling, caching, file storage, email, notifications, and full-text search built in. Less time integrating third-party packages.
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Well-documented Exceptional documentation and learning resources. New team members get productive quickly.
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Talent availability Large pool of experienced developers. You are not dependent on a small group of specialists.
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Long-term viability Active development with predictable release schedule. Semantic versioning. Clear upgrade paths. Applications we built on Laravel 5 have upgraded through every major version.
The ecosystem
Laravel's first-party packages solve common problems with consistent APIs and documentation quality.
| Package | Purpose | What it replaces |
|---|---|---|
| Laravel Forge | Server provisioning and deployment | Custom deployment scripts, manual server setup |
| Laravel Vapor | Serverless deployment on AWS Lambda | Complex AWS configuration, container orchestration |
| Laravel Horizon | Queue monitoring and management | Custom queue dashboards, manual worker management |
| Laravel Scout | Full-text search abstraction | Direct Elasticsearch/Algolia integration |
| Laravel Sanctum | API authentication (SPA and mobile) | Custom token systems, JWT libraries |
| Laravel Livewire | Reactive interfaces without JavaScript frameworks | Vue/React for simple interactivity |
Why not [trendy framework]?
New frameworks appear constantly. We evaluate them all. Most are reinventing problems Laravel solved years ago, or solving problems most businesses do not have. When we choose technology, we optimise for:
- Longevity: Will it be maintained in 10 years? Laravel's track record since 2011 provides confidence.
- Ecosystem: Can we find packages, developers, answers? Laravel's community is enormous.
- Productivity: Can we build features quickly? Laravel's conventions eliminate boilerplate.
- Stability: Can we upgrade without rewriting? Laravel's semantic versioning and upgrade guides make version bumps predictable.
Laravel excels on all four.
Our Monolith-First Philosophy
A monolith is a single, unified application. All the code lives together, deploys together, and runs together. This is in contrast to microservices, where functionality is split across many small applications that communicate over networks.
The industry has spent the last decade convincing developers that monoliths are bad and microservices are the future. This advice, originating from companies with thousands of engineers working on a single product, has been misapplied to businesses with five developers.
Why we start with monoliths
- Simpler deployment: One application to deploy, monitor, and maintain. One CI/CD pipeline. One set of credentials.
- Easier development: No network calls between services. No distributed debugging. No version coordination.
- Lower cost: Less infrastructure. Fewer running processes. Simpler monitoring.
- Faster iteration: Change anything without coordinating multiple deployments. Refactor across boundaries freely.
Structured monoliths
Monolith does not mean messy. We build with clear boundaries:
- Modular organisation within the codebase (domain directories, not technical directories)
- Clear interfaces between modules (DTOs, service classes, not direct database queries)
- Separation of concerns through architecture, not network topology
- Queues and events for asynchronous processing within the monolith
The microservices myth
Microservices solve organisational problems, not technical ones. They exist so that separate teams can deploy independently without coordinating releases. If you have hundreds of developers, that coordination overhead is significant. If you have five developers, microservices add complexity without benefit.
A well-structured monolith can handle significant scale. Shopify runs on a monolith serving millions of stores. When parts genuinely need extraction (usually years into a successful product, when specific components need independent scaling), that extraction is straightforward from a clean codebase. Starting with microservices is premature optimisation that you pay for immediately and may never benefit from.
When microservices make sense
Microservices are not wrong. They are a tool for specific situations.
- Different scaling requirements: One component needs 100x the resources of others
- Different technology needs: A specific component genuinely requires a different runtime (ML in Python, real-time in Go)
- Organisational boundaries: Separate teams need to deploy independently
- Fault isolation: A failure in one component must not bring down everything
If none of these apply, a monolith is simpler, cheaper, and faster to develop.
Database Design
The database schema is the hardest part of an application to change later. Tables, columns, and relationships become embedded in queries throughout the codebase. Changing them means changing everything that touches them. Getting the data model right from the start saves significant rework.
PostgreSQL by default
We use PostgreSQL for most applications. It handles relational data, JSON documents, full-text search, and geospatial queries in a single database. This eliminates the operational complexity of running separate systems for different data types.
Why PostgreSQL
- JSONB columns: Store semi-structured data alongside relational data. Query JSON fields with indexes. No separate document store needed.
- Full-text search: Built-in text search with ranking, stemming, and multiple languages. Good enough for most applications without Elasticsearch.
- Reliable replication: Streaming replication, logical replication, point-in-time recovery. Mature, well-understood backup and failover.
- Extensions: PostGIS for geospatial, pg_trgm for fuzzy matching, TimescaleDB for time series. Extend capabilities without changing databases.
- Constraints and validation: CHECK constraints, exclusion constraints, domain types. Push validation into the database where it cannot be bypassed.
Schema design principles
Database schema design for business applications follows consistent patterns.
Migrations and versioning
Database changes go through version-controlled migrations. Every schema change is a migration file that can be applied forward or rolled back. The database schema is reproducible from the migration history. No manual changes to production databases.
Migrations include both the change and its reversal. Before deploying, we verify that migrations can be rolled back without data loss. This enables rapid rollback if a deployment causes problems.
State Management
State management becomes complex as applications grow. User sessions, form state, cached data, and real-time updates all need to be tracked, synchronised, and persisted appropriately. Poor state management creates bugs that are difficult to reproduce and fix.
Server-side state (the default)
For most business applications, the server is the source of truth. Client state is a cache that may be stale. This model is simpler to reason about and avoids the complexity of client-side state management libraries.
- Session data: Stored in Redis or database. Survives page refreshes. Shared across tabs. Expires automatically.
- Form state: Submitted to server. Validation happens server-side. Errors returned with the response.
- User preferences: Stored in the user record. Retrieved on each request. No synchronisation needed.
Livewire enables reactive server-rendered interfaces without moving state to the client. The component state lives on the server. User interactions send requests that update server state, which re-renders the component and returns the diff. This provides the feel of a client-side application while keeping state management simple.
Client-side state (when necessary)
Some interfaces require client-side state: complex forms with many interdependent fields, visual editors, real-time collaboration. For these cases, we use structured approaches.
Alpine.js for simple state
Component-level state declared inline. Good for dropdowns, modals, tabs, and simple form interactions. State lives in the DOM, initialised from server-rendered attributes. No build step required.
Vue/React for complex state
Application-level state management (Pinia, Redux) when multiple components share state and state transitions are complex. Justified for rich interactive features, not for standard CRUD interfaces.
Caching strategies
Caching reduces database load and improves response times, but introduces complexity around invalidation. Stale cache data causes bugs that are difficult to diagnose.
| Cache type | Use case | Invalidation strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Query cache | Expensive database queries | Clear on relevant model changes |
| Fragment cache | Rendered HTML partials | Time-based expiry or model timestamps |
| Full-page cache | Public pages | Clear on content changes |
| Session cache | User-specific computed data | Clear on logout or data changes |
| External API cache | Third-party API responses | Respect cache headers or time-based |
We use Redis for application caching. It handles cache, sessions, and queue storage in a single service. The Laravel cache abstraction allows switching backends without code changes if requirements change.
Authentication and Authorisation
Authentication verifies identity (who you are). Authorisation determines access (what you can do). Both are security-critical. Getting them wrong exposes customer data, enables fraud, and creates compliance violations.
Authentication patterns
Different applications require different authentication approaches. The choice depends on the application type and security requirements.
Session-based authentication (web applications)
Traditional web authentication. User logs in, server creates session, session ID stored in cookie. Every request includes the cookie. Server validates session and retrieves user.
- Sessions stored in Redis or database (not filesystem)
- Secure, HTTP-only, SameSite cookies
- Session regeneration on privilege changes
- Configurable expiry with activity-based extension
Token-based authentication (APIs and SPAs)
Stateless authentication for APIs. User authenticates, receives token, includes token in subsequent requests. No server-side session storage required.
- Laravel Sanctum for first-party SPAs (cookie-based tokens with CSRF protection)
- Personal access tokens for third-party API access
- Token abilities (scopes) for permission granularity
- Token expiry and revocation
OAuth for third-party integration
When users authorise your application to access their data on another service, or when other applications need to access your users' data.
- Laravel Socialite for "Login with Google/GitHub/etc."
- Laravel Passport for OAuth2 server implementation
- Proper state parameter handling to prevent CSRF
- PKCE for public clients (mobile, SPA)
Authorisation patterns
Authorisation logic determines what authenticated users can do. Laravel provides multiple abstractions for different complexity levels.
Simple checks. Can this user publish posts? Gates are closures that return true/false. Good for application-wide abilities not tied to specific models.
Model-specific rules. Can this user edit this post? Policies group authorisation logic for a specific model. Standard actions (view, create, update, delete) plus custom actions.
Flexible assignment. Users have roles. Roles have permissions. Permissions checked in gates/policies. Spatie Laravel Permission handles the database structure and caching.
Authorisation checks happen at multiple layers: middleware (can access this route?), controller (can perform this action?), view (should show this button?), and model scope (which records can they see?). Defence in depth prevents bypasses.
Progressive Enhancement and Accessibility
Progressive enhancement means building applications that work at a baseline level for everyone, then adding features for capable browsers and devices. Accessibility means ensuring people with disabilities can use the application. Both are requirements, not nice-to-haves.
Progressive enhancement in practice
Core functionality should work without JavaScript. Forms should submit. Links should navigate. Content should be readable. JavaScript enhances the experience but is not required for basic operation.
Accessibility requirements
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA is the standard we build to. This is not optional. It is a legal requirement in many jurisdictions and the right thing to do.
| Requirement | Implementation | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Keyboard navigation | All interactive elements focusable and operable with keyboard | Users with motor impairments, power users |
| Screen reader support | Semantic HTML, ARIA labels where needed, alt text on images | Blind and low-vision users |
| Colour contrast | 4.5:1 ratio for normal text, 3:1 for large text | Low-vision users, bright environments |
| Focus indicators | Visible focus styles on all interactive elements | Keyboard users need to see where they are |
| Form labels | Every input has an associated label element | Screen readers announce field purpose |
| Error identification | Errors described in text, not just colour | Colour-blind users cannot rely on red |
We test with keyboard-only navigation, screen readers (VoiceOver, NVDA), and automated accessibility checkers (axe, Lighthouse). Accessibility issues caught in development are cheap to fix. Issues caught after launch are expensive and create legal exposure.
SEO for Web Applications
Search engine optimisation matters for applications with public-facing pages. Product catalogues, content management systems, and customer portals all benefit from search traffic. Applications behind login walls have different requirements but still need attention to technical SEO.
Technical SEO fundamentals
Server-side rendering for crawlable content
Search engines execute JavaScript but prefer HTML. Server-rendered pages are indexed faster and more reliably. For public content that should rank, render on the server.
Proper URL structure
Clean, descriptive URLs. /products/blue-widget-xl not /products?id=12345. Consistent URL patterns. Canonical tags to prevent duplicate content issues.
Meta tags and structured data
Title tags, meta descriptions, Open Graph tags for social sharing. JSON-LD structured data for rich snippets. Dynamic generation from content where possible.
Performance
Core Web Vitals affect ranking. Fast time to first byte, efficient asset loading, minimal layout shift. Performance is SEO.
Sitemap and crawl management
XML sitemaps tell search engines what pages exist and when they changed. For dynamic applications, sitemaps are generated programmatically from the database.
- Sitemap generation as a scheduled task (daily for most applications)
- Split large sitemaps into chunks (50,000 URL limit per file)
- Include lastmod dates based on actual content updates
- Robots.txt to control crawler access to admin areas and API endpoints
- Noindex tags on search results, filtered views, and other non-canonical pages
Testing Strategy
Untested code is a liability. Tests provide confidence that changes do not break existing functionality. They serve as documentation of expected behaviour. They enable refactoring without fear. The question is not whether to test, but what and how.
Testing pyramid
Different test types serve different purposes. A balanced test suite has many unit tests, fewer integration tests, and fewer still end-to-end tests.
Unit tests
Fast, isolated, many
Integration tests
Database, HTTP, moderate
Feature tests
Full request cycle, focused
Browser tests
End-to-end, critical paths
What we test
Continuous integration
Tests run automatically on every push. Pull requests cannot merge with failing tests. The test suite must run fast enough that developers do not skip it. Slow tests are technical debt.
- Parallel test execution where possible
- In-memory SQLite for unit tests, PostgreSQL for integration tests
- Test database reset between tests (transactions or migrations)
- Coverage reports to identify untested code (not as a metric to game)
Deployment and Hosting
Deployment should be boring. Push code, tests run, application deploys, users see updates. No manual steps. No SSH into servers. No copying files. Boring deployments mean reliable deployments.
Deployment options
Traditional servers (Forge)
Laravel Forge provisions Ubuntu servers on AWS, DigitalOcean, or other providers. Handles Nginx, PHP, SSL, and deployment scripts. You manage scaling.
Good for: Predictable traffic, cost-sensitive projects, applications needing full server control.
Serverless (Vapor)
Laravel Vapor deploys to AWS Lambda. Automatic scaling. Pay per request. No server maintenance. Database, cache, and storage as managed services.
Good for: Variable traffic, applications that need to scale instantly, teams without ops expertise.
Containers (Kubernetes)
Docker containers orchestrated by Kubernetes. Maximum flexibility. Complex setup. Requires dedicated ops knowledge.
Good for: Large teams, applications with specific infrastructure requirements, organisations with existing Kubernetes expertise.
Platform as a Service
Heroku, Render, Railway. Git push deploys. Managed infrastructure. Higher cost per resource but lower operational burden.
Good for: Small teams, MVPs, applications where development speed matters more than infrastructure cost.
Our default: Forge on DigitalOcean
For most business applications, Laravel Forge on DigitalOcean provides the best balance of control, cost, and simplicity. Predictable monthly costs. Full server access when needed. Deployment automation without the complexity of containers.
Zero-downtime deployment
Users should not notice deployments. Envoyer (or Forge's deployment scripts) handles zero-downtime deploys with release directories and atomic symlink switching.
Clone release. New code deployed to fresh directory.
Install dependencies. Composer install, npm build in the new directory.
Run migrations. Database changes applied.
Switch symlink. Current release now points to new directory. Atomic operation.
Restart workers. Queue workers and schedulers pick up new code.
Rollback is switching the symlink back to the previous release. If something goes wrong, recovery takes seconds, not hours.
Monitoring and Observability
Applications in production need monitoring. Errors should be caught and reported before users complain. Performance degradation should be visible before it becomes critical. Knowing what your application is doing is not optional.
Error tracking
Exceptions should not disappear into log files. Sentry, Bugsnag, or similar services capture exceptions with full context: stack trace, request data, user information, breadcrumbs of events leading to the error.
- Automatic grouping of similar errors
- Alerts when new errors appear or error rates spike
- Release tracking to correlate errors with deployments
- Integration with issue trackers for workflow
Application Performance Monitoring (APM)
APM tools trace requests through the application stack. They show where time is spent: database queries, external API calls, view rendering. When the application is slow, APM shows why.
- Request tracing with timing breakdown
- Slow query identification
- N+1 query detection
- Memory usage tracking
- Queue job monitoring
Laravel Telescope provides first-party APM for development. For production, we use Scout APM, New Relic, or similar services that can handle production traffic without impacting performance.
Uptime and health checks
External monitoring services verify the application is reachable and responding correctly. They alert when the application is down before users report it.
- HTTP health check endpoint that verifies database connectivity, cache availability, and queue processing
- Monitoring from multiple geographic locations
- Alert escalation (Slack first, SMS if not acknowledged)
- Status page for transparency during incidents
What We Build
We build web applications for businesses whose needs do not fit off-the-shelf software. The applications share common patterns but serve different purposes.
Internal tools
Applications your team uses daily: CRM systems, project management, operations dashboards, reporting tools. Built around how you actually work, not how a software vendor thinks you should work.
Customer portals
Self-service interfaces for your customers: account management, order tracking, support requests, document access. Reduce support load while improving customer experience.
Business automation
Systems that handle complex workflows: approvals, notifications, data processing, integrations. Replacing manual work with reliable automation that runs without supervision.
Data applications
Applications centred on collecting, processing, and presenting data: dashboards, analytics tools, reporting systems. Turn raw data into actionable information.
How We Build
Building custom software is not just writing code. It is understanding the problem, designing the right solution, and iterating based on real usage.
Discovery first
Before writing code, we understand your business:
- What problem are we solving? (Not "what features do you want?")
- Who will use this system? (Personas, not demographics)
- What does success look like? (Measurable outcomes)
- What existing systems must we integrate with?
- What constraints exist? (Timeline, budget, compliance)
Iterative delivery
We do not disappear for six months and emerge with a finished product. Development proceeds in short cycles:
- Build a working increment (1-2 weeks)
- Show it to real users
- Gather feedback and adjust course
- Repeat
Each cycle produces something usable. Course corrections happen early, when they are cheap.
Production-ready throughout. Every increment is deployable. Real users can use real features as they are completed. This reduces risk and accelerates value delivery.
Testing and quality. We write tests as we build. Automated testing catches regressions before they reach production. Code review ensures quality and knowledge sharing. Technical debt is tracked and addressed, not ignored.
After Launch
Launch is the beginning, not the end. Successful applications evolve based on real usage, changing business requirements, and emerging opportunities.
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Users discover needs nobody anticipated Real usage reveals gaps and opportunities. We adapt and add features based on actual behaviour, not assumptions.
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Business requirements change New products, new markets, new regulations. The system evolves with your organisation.
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Security updates and patches Laravel releases security patches. Dependencies have vulnerabilities. Ongoing maintenance keeps everything secure and current.
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Performance optimisation Real traffic reveals bottlenecks. Database queries that were fast with 1,000 records become slow with 1,000,000. We monitor and optimise.
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Knowledge transfer Your application should not depend on us forever. We document thoroughly and can train your team to handle day-to-day maintenance.
What You Get
Web applications built with these patterns share common characteristics.
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Fit your business Built around your processes, not generic assumptions. The software adapts to you, not the reverse.
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Launch quickly Iterative development means working software early. You are not waiting months before seeing results.
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Stay maintainable Clean architecture that future developers can understand. Comprehensive tests. Documentation. You are not locked to one vendor.
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Scale with you Simple start, complexity added when genuinely needed. The architecture supports growth without requiring rewrites.
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Keep running Monitoring catches problems. Deployment is automated. Backups are tested. The application runs reliably without constant attention.
Software that fits your business, not the other way around.
Build Your Web Application
We build custom web applications for businesses whose needs do not fit off-the-shelf software. Internal tools, customer portals, workflow automation: built with Laravel and designed to last.
Your competitive advantage, not someone else's product.
Let's discuss your application needs →