App Development
Strategy, design, and build in one team. No brief crossing a company boundary, no developer receiving a design nobody checked was buildable.
Why app projects overrun
They failed at the seams, where one company handed something to another and assumptions went missing.
01
Screens that look excellent in a presentation and turn into a three-week argument the moment a developer opens the file and asks what happens when the list is empty.
02
Nobody wrote down what version one actually includes, so every fortnight brings a new feature that was apparently always part of it.
03
It shipped. Then the first OS update broke it, nobody documented anything, and the original developer isn't answering.
04
A responsive site would have done the job for a fraction of the cost, but the agency was never going to be the one to say that out loud.
What we build
The right approach depends on what the app does, not on what's currently popular.
Native iOS built in Swift for apps that lean on device hardware, need serious performance, or live in an Apple-first user base.
iOS DevelopmentNative Android in Kotlin, built to behave properly across the enormous range of devices and screen sizes people actually own.
Android DevelopmentReact Native or Flutter, one codebase on both stores. Usually the right call, and considerably cheaper to maintain long term.
Cross-PlatformTechnologies we work with
For most business apps, cross-platform is the sensible answer. Native makes sense when you're pushing the hardware or when the experience has to feel completely at home on one platform. We'll tell you which situation you're in before you commit a budget.
What you get
Scope varies enormously between projects. These run through all of them.
How we work
The fastest way to waste a year is to build every feature before anyone has used the first one.
STEP 01
What the app is for, who uses it, and whether it needs to be an app at all.
STEP 02
Version one written down in detail, with a fixed quote and a list of what's deferred.
STEP 03
Flows, screens, and a clickable prototype you approve before code gets written.
STEP 04
A testable build every two weeks. You see progress rather than waiting for a reveal.
STEP 05
Store submission, launch monitoring, then handover or an ongoing support plan.
Designers and developers sit on the same team here. Nothing gets designed that can't be built, and nothing gets quietly simplified during development because a screen turned out to be impractical.
Investment
Quoted against a written scope, with a clear list of what's in and what's deferred.
A simple utility app and a marketplace with payments, messaging, and two user types are not remotely the same project. We won't pretend otherwise with a package price. The starting figure covers focused, single-purpose builds.
What moves the number: how many screens, whether you need a backend built from scratch, how many third-party integrations, whether it's native or cross-platform, and whether both stores are in scope.
Starting from
$1,500
per project
Final pricing quoted against a written scope after the discovery call.
Get a scoped priceWorth knowing
An app is one of the most expensive things you can build and one of the hardest to get people to install.
Common questions
Eight to twelve weeks for a focused first version. Anything with multiple user types, payments, or real-time features runs longer, often considerably.
We give you a sprint plan with the quote so you can see what lands when rather than waiting in the dark.
Cross-platform for most business apps. One codebase, both stores, roughly half the ongoing maintenance cost, and the performance gap has closed enough that users won't notice.
Native when you're doing heavy graphics, complex camera work, tight hardware integration, or when one platform is where essentially all your users are.
Yes, all of it. The app publishes under your own developer accounts, not ours, and the source code is handed over with documentation.
Agencies that publish client apps under their own account are creating leverage over you. Ask anyone who has tried to move an app to a new developer afterwards.
Apps need ongoing work in a way websites don't. Both platforms release major updates every year and will eventually stop accepting builds made with older tools.
We offer a support plan covering OS compatibility, bug fixes, and store requirements. If you'd rather handle it in-house, we document everything so another team can pick it up.
Yes, and it happens on a fair number of these calls. Often a progressive web app or a well-built responsive site does the job for a fraction of the cost and reaches people who would never install anything.
We build websites too, so recommending one instead doesn't cost us the work.
Usually. We start with a code review to see what condition it's in and tell you honestly whether it's worth continuing or whether a rebuild ends up cheaper.
Sometimes inherited code is fine and just needed documenting. Sometimes it genuinely isn't, and we'd rather say so before taking your money to maintain it.
Thirty minutes on your idea. We'll tell you the platform, the realistic timeline, and whether an app is the right build at all.
Or email hello@culmen.digital