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Software Development
Software your next engineer can actually maintain.
Custom builds, modernization, and rescue — led by a CTO, documented for the team that inherits it.
Published case study
Rescuing a Logistics Startup from Outsourced Code to Production-Ready Platform
- Up to 5 developers managed Team Size
- Serverless → Elastic Beanstalk → Kubernetes EKS Infrastructure
What We Deliver: Custom Software Development Built to Last
Software built with CTO-grade architecture, documentation, and knowledge transfer — not just code.
CTO-led custom software development for startups and SMBs across the US and Canada pairs senior developers with a fractional CTO who owns architecture, code quality, and maintainability. Each fixed-price engagement starts with a written architecture decision record, so your next team can extend the code with confidence.
How Our Custom Software Development Engagement Works
A structured process from scoping to independence.
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Weeks 1-2
Discovery & Scoping
Architecture-first discovery: we map your business goals, technical constraints, and success criteria. You receive a scoping document with architecture recommendations, technology choices, timeline, and fixed-price estimate.
Rescue & Recovery: Inherited a codebase nobody can maintain? Dev shop delivered spaghetti code? We diagnose, stabilize, and chart a path forward with senior developers — no junior handoffs, no learning on your dime. You get: A technical audit report, stabilization fixes, and a prioritized remediation roadmap — so you know exactly what you're dealing with.
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Weeks 2-4
Foundation Sprint
Build the infrastructure and scaffolding, then ship a deployable first increment within month one.
Cloud Architecture & Infrastructure: Design and build cloud infrastructure that scales with your business — not infrastructure you'll outgrow in 6 months. You get: Infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and a runbook your team can operate.
System Integration & API Development: Connect your tools, platforms, and data sources into a unified ecosystem that eliminates manual work. You get: Documented API contracts, working integrations, monitoring, and an integration architecture your team can extend.
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Months 1-6
Iterative Development
2-week sprints with deployed increments. Architecture reviews at every milestone. You have visibility into progress and can course-correct continuously.
MVP & Product Development: From validated concept to market-ready product. We scope aggressively, build incrementally, and ship what matters. Every MVP ships with architectural decision records so your next team knows why the code looks the way it does. You get: A production-deployed MVP with documented architecture, test coverage, and a prioritized feature backlog for your next phase.
Web & Mobile Applications: Responsive web applications and native mobile apps built with the same architectural rigor as enterprise software. You get: Production applications with automated testing, performance benchmarks, and deployment automation.
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Final 2-4 weeks
Handoff & Independence
Document, train, and transfer operations so your team runs the system independently.
Legacy System Modernization: Modernize or replace aging systems that slow your business — without the big-bang rewrite risk. We pay down technical debt as part of the migration, not after. You get: A phased migration plan, working replacement system, data migration, and zero-disruption cutover.
Decision gate:
After each phase, you decide whether to continue. No multi-year contracts, no lock-in.
THE DIFFERENCE
How We Compare
Compare delivery approach, cost, timing, and long-term risk across CTO-led development, traditional dev shops, and in-house teams.
Traditional Dev Shop
- Who leads
- Project manager
- Architecture decisions and quality
- Made by developers ad-hoc; variable, undocumented
- Scope management
- Builds exactly what you spec
- Knowledge transfer
- "Here's the repo"
- After-delivery support and maintenance
- Support contract (hourly); ongoing support contract required
- Accountability
- To the SOW
- Typical project cost
- $30K - $200K
- Time to first delivery
- 4-8 weeks
- Hidden costs
- Rework, re-architecture, vendor lock-in
- Risk of rewrite in 2 years
- High — built to spec, not to last
CTO-Led Development
- Who leads
- Senior technologist / CTO
- Architecture decisions and quality
- Made deliberately with documented rationale; CTO-grade, documented
- Scope management
- Challenges requirements, simplifies scope
- Knowledge transfer
- Architecture docs, runbooks, team training
- After-delivery support and maintenance
- Your team can maintain it independently
- Accountability
- To the business outcome
- Typical project cost
- $50K - $300K
- Time to first delivery
- 2-4 weeks
- Hidden costs
- None
- Risk of rewrite in 2 years
- Low — built for longevity
In-House Team
- Who leads
- —
- Architecture decisions and quality
- Depends on talent
- Scope management
- —
- Knowledge transfer
- —
- After-delivery support and maintenance
- Self-sufficient
- Accountability
- —
- Typical project cost
- $500K+ first year
- Time to first delivery
- 3-6 months (after hiring)
- Hidden costs
- Recruiting, benefits, management overhead
- Risk of rewrite in 2 years
- Medium — depends on team stability
| Metric | Traditional Dev Shop | CTO-Led Development | In-House Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who leads | Project manager | Senior technologist / CTO | — |
| Architecture decisions and quality | Made by developers ad-hoc; variable, undocumented | Made deliberately with documented rationale; CTO-grade, documented | Depends on talent |
| Scope management | Builds exactly what you spec | Challenges requirements, simplifies scope | — |
| Knowledge transfer | "Here's the repo" | Architecture docs, runbooks, team training | — |
| After-delivery support and maintenance | Support contract (hourly); ongoing support contract required | Your team can maintain it independently | Self-sufficient |
| Accountability | To the SOW | To the business outcome | — |
| Typical project cost | $30K - $200K | $50K - $300K | $500K+ first year |
| Time to first delivery | 4-8 weeks | 2-4 weeks | 3-6 months (after hiring) |
| Hidden costs | Rework, re-architecture, vendor lock-in | None | Recruiting, benefits, management overhead |
| Risk of rewrite in 2 years | High — built to spec, not to last | Low — built for longevity | Medium — depends on team stability |
Who This Is For: Founders Burned by Dev Shops, or Planning Ahead
CTO-led development is built for leaders who need more than code — they need a technical partner.
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The Founder With a Validated Idea
Build a validated market opportunity with a technical partner who challenges assumptions and delivers beyond launch.
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The CEO With a Broken System
Diagnose and stabilize a five-year-old agency-built system nobody understands, where changes take weeks and break things, without starting over.
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The CTO Who Needs Capacity
Add senior developers who understand prior decisions and meet architecture standards without babysitting junior hires.
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The Operations Leader Automating Workflows
Connect three systems, replace a week of monthly data entry, and document the work so your team can operate independently.
Who This Is NOT For
- You need a team of 20+ developers for an enterprise build (we can refer you)
- You want the cheapest hourly rate (we optimize for outcomes, not hours)
- You need staff augmentation with no technical leadership (that's a body shop)
- You want to dictate every technical decision (we're partners, not order-takers)
The Reyem Tech ladder
Four buyable rungs. Pick the one that matches where you are. Each step is a real, productized engagement — not a vague consultation.
Technology Health Check
For software, the Health Check reviews only codebase and delivery information you provide through intake or expressly bring to kickoff. It does not include repository scans, code review, security testing, or independent investigation; those require separately scoped advisory or hands-on work. The standard $2,000 fixed-scope review covers your stack, architecture, team, and risks identifiable from those inputs, with a written report and a 60-minute delivery meeting in about two weeks.
Advisory
Ongoing architecture guidance on a monthly retainer: we review critical design decisions, evaluate technology choices, and keep your team from accumulating expensive debt — you keep your development velocity, we keep the architecture clean.
Hands-on management
We embed as senior technical leads to own specific workstreams — feature delivery, legacy migration, API design — working inside your team's sprints with CTO-level architecture oversight on every pull request that matters.
Full execution
End-to-end ownership: we scope, architect, build, and hand off your production system with full documentation, CI/CD, monitoring, and team training — so your team inherits something they can actually maintain without us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Signs Your Software Development Partner Is Failing You
- Commits go in with no description — or worse, messages like "fixed stuff"
- There are no automated tests, no CI pipeline, no deploy documentation
- Every small change breaks something unexpected in a different part of the app
- Nobody on the team can explain why the code is structured the way it is
- Invoices routinely exceed estimates and "unexpected complexity" is the only explanation
- The architecture was never documented — and the original developer left months ago
What technologies do you use for custom software development?
We choose technology based on your project requirements, team capabilities, and long-term maintenance needs — not based on what is trendy. We have deep expertise across modern web and mobile stacks, but the technology conversation happens after we understand your business goals.
How much does custom software development cost in the US and Canada?
Pricing follows our engagement ladder, scoped to your project. The $2,000 Technology Health Check is the entry; advisory is from $2,750/month; hands-on is from $8,000/month (an embedded fractional CTO); and a full fixed-scope build — fractional CTO plus developers at $50–$100/hour — typically runs $30K–$200K depending on scope — an MVP sits at the lower end, legacy modernization and complex integrations higher. These are typical averages for planning only — actual cost is assessed per project and scope, and is not a guaranteed price. We give a ballpark on the first call and a fixed-price estimate after scoping.
How long does a typical software project take?
MVP: 2–4 months. Legacy modernization: 3–8 months. Complex integrations: 2–4 months. You see working software within the first 2–4 weeks of every engagement — not at the end.
What is the difference between CTO-led development and a dev shop?
The comparison above covers ownership, scope, handoff, cost, timing, and risk. CTO-led development adds a senior technologist accountable for architecture decisions through delivery.
Can you work with our existing engineering team?
Yes. We often embed alongside internal teams, providing architectural leadership and senior capacity. We mentor your developers throughout the engagement so they are stronger when we leave — not dependent on us.
What if we already have a codebase that needs work?
We start with a technical audit — assessing architecture, code quality, test coverage, and security posture. You receive a written report with a prioritized remediation plan, whether or not you continue with us.
What happens after launch — do we need an ongoing support contract?
We design for independence. Every project includes documentation, knowledge transfer, and team training so you can operate the system without us. If you want ongoing support, we offer retainers — but the goal is that you do not need one.
Why not just hire developers instead of engaging Reyem Tech?
A senior developer costs $150K–$200K/year plus benefits, recruiting fees, and management overhead. You also need an architect, DevOps capability, and QA coverage. We provide the full team with CTO leadership for the duration of your project — then you pay only for what you need going forward.
What happens if our previous dev shop left us with unmaintainable code?
We take these projects on. Our rescue engagements start with a technical audit (1–2 weeks): we map what you have, identify the critical path, rank the technical debt, and propose a stabilization plan. You leave the engagement with either working code or a clear-eyed understanding of why the previous vendor failed you.
Is custom software development eligible for SR&ED tax credits in Canada?
In many cases, yes. SR&ED credits apply when development involves technological uncertainty and systematic experimentation — common in novel integrations, custom ML pipelines, or greenfield architectures solving unproven problems. Straightforward CRUD apps usually do not qualify. We structure our engagements to support a SR&ED claim where applicable and recommend pairing with a specialised SR&ED accountant.
Do you build mobile apps?
Yes. We build native and cross-platform mobile applications with the same architectural rigor we apply to web systems — including API design, offline capability, and deployment automation.
Keep reading
More from the blog
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What to Do When Your Outsourced Software Project Fails: A CTO's Rescue Playbook
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Unlocking Business Potential through Software Development
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Unlocking Efficiency with Agile Methodologies
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Unlocking Efficiency with DevOps
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Programming Languages: The Foundation of Digital Transformation
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The Role of a Code Developer in Modern Business
$2,000 · ~2 weeks · credited on month 3
Not sure where to start?
Vendor-neutral · priced before we start. A Technology Health Check is a fixed-scope engagement. Two weeks, written report, clear next steps — no open-ended commitment.