Web apps and client portals
Web app development in Melbourne
We build custom web apps and client portals for Australian small and medium businesses: one system, designed around how you operate, that replaces the spreadsheets, shared inboxes and disconnected tools your team works around today. Projects cost $15,000 to $40,000 ex GST and take 6 to 12 weeks, with a written scope from a paid discovery workshop and a fixed price before we start.
What is included
- Discovery workshop and UX wireframes
- Sign-in with email, Google and passkeys
- Database, one core workflow and an admin panel
- Email notifications
- Deployed with continuous integration, plus documentation
- 30-day warranty
- Price
- From $15,000
- Timeline
- 6 to 12 weeks
Prices are in Australian dollars and exclude GST.
Who is a custom web app for?
A web app is the right call when the work itself is the problem: the information exists, but it lives in too many places and passes through too many hands.
- Businesses running on spreadsheets, shared inboxes and five apps that do not talk to each other.
- Teams that need a client portal, where customers sign in to see their jobs, documents, invoices and messages.
- Operators with a manual process, such as quoting, scheduling, approvals or reporting, that eats hours every week.
- Companies with an ageing system that needs a proper rebuild rather than another patch.
What kinds of web apps do we build?
Web apps tend to fall into a few shapes. Yours is built around your own workflow, not bent to fit a template.
Client and customer portals
Your clients sign in to see job status, files, messages and invoices in one place. It is the same idea as the portal every ELORA DIGITAL project runs in.
Job, booking and scheduling systems
Take bookings, assign work to staff, confirm by email and see the day at a glance, on a phone as well as at a desk.
Quoting and approval workflows
Build a quote from your price list, send it, get it approved and turn it into a job without retyping anything.
Operations dashboards
The numbers from your database in one view: what is due, what is late and what has been invoiced.
Document and data pipelines
Upload a document, extract what matters, review it, and push it into your accounting or CRM system.
Internal tools
Rosters, timesheets, inventory and checklists: the small systems that replace a shared spreadsheet and the arguments about who changed it.
Custom software for business processes
A custom web app is custom software: a system written around your process rather than a product you bend to fit. When the process itself is the problem (re-keying between systems, approvals that stall, reports assembled by hand) the custom software development page explains how we map it in discovery, what we automate most often and the Next.js and ASP.NET Core stack we build on. It is the same package, the same price band and the same five stages.
How the project runs
Every web app runs through the same five stages: a discovery workshop that ends in a written scope, wireframes and designs you approve, the build in two-week sprints with a working demo at the end of each, launch with documentation and a 30-day warranty, then a care plan if you want us to keep looking after it. Progress, files, messages and invoices sit in your client portal the whole way.
Stage 1
Discovery
We agree what we are building, for whom and why, and write it down.
Stage 2
Design
Every screen is wireframed and designed before any of it is built.
Stage 3
Build in two-week sprints
We build in two-week sprints, and each one ends with a demo of working software.
Stage 4
Launch
We go live on accounts in your name, hand over the documentation and start the 30-day warranty.
Stage 5
Care plan
Offered at launch and running from the end of the 30-day warranty, the care plan keeps the system hosted, secure and improving, month by month.
How much does a web app cost?
Web apps and client portals cost $15,000 to $40,000 ex GST. Where a project lands in that range depends on how many workflows it covers, how many kinds of user it has, what it must connect to and how much of the design is custom.
We reply to your enquiry with an estimate range within one business day. Because every web app is over $10,000, the project then starts with a paid discovery workshop ($500 to $1,500), credited to the project if it goes ahead. The workshop produces the written scope, and the price is fixed once you sign it.
Integrations with tools such as Xero, Stripe, HubSpot and Google Workspace are $1,500 to $5,000 each, and AI features such as document extraction start from $3,000.
What sits where in the $15,000 to $40,000 range?
Example scopes, not past projects
These examples are made up to show what moves a project within its published range. They are not past projects and not quotes: the exact price comes from the written scope.
Low end
Around $15,000
One workflow, such as a quote becoming a job, for two kinds of user (the office and an administrator), with sign-in, email notifications and an admin panel.
Middle
Around $27,500
Two workflows and a customer portal, so a third kind of user signs in and sees only their own jobs and invoices.
Add-ons, priced on top: A Xero integration ($1,500 to $5,000).
Top end
Towards $40,000
Three workflows (quoting, jobs and scheduling), four kinds of user with their own permissions, and the records moved across from the spreadsheets used today.
Add-ons, priced on top: Document extraction with AI (from $3,000); A design system in your brand (from $2,500).
Payment terms
- A 30 to 50 percent deposit before work starts.
- Milestone invoices at design approval, the first working build and launch.
- Net 7 or net 14 payment terms, set out in the services agreement.
Frequently asked questions
What does a web app cost with ELORA DIGITAL?
$15,000 to $40,000 ex GST for our web app package, fixed in a written scope before work starts. Across the Australian market, agency builds commonly run from $30,000 to $100,000, and freelancers charge less with less process; our pricing sits between the two. The biggest cost drivers are the number of workflows, user roles, integrations and custom design.
How long does an ELORA DIGITAL web app take to build?
Six to twelve weeks for most of our web app projects. Discovery and design come first, the build runs in two-week sprints with a demo at the end of each, and launch includes testing, documentation and a hand-over. A larger system or a long list of integrations takes longer, and the written scope gives you the dates.
What is the difference between a website and a web app?
A website shows information and takes enquiries. A web app does work: people sign in, data is stored, and things happen, such as a booking being made, a job assigned or an invoice raised. If your team or your customers need to log in and change something, you need a web app. If you need to be found and contacted, you need a website, and we build those from $4,000.
PWA or native app?
For most business tools, a progressive web app (PWA): the web app we build can be added to a phone's home screen, opens full screen like an installed app and keeps working, at least partly, when the connection drops, with no app store between you and your users. Build a native app when the phone's own features are the job: the camera, GPS, offline use for hours at a time, or push notifications people must act on straight away. Because a native app would share the same API and database, nothing is wasted by starting with the web.
Who owns the code?
You do. Once the project is paid for, the code, the designs and the accounts the system runs on (hosting, domain, source repository) belong to you, and the services agreement says so in writing. We keep access only while we look after the system on a care plan.
Can the web app connect to Xero, Stripe or our other tools?
Yes. Integrations with Xero, Stripe, HubSpot, Google Workspace and similar tools are a published add-on at $1,500 to $5,000 each, scoped and priced before we build them. Where a tool has no usable way to connect, we tell you in discovery, not after.
Do you build web apps for businesses outside Melbourne?
Yes. We are in Box Hill North, Melbourne, and take on projects from anywhere in Australia. Discovery runs in person around Melbourne or on a video call, and the client portal shows progress, files, messages and invoices wherever you are.
Tell us about your project
Describe it in your own words and get a reply with an estimate range within one business day.