Custom Software Development in San Francisco, CA
Most of what we build in San Francisco is for a company whose process has grown past what a SaaS subscription can bend to fit: an internal tool shaped around your actual workflow instead of a generic template, or a private AI assistant that reads your own contracts and files inside infrastructure your company controls. We also wire together the two or three systems you already pay for that were never built to share data. Builds start at $2,500 for one process and run past $15,000 for a full application, with your real number set in a free audit. Our office is in Sacramento; we come to San Francisco by arrangement, and most of the work happens over video and shared documents either way.
When a SaaS subscription stops being the fast option
Most software problems get solved by paying for another tool, and that's usually the right call. It stops working when the fix you need is a rule your vendor won't build for one customer, when a client-facing view has to match your process rather than theirs, or when reading your own contracts and case files through a language model means those documents cannot leave your infrastructure to reach a shared account.
The internal tool a SaaS plan can't flex into
Once you're paying for three overlapping subscriptions to cover one workflow, or asking a support ticket to add a field your vendor will never prioritize, a small owned tool usually costs less over a year and does exactly what your process needs, not what the product roadmap allows.
A private AI assistant inside your own tenant
An assistant trained on your contracts, manuals or case files, hosted on infrastructure only your company and IG Digital Lab can reach during the build, so the material never becomes training data for a shared model. See the private AI page for how the hosting is set up.
What custom software costs in San Francisco
Three things move the number, and screen design is not one of them. How many existing systems the build has to touch, since every extra vendor means another set of rules to work inside. How many people sign off on a decision, because a single owner answers in an hour and a committee answers in a week. And how much of the process already lives in writing, since undocumented work has to be watched before it can be automated.
One thing, wired end to end.
- A single integration between two systems you already pay for
- A small internal tool that retires a shared spreadsheet
- An intake or scheduling flow that runs without a person minding it
Several systems, one chain.
- Multiple integrations across the tools your team already uses
- A private AI assistant that answers from your own documents
- An internal tool with roles, records, permissions and reporting
A system the company runs on.
- An application shaped around how your business actually works
- Multi-system assembly with deployment, monitoring and backups
- Delivered in milestones you can see running, not one launch date
Work too small to count as a project runs $150 to $200 an hour, and keeping software running afterward is a support plan starting at $300 a month rather than a surprise invoice. Every figure here, plus what our other services cost, sits on the pricing page. The build service itself is described in more depth under custom software.
A typical project, walked through
Not a real client, a pattern we see often enough to describe in detail.
A twelve-person SaaS company runs its customer onboarding through a $400-a-month project tool, plus a spreadsheet that tracks the three custom fields the tool refuses to add, plus a Slack channel where someone manually pastes updates for the client. The audit finds one workflow, badly split across three places. The fix is usually a single internal tool that replaces all three: one screen for the team, one shared view the client logs into, and the custom rules built in from the start rather than bolted onto a product built for someone else's process. That sits in the connected-systems band, $6,000 to $15,000, and ships in six to ten weeks with the client-facing view live before the internal one is fully polished.
Who calls us in San Francisco
The industry changes; these four situations repeat across most of them.
SaaS & software companies
Internal admin views for support and ops that the main product was never built to expose, usage and billing dashboards wired to Stripe and your own database, and the tooling for edge cases that didn't make the public roadmap.
Professional services & law firms
Client portals for status and document exchange, intake automation that replaces a shared inbox, and a private AI trained on case files so associates stop re-reading the same document three times a week.
Real estate & property management
Tenant and owner portals, maintenance-request routing, and the integration between listing, leasing and accounting software that currently needs someone to retype the same record three times.
Marketing & creative agencies
Client-facing reporting dashboards, project intake tied to your PM tool, and an internal tool that turns a shared spreadsheet of deliverables into something with logins and a history.
How a project runs, start to finish
Free audit
We look at how the work happens today, the real version rather than the process document, and mark where software would take over something a person currently does by hand.
Scope and one price
A written scope and a single fixed price arrive before anyone writes code, sitting inside one of the three tiers above.
Build with your access
Repository, hosting and every account get created in your company's name from day one, so you can watch progress and stop at any milestone if it's not working out.
Handover
You get the code, the credentials, and a written explanation of how the system works, plus the option of a support plan for what comes after launch.
Picking up a project another developer left
If a previous developer stopped answering, shipped something half-finished, or left behind code nobody documented, start with an audit instead of a new commitment. We look at what's actually there, tell you plainly whether it's worth finishing or rebuilding, and quote from that. See software project rescue.
What happens after launch
Software nobody maintains breaks quietly. Two tiers cover what comes after handover.
Monitoring and small fixes
Uptime monitoring, minor edits, dependency and security updates, and a fast response when something breaks. Fits software that's stable and doesn't change often.
Ongoing development
Everything in Care, plus continuous feature work, new integrations as your business changes, and DevOps attention on the servers underneath.
Serving San Francisco, honestly
IG Digital Lab doesn't have an office in San Francisco. We work with companies across the city (SOMA, the Financial District, Mission Bay, Potrero Hill) from our Sacramento base, with on-site visits by arrangement for kickoff, milestone demos and launch day.
The drive is about two hours, close enough that on-site is a real option rather than a line in a sales deck. We schedule it for discovery, kickoff and the day a system goes live, the moments a whiteboard actually helps. Sprint reviews, code walkthroughs and day-to-day questions run over video, the same as with any remote vendor.
Software is one of seven things we do. If the real need is a website or a customer-facing app, see web design in San Francisco. For a native or cross-platform app, see mobile app development in San Francisco. If it's AI answering calls or running a workflow rather than software your team uses directly, see AI automation in San Francisco.
Also in San Francisco
Start with a free audit
Thirty minutes on what your team does by hand, which systems refuse to talk, and where a SaaS plan is costing more than it's worth. You leave with a written summary of what could be built, in what order, and a price range to budget against. The notes are yours whether or not you hire us.
How we buildFrequently asked questions
What San Francisco founders and operators ask before commissioning a build.
What does custom software cost in San Francisco?
Plan on $2,500 to $6,000 if the job is one integration or a single internal tool. Connecting several systems, or building a private AI assistant on your documents, runs $6,000 to $15,000. A full application starts at $15,000. We do not price any of this from a rate card; the number comes out of a free audit of what you actually need built.
How long does a project like this take?
A single tool or integration is usually live in three to six weeks. Connected systems or a document-trained AI assistant take six to twelve weeks. A full application is scoped into milestones instead of one delivery date, so you have working software to look at well before the end.
If you build a private AI on our documents, where does our data go?
It stays inside infrastructure set up in your company's own accounts, a tenant only your team and IG Digital Lab can reach during the build. Your contracts and files are not sent to a shared model provider's training pipeline, and once the project is handed over, you hold every credential and can cut off our access entirely. See how that's structured on the private AI page.
We already pay for three or four SaaS tools. When does a custom tool make more sense than another subscription?
When the fix you need is one your vendor won't build for a single customer, when your team is stitching two tools together by hand because neither one talks to the other, or when the monthly cost of three overlapping subscriptions has quietly passed what a single owned tool would cost over a year. If none of that applies yet, we'll say so in the audit rather than sell you a build you don't need.
Who owns the code and the AI system once the project ships?
You do, from the first day of the build rather than after a negotiation at the end. The repository sits in your company's GitHub account, the AI infrastructure runs under your cloud billing, and every credential is documented in a file you keep. If you hire someone else next year, they inherit a system with a paper trail instead of a black box.
Tell us what your team does by hand.
A free 30-minute audit, a written summary of what the software would replace, and a price range before you commit to anything. We'll come to San Francisco for it if that gets you a faster answer.
Or call and text (916) 618-0502. Office at 3550 Watt Ave, Suite 408, Sacramento, CA 95821.
Ready to transform your business?
Tell us what you need. We reply the same business day.