We build custom software in a fixed order. We start from your process and the software you already have. We price the work before we build. We ship the narrowest first release that proves the idea, then keep working in short cycles where you see working software every time. You own the code, the designs and the accounts throughout.
This post walks through each step with our published prices and real timelines from our projects, then lists the common beliefs about custom software that this process answers, and the cases where we’re the wrong choice.
Custom software development at Rocketech starts with your process. We map the steps, the exceptions, the data involved and the points where a person must review the result. We look at existing software first, then compare three routes for each part: set up a tool you can buy, connect the tools you already have, or write custom code. Our guide to ready-made vs custom software shows how to put numbers on that choice.
When the job is to automate one workflow, the first build is a pilot. It costs $5,000-15,000, takes 2-4 weeks and goes in four steps: pick one workflow, map the process, build the automation, then test it against agreed checks so your process owner can decide whether to roll it out.
Two tools come before any code.
Our project estimate turns your brief into user stories, and every hour in the budget traces back to a story you confirmed. That gives you a range before you talk to anyone.
The discovery sprint turns the range into one price. It’s a fixed $3,000 for one week: a written scope, the main user flow and up to 6 main screens for one platform in a clickable Figma prototype, a technical plan, a one-day test of the riskiest technical question where there is one, a backlog with hours and a fixed price for the build. It counts toward the MVP if you build it with us, and the files are yours either way.
The first release does one main job. Sign-up, payments and admin panels come from ready-made modules, so the team spends its time on the part that is new. A typical MVP costs $5,000-15,000 and takes 2-4 weeks. For iPhone and Android apps, store review time comes on top; Apple says it reviews at least 50% of submissions in less than 24 hours and 90% in less than 48 hours (Apple App Review).
Larger first releases are priced by the hour. IPOPBOOKS, a bookkeeping platform for US small businesses, went live 10 weeks after kickoff, and our bigger SaaS builds took 2 to 6 months.
For comparison, across 95 agencies the median published MVP starting price is $13,234 and the median promised timeline is 6 to 12 weeks (Rocketech MVP Price Index 2026).
A small team of middle and senior engineers builds the release, using the short cycles of Extreme Programming, Scrum, Customer Development and Lean Startup. We use AI tools in development, and in the products we build we use AI only where it helps the task. Our in-house AI R&D department fine-tunes models, works on AI security and builds AI-native development workflows.
The industry data explains why the team’s experience still matters. In the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026, 73% of respondents said they use coding assistants and agents daily. In the same survey, 69.3% named “plausible but wrong code” among the AI mistakes that cost them the most time (Stack Overflow 2026 technology results). Google’s 2025 DORA report put it in one line: “AI doesn’t fix a team; it amplifies what’s already there” (Google Cloud, DORA 2025).
We build in short sprints and show you working software at the end of each one. You keep the product priorities and the business decisions. On Traza, a booking app for tattoo artists, the team worked in weekly cycles on the client’s own Jira with regular demos, and the client could change priorities every week.
In a classic project, you own the code, the designs and the accounts. IPOPBOOKS, Koncierge and HealthyNikah run on their owners’ own AWS accounts. You can ask for an NDA before you share anything. The one exception is a SaaS that we pay to build ourselves: there we keep the code and the IP, and we say so up front.
After the first release, the work continues at $39-55 an hour, or with a dedicated team at $6,000-9,000 per developer a month. A team starts in 3-5 days when everyone comes from our staff or pool, or within 2 weeks if we hire someone new. The long arc is the one on our workflow page: concept, prototype, MVP, full product, then scaling.
| Belief | What we do instead | Where it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Custom software is always expensive and slow | A narrow first release, typically $5,000-15,000 in 2-4 weeks | EasySpk and GhostMinutes each reached the App Store in 2 weeks |
| The first plan is final | Short cycles, and you can change priorities between them | Traza could change priorities every week |
| More features make a better first product | One main job first; the rest waits in the backlog | Subflare’s risky AI part was tested in 2 weeks, and the MVP was approved for client onboarding |
| Analysis before building is wasted money | A one-week, fixed-price discovery sprint that counts toward the build | For Dusfer, a discovery sprint showed the old code wasn’t worth keeping |
| AI makes custom software almost free | AI only where it helps the task, with a person where a mistake costs money | In IPOPBOOKS, AI suggests a category for each bank transaction and a bookkeeper approves it |
We say no, or point elsewhere, in these cases:
You can see what your project costs to build in about four minutes, before you talk to us or anyone else.
We start from your process and the software you already have, price the work before we build it, ship a narrow first release, and then work in short sprints with working software at every review. You keep the product decisions and own the code, the designs and the accounts.
A typical MVP takes 2-4 weeks, plus store review for mobile apps. A workflow automation pilot takes 2-4 weeks. Larger first releases take longer: IPOPBOOKS went live 10 weeks after kickoff, and our bigger SaaS builds took 2 to 6 months.
Our rate is $39-55 an hour, and the smallest build we take is $5,000. A typical MVP costs $5,000-15,000. A one-week discovery sprint costs a fixed $3,000 and counts toward the build, and a dedicated developer costs $6,000-9,000 a month.
In a classic project, you do: the code, the designs and the accounts are in your company’s name. The only exception is a SaaS that we pay to build ourselves, where we keep the code and the IP.
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