What kind of apps do we build in Perth?
Our app development in Perth is web apps: software that runs in a browser on any phone, tablet or laptop, and can be installed to the home screen like a normal app. No app store, no download link to chase.
The apps businesses ask us for most:
- Customer portals: customers log in to book work, check progress, approve quotes or download documents.
- Internal tools: quoting, pricing, stock and job tracking screens that replace spreadsheets and paper forms.
- Field apps for crews: a simple phone screen for logging jobs, photos, time and expenses on site.
- AI assistants: a chat or SMS assistant that answers from your own data and hands to a person when it should.
- Booking and enquiry apps: forms that do real work, like pricing a job or checking availability, then sending the result to your CRM.
Bigger systems that sit behind the app, like databases, integrations and dashboards, are covered on our software development Perth page.
How much does app development in Perth cost?
App development in Perth with Source Digital costs from $3,500 + GST for a focused single-purpose tool up to $25,000 + GST for a full multi-module system with integrations and dashboards. Most small business apps land between $8,000 and $15,000 + GST.
| Type of app | Example | Price (ex GST) |
|---|---|---|
| Focused tool | A quote calculator, a stock lookup or a one-screen crew form | From $3,500 |
| Portal or internal app | Logins, a database, a few screens and one or two integrations | $8,000 to $15,000 |
| Full system | Several modules, integrations and dashboards | Up to $25,000 |
| Managed hosting (optional) | Kept online, backed up and updated | $50 to $150 a month |
| Maintenance retainer (optional) | Ongoing changes and new features | From $600 a month |
Every price is fixed after a free scoping call and quoted in writing before work starts. Most builds take 2 to 8 weeks. You own the app, and there are no per-user licence fees to us.
One job done well, like a quote builder, portal or calculator.
- Scoped in writing first
- Built around how you work
- You own what we build
- Live in 2 to 8 weeks
Where most small business projects land.
- Several parts working together
- Logins, roles and dashboards
- Connected to your other tools
- Fixed price after scoping
Multi-module systems with integrations.
- Several teams or sites
- Integrations and reporting
- AI built in where it helps
- Staged payments available
Optional, managed for you.
- Hosting and backups managed
- Fixes and small changes
- Retainers from $600 a month
- Cancel any time
Prices exclude GST. Every project is fixed price after a free scoping call, and you own what we build.
Do you need a web app or a native app?
Most businesses need a web app. A native app, the kind you download from the Apple App Store or Google Play, is worth it when you need deep access to phone hardware or the app store itself is how customers find you.
| Question | Web app (what we build) | Native app store app |
|---|---|---|
| How people get it | Open a link, then add it to the home screen | Search and download from an app store |
| Devices | One build runs on iPhone, Android and desktop | Usually built and maintained per platform |
| Updates | Live for everyone the moment they ship | Go through app store review |
| Phone features | Camera, location and notifications, with some limits | Full access, including Bluetooth, NFC and background tasks |
| Best for | Portals, internal tools, field apps, booking and quoting | Consumer apps, games, hardware-connected apps |
To be straight about it: native app store apps aren't the core of what we build. If your project genuinely needs one, that's a different kind of build and I'll say so on the call rather than sell you something that doesn't fit.
Can a web app work like a normal app on a phone?
For most business uses, yes. An installed web app gets its own icon, opens full screen without the browser bar and can use the camera, location and notifications with permission.
A few things to know, based on how Apple and Google phones handle web apps as of November 2026:
- Installing on iPhone is done from Safari's Share menu with Add to Home Screen. There's no automatic install prompt, so we show users how on first visit.
- Push notifications work on Android, and on iPhone since iOS 16.4 once the app is installed to the home screen. For anything that must be seen, we send an SMS through Twilio instead.
- Hardware limits: Bluetooth, NFC and tasks running in the background are not available to web apps on iPhone. If your app depends on those, it needs a native build.
Apps and systems we've built
Our own CRM, Omega CS, is the app I built and run for trade businesses. It texts new leads back in seconds, follows up quotes, drafts quotes from the business's own prices, texts crew each evening to log time and expenses, and reads photographed receipts to work out the GST.
For clients:
- A secure SMS AI agent for a Perth real estate agency that starts the conversation with new leads and hands to a human at the right moment, connected to the agency's existing CRM.
- A commercial agent inside Microsoft Teams for an international tier 1 mining operator. Staff ask questions in the app they already use and get verified answers from millions of rows of purchasing and stock data in about a minute.
- A custom RFQ system for Equipment Group, a Perth mining parts supplier, with 31,354 parts extracted from 13 PDF catalogues.
The Teams agent is a good reminder that the best app is sometimes no new app at all. If your staff already live in Teams or SMS, we build into that.
How an app build works, from first call to launch
- Free scoping call. Who uses the app, on what device, and what they need to get done. I'll also tell you if a product you can already buy would do the job.
- Fixed price in writing. Screens, features, integrations and price, listed plainly. Nothing starts until you agree.
- Build and test. Built on Next.js, Supabase (Postgres) and Vercel, and tested on real phones with your real examples. You see it working before launch.
- Launch and handover. Your team is shown how to install and use it. You own the code and the data, with optional hosting and a maintenance retainer, and no lock-in contracts.
What does it cost to run an app after launch?
Running costs are small. Optional managed hosting is $50 to $150 a month + GST, and a maintenance retainer for ongoing changes starts from $600 a month + GST.
There's no app store developer account to keep paying for and no per-user licence fee to us, so the cost doesn't climb as your team grows. Third-party services the app uses, like SMS sending or an AI API, are billed on what you use. We list those on the quote so there are no surprises.
If your app needs to send jobs, contacts or invoices into your accounting file, see our Xero and MYOB integration page.
