Custom software · Melbourne studio

Custom CRM development sized for small businesses

A CRM built around the way your team already works: your pipeline stages, your quotes and jobs, your roles. Sized for a small team, not an enterprise rollout, and quoted in writing after a free review.

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No payment is taken with your request. You get a written scope and quote first.

Build or buy

When off-the-shelf CRMs stop fitting

HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho and Pipedrive are good products, and for most small businesses one of them is the right place to start. A custom CRM is worth considering only when the fit starts costing you.

Off the shelf is still the right answer when

Your sales process looks like most businesses' process: lead, qualify, quote, win
You have only a few users and a free or entry plan covers them
You would rather the vendor handles updates, security and new features
A single missing piece, such as website forms reaching the CRM, can be fixed with an integration

A custom CRM starts to make sense when

Your workflow does not match any tool's model, so the team works around it
Per-seat pricing keeps rising for features nobody uses
Data is copied by hand between a spreadsheet, the inbox and a job or booking tool
You need screens and permissions shaped around specific roles
You want one place that holds customers, jobs and quotes the way your business describes them

For scale: HubSpot offers a free CRM for up to 2 users, and its paid plans are priced per seat, per month. Zoho sets its CRM prices by country. For a small team with a standard process, those are hard to beat.

A custom build has an upfront cost instead, plus hosting. It only pays off when it replaces more than it costs, or does something the packaged tools cannot.

Compare the numbers side by side in custom CRM vs HubSpot, including a three-year seat-cost example and a simple decision path.

What's included

What a small-business custom CRM includes

Every CRM is scoped to your process, so no two are identical. These are the building blocks most small businesses need. We agree which ones you get in the written scope.

Building block	What it does	Notes
Contacts and companies	One record per customer, with history, notes and linked jobs or quotes	Fields named your way
Pipeline stages	Moves each lead or job through your stages, from new enquiry to won, lost or completed	Agreed in the scope
Quotes and jobs	Creates quotes or job records against a customer and tracks their status	Built to your format
Tasks and reminders	Assigns follow-ups to a person with a due date	Overdue reminders where agreed
Roles and permissions	Controls who can view, edit, export or delete	For example: owner, office, field staff
Website-form capture	New enquiries from your website land in the CRM as leads, not only in an inbox	SIX9 or existing forms, where they allow it
Email notifications	Alerts the right person when something new arrives or changes	Sending costs, if any, are yours
Reporting	Simple views such as leads by source, jobs by stage and quotes won	Agreed in the scope
Data export	Export your records to CSV at any time	Your data is never locked in

Included in the quote

Discovery and agreed requirements
Interface and workflow design
The custom CRM itself, built to the agreed scope
Roles, permissions and agreed integrations
Testing, deployment and team handover

Paid separately

Hosting, domain and third-party subscriptions
API usage for connected tools and AI providers
Unscoped data migration
Ongoing support and changes after handover, quoted before work starts

Price and timeline

What a focused CRM build really costs

Search for CRM development costs and you will find development-company guides with enterprise figures. Enterprise CRM projects are often quoted in six figures; a focused small-business build is scoped much smaller, because it does less, for fewer people, on purpose.

SIX9 does not publish a CRM price, because two small-business CRMs can differ a lot in size. A five-person team tracking quotes needs far less than a business with field staff, a customer portal and an accounting sync. Instead, we review your process for free and send a written scope and quote before any work starts.

The timeline is written into the same quote. We build in stages, so the first useful part, usually contacts and the pipeline, can be previewed early while the rest is finished.

Number of record types and screens (contacts, jobs, quotes, bookings, products)
Number of user roles and how different their permissions are
Integrations with other tools, and how much each tool's API allows
Data migration from spreadsheets or another CRM, and how clean that data is
Reports, documents and email templates you need at launch

Running costs are separate from the build and paid directly by you: typically hosting, a domain, an email sending service and any API usage. We list each one with an estimate in the quote, so the monthly cost is clear before you commit.

How it works

From a free review to a working CRM

The same six steps on every project, so you know what happens next and what you are approving at each stage.

Free review
Tell us how leads, quotes and jobs move through your business today, using the custom software request form. We look at your current tools.
Written scope and quote
You get the screens, fields, roles, integrations, timeline, price and running costs in writing. Nothing is built until you approve it.
Build in stages with previews
Each part is shared on a private preview link as it is ready, so feedback happens on real screens rather than on descriptions.
Testing
We test with realistic records, every role and the edge cases: duplicate contacts, missing fields and failed integrations.
Deployment
The CRM goes live on hosting in your business's name, with the agreed data imported and access set up for each user.
Handover
A walkthrough for your team, plus notes on how to add users, export data and pause integrations. Later changes are quoted separately.

Ownership

Your accounts, your data, your export

A CRM holds your most valuable business information. It should never be held hostage by the people who built it.

Hosting, domain and third-party accounts set up in your business's name, so you control billing and access
Your data can be exported to CSV at any time
Once fully paid, the software built for you is yours, subject to third-party licensing terms
Our pre-existing tools and reusable components stay ours; the terms are confirmed in the quote
No lock-in retainer: support after handover is optional

Integrations

Connecting the tools you already use

A CRM is most useful when information arrives in it on its own. Every integration depends on what the other tool allows: we connect it where the tool offers an API, confirmed in writing before we quote.

Website forms
Enquiry and quote forms create leads in the CRM automatically, with the page they came from.
Email
Notifications to your team, and templated emails to customers where agreed. Replies stay in your normal inbox.
Payments
Payment status from your payment provider shown against a quote or job, where the provider offers an API.
Accounting
Customers or invoices passed to your accounting software, where it offers an API. Scope depends on the product and plan you use.
Automation platforms
Where a direct integration is not available, tools such as Make, Zapier or n8n can bridge the gap. Their subscriptions are yours.

Privacy

Privacy and data for Australian businesses

General information, not legal advice. Check your own obligations with a qualified adviser or the regulator.

The Privacy Act 1988 and the APPs
Businesses covered by the Privacy Act must handle personal information under the Australian Privacy Principles. Many businesses with an annual turnover of A$3 million or less are exempt, but there are exceptions, including health service providers (OAIC).
Collect only what you use
The scope lists the fields the CRM stores and why. Anything you do not need is left out, which is simpler to protect and easier to explain.
Access by role
Staff see the records their role needs. Sensitive notes can sit behind a narrower permission than contact details.
Know where the data lives
Hosting is chosen with you and paid in your name. If you prefer data stored in an Australian region, we confirm whether the hosting provider offers one before quoting.

Sources

AI features

AI features you can add, with people approving

AI is optional in a CRM. Where it helps, it prepares work for a person rather than acting on its own.

Summaries of long enquiries or email threads on the contact record
Draft replies and follow-up emails that a person approves before sending
Suggested categories or pipeline stages for new enquiries, confirmed by your team
Plain-language summaries of the week's pipeline

AI provider usage is billed to you, and we agree which fields can be sent to a provider before building. See AI automation use cases and our AI automation service for what happens around the CRM: capturing, summarising and routing new work.

Example

An Australian example: a celebrant's owner workspace

Heartful Celebrations is a marriage celebrant and MC business in Melbourne, Australia. Alongside a new website, SIX9 built a private owner workspace that gives the owner one place to follow enquiries, organise guest lists, prepare invitations, manage invoices and payments, publish testimonials and update website content.

It is not a sales CRM in the HubSpot sense, but it is the kind of focused, business-specific system this page describes.

Read the Heartful Celebrations case study

Heartful Celebrations owner dashboard for enquiries, guests, invitations, invoices and website content — Heartful Celebrations, Melbourne, Australia. Client project.

Honest fit

When SIX9 isn't the right choice

We would rather say so now than build something that doesn't fit.

You need a CRM running this week: start with an off-the-shelf tool
You want a large enterprise platform rolled out across many departments
Your process is still changing every month, so there is nothing stable to build around yet
You mainly need someone to configure or administer HubSpot, Salesforce or Zoho for you

How much does a custom CRM cost for a small business?

SIX9 quotes each CRM after a free review, because the price depends on the number of record types and screens, user roles, integrations, data migration and reporting. Enterprise CRM projects are often quoted in six figures; a focused small-business build is scoped much smaller. Hosting and any third-party subscriptions are running costs paid directly by you.

Is a custom CRM better than HubSpot, Salesforce or Zoho?

Not always. If your sales process is standard, an off-the-shelf CRM is usually cheaper and faster to start. A custom CRM makes sense when your workflow does not fit those tools, you pay for seats or features you do not use, or your team copies data between several tools by hand. The free review is where we tell you honestly which side you are on.

How long does a custom CRM take to build?

It depends on the scope, so the timeline is written into your quote alongside the price. We build in stages and share previews as each part is ready, so you can test real screens early instead of waiting for one big reveal.

Who owns the CRM and the data?

Your data is yours, and you can export it. We recommend hosting, domain and third-party accounts in your business's name. Once the project is fully paid, the software built for you is yours, subject to third-party licensing terms; our pre-existing tools and reusable components stay ours. Ownership terms are confirmed in the quote.

Can you move our data from spreadsheets or another CRM?

Often, yes. Data migration is scoped separately because the effort depends on how clean and consistent the data is. Tell us where your records live today and we include an agreed import in the quote, or explain what is involved.

Can the CRM connect to our website, email and accounting software?

Usually. Website-form capture and email notifications are common parts of the build. Payments, accounting and other tools are connected where the tool offers an API, and every integration is confirmed in writing before we quote.

Can you add AI features to the CRM?

Yes, where they help. Common examples are enquiry summaries and draft replies or follow-ups that a person approves before anything is sent. AI provider usage is billed to you, and we agree which data can be sent to an AI provider before building.

Do we need to be in Melbourne?

No. We are based in Melbourne and work online with businesses across Australia. Reviews, previews and the handover happen by video call and shared documents.

Keep exploring

Custom softwareCRM, order management and custom backends Custom CRM vs HubSpotSeat costs and trade-offs, side by side AI automationCapture, summarise and route new enquiries AI automation use casesSix typical builds, with people in charge Heartful Celebrations case studyAn Australian website and owner workspace Custom online storesWhen your CRM also needs a store

Get started

Tell us how your team works.
We review it for free.

Describe how enquiries, quotes and jobs move today. You get a written scope, a quote and the running costs before anything is built.

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