What to ask before you hire someone to build software for your trade business.

Ask who owns the code when it's done, what happens if the developer disappears, and whether the price is one-time, monthly, or per seat. The answers tell you more than any portfolio.

Who owns the code when it's finished

You should own what you paid to build, along with the data inside it.

Ask it plainly and listen for a plain answer. Ownership decides whether you can take the work somewhere else later, hand it to another developer, or export your job history whenever you want it. A clear yes is easy to give, and worth getting in writing.

What happens if the developer stops being available

Ask where the code lives, who else can get to it, and how you'd keep running without them.

A one-person shop is fine, and there are real advantages to talking to the person who built your software. What matters is that the code sits somewhere you can reach, that it's written the way another developer can pick up, and that nothing is locked behind an account only they can open.

How the pricing actually works

Find out which parts are one-time, which are recurring, and whether anything scales with headcount.

One-time build plus a base rate is easy to plan around. Per-seat pricing grows every time you hire, so the cheap quote at four techs looks different at twelve. Ask what the recurring amount covers, and whether outside costs like text messaging or payment processing get passed through at cost or marked up.

Have they built for a trade business specifically

Someone who has built for a crew already knows dispatch, payroll-ready hours, and how work looks from a truck.

General software experience carries over, but trade work has habits worth knowing going in: schedules that change at 7am, pricing formulas an owner worked out over years, and techs who need a screen that works with gloves on. Ask for one example of a trade build and what changed for that business afterward.

Ask us the same questions

These are the questions we expect to answer, and we'd rather answer them early. Our process page lays out how a build runs from walkthrough to launch, and you can schedule a call to put the rest to us directly.