How a GBA Solutions Project Runs

How we work, in short

GBA Solutions is a technology company in County Kildare that designs and builds custom software, web apps and iPhone and Android apps for small and medium businesses in Ireland and Northern Ireland. You deal with one person from start to finish, a first version usually costs €3,000 to €8,000 and takes 4 to 8 weeks, and you see working software early, with updates almost every week.

The rest of this page explains each part, and if you're comparing developers, these are the questions worth asking every one of them.

• Who you deal with: one person, the one designing and building your software, from the first call to support after launch.
• How the price works: a fixed price for the first version, agreed before any development starts.
• How long it takes: 4 to 8 weeks for a first version or MVP, then the system grows in stages.
• How you see progress: working screens early, a working app on your own phone for mobile projects, and an update almost every week.
• After launch: maintenance, support, training and new features in phases, for as long as you need them.

Who you deal with

When you work with GBA Solutions, you deal with one person from start to finish, the person who designs and builds your system. You won't be passed between salespeople, account managers and developers, so nothing gets lost along the way.

We're a small business ourselves, so we understand the pressure of meeting targets, managing staff and keeping customers happy while the admin piles up. That shapes how we work. We won't sell you features you don't need, and we'll tell you honestly if an off-the-shelf product would do the job instead.

We're based in County Kildare and work with businesses across Ireland and Northern Ireland, from Dublin and Wicklow to Wexford, Cork, Galway and Limerick, and we've built systems for clients in the UK and Europe too. Most day-to-day contact happens by video call, phone and email, which works well wherever you are, and we're happy to meet in person when it's practical. If you'd like to hear from someone we've worked with before you decide, just ask and we'll put you in touch.

The first conversation and deciding what to build

Every project starts with a conversation about your business, not about technology. We want to know how things work today, where the time goes, who will use the software and what a good result looks like for you. You don't need any technical knowledge. You explain it in plain English and we do the translating.

From there, we work out together what the first version should include. The aim is to solve one clear problem well, for the people who'll use it most, and leave everything else until real use tells you it's needed. Detailed reporting, extra user roles, integrations with other systems and design polish can usually wait.

Quite often this conversation changes the plan. People sometimes come to us sure they need a mobile app and decide, after talking it through, that a web app is the better first step, because it runs in any browser, costs less and can become a mobile app later.

If you'd like to get your thoughts in order first, our article on 5 questions to ask before building a business app is a good place to start.

How the price is agreed

Once we've agreed what goes into the first version, we give you a fixed price before any development starts, so you know exactly what you're committing to. Our pricing is transparent, and the price depends mainly on how many types of user the system has, how many screens and reports it needs, whether it's a web app or a mobile app for both iPhone and Android, and whether it has to connect to tools you already use.

We nearly always recommend starting small. A focused first version keeps your risk low, gets working software into people's hands sooner and shows you which features are really worth paying for. It also gives us both a chance to get used to working together before anything bigger is planned. When you do want to add more, each new phase is priced on its own, and that's always your decision.

The price ranges and what drives them are set out in full in how much it actually costs to develop a mobile app in Ireland. Some small businesses also use the LEO Digital Start Grant to help with the cost of going digital.

Building in short stages, with working screens early

A first version or MVP usually takes 4 to 8 weeks from the first conversation to a working system. MVPs are getting quicker to build, because the tools keep improving and we use AI to help with parts of the development work. Bigger systems start the same way, with a first version in that time, and then grow in stages over the months and years that follow.

Instead of weeks of diagrams and specifications, we build real screens straight away. You click or tap through actual software early in the project and tell us what fits and what doesn't. Some developers call these short stages sprints. Whatever the name, the point for you is the same: you never wait months for a big reveal, and problems are caught while they're still easy to fix.

How you see progress

You'll get an update almost every week and can see the software growing. For a mobile app, that means a working version on your own phone from early in the project, not screenshots or slide decks. For a web app, it means a link you can open and use. You judge progress by using the real thing, which is far more reliable than reading a report about it.

Because you see it early, you give feedback while features are still being built rather than after launch. We adjust as we go, and we don't penalise you for changing your mind.

Testing and launch

Testing isn't saved for the end. Because you and your team have been using working versions throughout, by launch day the software has already been tested against the way your business really works. For an MVP, it often goes to a small group of real users first, whether that's your first customers or a pilot team in your business, to see what works and what doesn't before a wider rollout.

For a web app, launch means going live in the browser. For a mobile app, there's more to it. Apple and Google need developer accounts, store descriptions, screenshots and compliance forms, and Apple is known for rejecting apps over small details. We handle all of it. Apple charges €99 a year and Google €25 once for a developer account, and we're happy to publish your app under our own accounts if that's easier for you. Apps can be transferred to your own accounts later if you prefer.

Support after launch

We don't disappear after launch. We stay with you for maintenance, support and training, and we add new features as your business changes. You can have a monthly support plan or simply call us in when you need something.

Mobile apps need occasional updates as Apple and Google release new versions of iOS and Android each year. If your app hasn't changed, those annual updates usually take just a few hours. And if you have an app that another developer started and that has stalled, we can take it over, fix bugs, improve performance and add new features.

How systems grow over the years

Most of our longer-running projects began with one focused first version and grew in stages as real users told us what they needed next. Many of our clients come back to us for further work on the same system, and that steady growth is how we prefer to work.

• AM Site Solutions started with one task, digitising a single safety form. It now handles GA1 and GA2 forms, certificates, expiry reminders and Stripe subscriptions, and GA1 certificate processing alone saves 492 hours a year, roughly three months of one person's time.
• TillageTrack began as a simple app for one Wexford farmer and became a subscription product other tillage farmers sign up for, on the App Store and Google Play.
• Cork Office Machines and Supplies started with a focused web app that reads printer usage data from emails, giving the family business 90% less manual work on order processing and billing, and they've added to it since.

We plan first versions so that the parts you'll need later, such as accounts, multiple users and connections to other systems, can be added without starting again. Over the years, we've built GPS location tracking, barcode and QR code scanning with the phone's camera, and apps that work offline and sync when they're back in coverage into business apps, so when you're ready for the next stage, it's usually a matter of adding to what's there. You can see more examples on our portfolio page.

We're a technology company, not only a software developer, so growth can mean hardware too. We plan and install real-time location systems using UWB anchors, including a 60 by 20 metre indoor facility with nine anchors, and connect them to software that turns location data into answers. Read more about RTLS and UWB indoor positioning.

What it costs to own over time

If you're comparing developers, look at the total cost of owning the software over three years, not just the build quote. That total is the build cost, plus store fees for a mobile app, plus the cloud hosting it runs on, plus maintenance and any new features you choose to add.

• The build: €3,000 to €8,000 for a first version, and by far the biggest part of the cost.
• Store fees: €322 over three years if you hold your own Apple and Google accounts, or nothing to set up if we publish the app for you.
• Hosting: depends on how many people use the app and how much data it stores, and for a small business app it's usually a small part of the overall cost. We talk it through when we scope your project so there are no surprises.
• Maintenance: often only a few hours a year if the app hasn't changed.
• New features: always your decision, and priced as a separate phase.

How the software is built matters here too. We build mobile apps natively, in Swift for iPhone and Kotlin for Android, on Google Cloud and Firebase, because apps built this way tend to keep working well as iOS and Android change, and an app that keeps breaking costs far more over three years than one built to last. Google Cloud also offers the option to keep your data in the EU. The full breakdown is in our article on what it costs to develop and own a mobile app in Ireland.

Services and further reading

Each of our main services follows the approach on this page.

• Mobile app development in Ireland, for iPhone and Android apps for your staff or customers.
• Custom software development, for web apps and business systems built around how you work.
• MVP development, for a focused first version you can test with real users within weeks.
• Business automation, for taking repetitive admin off your team's plate.
• RTLS and UWB indoor positioning, for tracking people and equipment indoors.
• MVP development in Ireland: build fast, validate and scale
• Keeping your data safe with Google Cloud Platform

To find out more about the business behind all this, read about GBA Solutions and how we look after your security and data, or get in touch to start with a conversation about your project.