Cost follows scope, integrations, compliance, and how many roles the system must serve. Budget for discovery, build, assurance, and life after launch, not only coding hours. The quotes that age well are the ones tied to written outcomes, not open-ended time.
Integrations with legacy systems, complex permissions, offline or field workflows, audit requirements, and data migration usually cost more than “number of screens.”
Unclear ownership of requirements is the most common overrun, not the programming language.
A first release that solves one painful workflow beats a multi-year rewrite that never ships. Phase 1 should prove value; later phases expand safely.
Hosting, monitoring, backups, and a support path belong in the budget. Software that cannot be operated is unfinished.
Yes for well-bounded scopes. When requirements are still forming, we start with discovery and a fixed proposal for the next phase.
Compare what is in and out of scope, who owns hosting and support, and what “done” means, not only the bottom-line number.
Send a short note. We'll tell you what we see, including if you're better off not building yet.