Chris DemetriouSoftware developer & consultant

Hi, I’m Chris. Manchester, working UK‑wide.

Custom software that solves your business problems

I turn business problems into custom tools and applications—from the first idea to a tested, working solution.

Request a free workflow audit See tools running in production

Fully written. No meetings. A one-page map you keep.

Two decades across enterprise IT and studio production for DreamWorks, Warner Bros and Sony Pictures releases. Same precision, now applied to your business.

Your week

An example. The audit maps your real one.

  • Answering booking emailsBooking Engine
  • Reminder textsReminders
  • Chasing repliesChasing Engine
  • Booking emailsBooking Engine
  • Fixing the spreadsheetSelf-Checking Records
  • Reminder textsReminders
  • Chasing repliesChasing Engine
  • Booking emailsBooking Engine
  • “Has this been paid?”Payment Pipeline
  • Resending documentsClient Portal

Admin blocks this week 10 by hand

The problem

Sound familiar?

Every hour your team spends on repetitive manual work is skilled time you pay for and never get back. It compounds every week you leave it.

  • Bookings

    You answer the same booking emails every evening.

  • No-shows

    People forget appointments, and the slot goes to waste.

  • Chasing

    You chase clients, members or volunteers who never reply.

  • Cash flow

    Invoices go out late, and get paid even later.

  • Spreadsheets

    Your information lives in five spreadsheets that never agree.

  • Software bills

    You pay every month, per person, for software that doesn’t quite fit.

Internal Tool Blueprints

Six blueprints. Built for your process, owned by you.

Each blueprint is a proven core, engineered around how your organisation actually works. Critical business infrastructure, not a plug-in.

  • 01

    Booking Engine

    Replaces
    Inbox back-and-forth, double bookings and per-seat scheduling subscriptions.
    Automates
    Clients choose a free slot; you approve from your inbox; calendar invites go out by themselves.
    Frees
    Whoever currently runs the diary.

    Proven in: CDCS Contracts (demo)

  • 02

    Reminder Pipeline

    Replaces
    Manual reminder emails and “don’t forget” messages.
    Automates
    Scheduled email, push and WhatsApp alerts fire at the right moment, every time.
    Frees
    The person holding everyone else’s calendar in their head.

    Proven in: Genesis (live)

  • 03

    Chasing Engine

    Replaces
    The “just following up” emails nobody wants to send.
    Automates
    Spots who hasn’t replied, nudges only them, and confirms once everyone is in.
    Frees
    Your coordinator, from coordinating.

    Proven in: Genesis (live)

  • 04

    Payment Pipeline

    Replaces
    Manual invoice tracking and “has this been paid?” checks.
    Automates
    Invoice issued, card payment taken through Stripe, payment verified before the record is marked paid.
    Frees
    Your accounts team, from the chase.

    Proven in: CDCS Contracts (demo, Stripe test mode)

  • 05

    Client Portal

    Replaces
    “Can you resend that?” emails and details scattered across inboxes.
    Automates
    Clients, members or volunteers sign in securely with passkeys to see and answer what’s theirs.
    Frees
    Whoever fields the “where’s my…” questions.

    Proven in: Genesis (live, passkey sign-in)

  • 06

    Self-Checking Records

    Replaces
    Annual clean-ups of lists that were out of date by February.
    Automates
    Directories and records re-check themselves on a schedule and flag anything out of date.
    Frees
    Whoever owns the list nobody trusts.

    Proven in: Neuro Support Checker (live, nearly 900 organisations)

Need something outside the six? Custom dashboards and connections between disconnected systems are scoped in the workflow audit.

Proof

Running now. Open any of them.

Real tools in production. One is a demo, and says so.

Full build notes for every tool on Labs

Zero Software Tax

Own the tool, not the bill.

Off-the-shelf software charges you every month, per person, for features you never use, and holds your data while you pay. A bespoke tool is a permanent operational asset: you pay once to build it.

Per-seat software compared with a bespoke internal tool
AspectPer-seat SaaSBespoke internal tool
PricingPer user, per month. Grows with your headcount.Built once. Adding staff costs nothing.
FitYou bend your process to the product.The tool fits your process.
DataIn their system. Export on request.In your own account.
If you stop payingAccess ends.It keeps running.
  • You own it. The code sits in your GitHub; the tool runs in your Cloudflare account.
  • No licence fees. Per-seat pricing doesn’t exist here.
  • Running costs at cost. Infrastructure is billed to your own accounts, typically from about £4 a month. Card fees and messages are pay-as-you-go.
  • Fast by construction. Plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript on the front end, with minimal dependencies.
  • Fewer moving parts. No CMS, no plugins, no framework-upgrade treadmill.
  • Secure by default. Passkey sign-in, bot protection and strict security headers come as standard.
Process

From the first idea to a tested, working solution.

  1. Understand the problem

    Free. You describe the problem in writing; I send back a one-page map of what’s going wrong and what a tool could fix. No meetings.

  2. Design the solution

    I turn the ideas into a written design and scope, with a fixed price, agreed before any work starts.

  3. Build and test

    Built around your real data and your real edge cases, and tested properly before anyone relies on it.

  4. Launch and hand over

    I launch it with you, then hand over the code, accounts and plain-English notes, all yours. Ongoing support is available as a monthly plan.

About

Studios and enterprise IT taught me precision.

Chris Demetriou

I’m Chris, an independent software developer and consultant in Manchester. I take a business problem from the first conversation to a working solution: I work out what’s really needed, design it, build it, test it and launch it. You deal with me, and only me, from first email to launch.

Sixteen years on enterprise systems used by thousands of companies worldwide taught me to test everything before it goes live, and to keep it running when it matters.

In twenty years of professional studio work, I was a performer on an Oscar-nominated song (Accidentally In Love, Shrek 2), orchestral arranger on a GRAMMY-nominated single (Seal, Walk On By), and assistant engineer on Hans Zimmer’s King Arthur soundtrack, with sessions at SARM Studios.

Studio work is systems work: complex signal chains, unforgiving deadlines and no tolerance for lost files. I bring the same discipline to your software.

  • DreamWorks
  • Warner Bros
  • Sony Pictures
  • Working Title
  • Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Full credits, media and worship →

FAQ

Straight answers.

What is a custom internal tool?

A custom internal tool is bespoke business software built for one organisation’s workflow, such as a booking engine, reminder pipeline or payment tracker, instead of a general product rented per user per month.

Who builds custom software in Manchester?

I’m Chris Demetriou, an independent software developer and consultant based in Manchester. I design, build, test and launch custom software, tools and web applications for organisations across the UK.

What does bespoke software development involve?

With me, it starts with understanding the problem in writing. I then design a solution and agree a fixed-price scope, build and test it, launch it, and hand over the code, accounts and plain-English notes.

How is a bespoke tool different from SaaS?

SaaS is rented per user, per month, and built for everyone. A bespoke tool is built once for your process and owned by you, so there are no seat licences. That is Zero Software Tax.

Do I own the software?

Yes. From handover, the code sits in your GitHub account and the tool runs in your Cloudflare account. If we stop working together, it keeps running.

What does it cost to run?

No licence fees. Infrastructure is billed to your own accounts at cost, typically from about £4 a month. Stripe’s standard card fees and per-message charges for WhatsApp alerts are pay-as-you-go.

How is the build priced?

Fixed price per agreed scope. You get a written scope and price before any work starts.

Do I need to be technical?

No. Describe the problem in your own words. Every step is explained in plain English.

Is our data safe?

Tools use encrypted connections and secure sign-in, collect only what they need, and store data in your own accounts. You know where every record lives before the build starts.

What if you’re not around?

Every tool ships with plain-English notes on how it works and how to run it, and the code and accounts are already yours, so nothing depends on one person.

Do I have to get on a call?

No. The workflow audit, the scope and the updates are all written, by email, so you keep a record of every decision.

Can it take card payments through Stripe?

Yes. The Payment Pipeline issues invoices, takes card payments through Stripe and verifies each payment before marking it paid.

Free workflow audit

Show me the workflow that’s costing you.

Describe the process below. I’ll send back a one-page map of which steps can run themselves, and tell you straight whether a custom tool is worth it. Fully written. No meetings.

Walk me through the steps as they happen today.

For example: Excel, an Outlook calendar, paper forms, an existing booking app.

I reply personally, by email.