Common questions
The things people ask before they start.
No sales answers. If a custom system is not the right call for you, the honest answer is in here too.
Money and time
2 questionsWhat does it cost?
There is no price list, because there is no standard build. We price from the map: once we have been through how your business actually runs, you get a fixed price for each stage before that stage starts. You are never asked to sign up to something open ended.
How long before we are using it?
We build in stages, biggest problem first, so your team is using the first part of the system while the later parts are still being built. How long a stage takes depends on what it has to do. We tell you that up front rather than promising a number we cannot hold.
How it works
3 questionsDo we have to get rid of the software we already use?
No. Most businesses we meet are running three or four subscriptions that each do one job well. We connect to the ones that are working, pull what matters out of them, and put it against the job it belongs to. Where you are only really using one part of an app and paying for the rest of it to sit there, we can usually build that part into your system instead.
Do we need someone technical on our side?
No. If you can explain how your business runs, the hard part is done. We do the mapping, the design and the build, and we take your people through it so they can actually use it.
Do you build AI into the systems?
Where it earns its place, and always on top of the system rather than instead of it. The value is that it reads your own records, so everyone asks the same way and gets the same answer, and anything that matters still waits for a person to approve it. We do not sell AI. We build the thing it needs to be useful.
What you own
4 questionsWho owns the system and the data?
You do. Every record and every file is yours, and you can export the lot at any time, either as spreadsheets or as a full copy. There is no lock-in. The point is that you stay because it works.
Where is our data kept, and is it backed up?
In Australia. The system and its database run on Australian hosting, and it is backed up automatically, so a mistake made on Tuesday can be undone on Wednesday. You can also take your own copy at any time, as spreadsheets or as a full export. The one exception is AI. If we build an AI feature into your system, the records it reads are processed by the AI provider, such as Claude or OpenAI, and that processing may happen outside Australia. It is optional, it is your call, and anything that matters still waits for a person to approve it.
What happens when the business changes?
We change it. That is the difference between a system built around your workflow and a subscription. You are not joining a feature queue, waiting for someone else to decide your problem is worth solving.
What happens after it launches?
We stay on it. After launch we support the system, improve it and grow it alongside the operation, with the person who built it rather than a support queue.
Whether it is for you
3 questionsDo you only work with construction businesses?
No. We have built for construction, but the same problem turns up in planning practices, professional services, labour hire, logistics, manufacturing, health and trades. If work comes in, moves through a few hands and goes out as an invoice, it is the same shape of problem.
Where are you based, and do you work outside Melbourne?
FlowPilot is Melbourne based and Australian owned, and we work with businesses around Australia. For the mapping we come to you where we can, and do it over video where that is not practical. The build itself is done remotely either way.
When is a custom system not the right answer?
Often enough that we will tell you. If a spreadsheet is genuinely doing the job, or an off-the-shelf tool fits the way you already work, that is the cheaper answer and we will say so on the first call. A custom system is worth it when the way you work is the thing that makes you money, and no product matches it.
Getting started
1 questionWhat happens on the first call?
Twenty minutes on the phone, with nothing to prepare. You tell us what is broken and what it is costing you. We tell you honestly whether a custom system is the fix, or whether a spreadsheet or an off-the-shelf tool would do the job better. No slides, and no demo of someone else's software.
Start a conversation
Show me where the business gets stuck.
You don't need to know what software you need. Tell us what isn't working and we'll tell you honestly whether a custom system is the fix.
Melbourne based · Australian owned · You'll hear back from Matthew, not a sales desk
