Buildable Custom Software

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of the Catholic Benefits Association. Our organization was created to protect religious entities from government mandates that mandated healthcare coverage for certain services that conflicted with our faith. As a result, we now protect over 10,000 Catholic employers from those mandates. We help them better align their healthcare experiences with their faith and culture.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buildable Custom Software?

We were seeking a partner to assist us in developing a tool to automate a process we had already established.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Buildable Custom Software is helping us develop a custom review automation tool. We review medical health plans and what we call SPDs (summary plan descriptions), which outline the insurance coverage language and exclusions provided by the health plan.
Buildable Custom Software is developing a scoring model that enables us to evaluate each health plan based on whether it complies with our legal protections, whether there is any moral conflict in the language, and whether it demonstrates capabilities for Catholic identity improvement.

We've gone through a discovery process, and Buildable Custom Software has provided us with a statement of work. The team has outlined the project phases, from design to engineering, as well as the structure of the tool. We've also determined the reporting and output of the tool.

Buildable Custom Software has designed the tool to allow us to upload and review a 170-page document within minutes. The tool assesses and scores the health plan to provide a roadmap of recommendations to improve the score.

The team is wrapping up the project, and the tool leverages an LLM to review the insurance language, identifying elements that conflict with our faith. Buildable Custom Software's solution will enable us to turn five AI models on and off, depending on the results we receive.

Currently, we're through a lot of the design work and functionality. We're in the testing phase to determine if the AI produces the desired results. We're teaching the model what we want to see and what to look for.

What is the team composition?

We work with two project managers, two software engineers, a designer, and the management leadership of Buildable Custom Software.

How did you come to work with Buildable Custom Software?

I have a former coworker who works for Buildable Custom Software. I contacted him to learn what the team could do for us. After meeting with him and the CEO, we hired them. My previous relationship with Buildable Custom Software was the door in, but the main thing was that they were very clear.

We were clear with one another that we needed to take this process out of my head and automate it. Buildable Custom Software showed the most straightforward pathway to ensure results.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $160,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We initiated discussions in December 2024, but the project officially started in March 2025, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Once Buildable Custom Software finishes developing the tool, we'll see an 8,000% difference in cost or time savings. The team's quality of work has consistently exceeded our expectations.

How did Buildable Custom Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Buildable Custom Software has delivered on time and on budget. We use email and Microsoft Teams to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Buildable Custom Software's expertise is impressive. They've built tools like these before. What we've found most effective is that their first attempt at everything they've done to show us and demonstrate what this could look like is of the highest quality. We don't have to go back and forth over the design. Their first version exceeds our expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren't any.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Look at examples of Buildable Custom Software's completed work. What we saw they completed for other Catholic faith organizations was stellar. They're an efficient team, so some examples of their previous projects will demonstrate the efficiency and value of their work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a journalist and the head of development for digital activities at a French weekly media site that has a website and a mobile application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buildable Custom Software?

We needed support to design and develop a mobile app. We had a broad idea of what we wanted, but we're a small company that didn't have the required team to develop the app. We had a poorly working and slow app that only allowed us to do the basis of our work. We could only show articles and are a media company, and having a functional app is a core function of our job. We really needed a mobile app that was quick and could support video interviews and our magazine's written articles.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, I provided Buildable Custom Software basic ideas for the app's design and the different interactions we required. The team refined my ideas and created the app's design in around four months. Then, the team moved to the design's execution phase. Buildable Custom Software used Flutter for development, and the app works for iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three teammates from Buildable Custom Software, including a project coordinator, a frontend designer, and a backend developer.

How did you come to work with Buildable Custom Software?

My company's CEO referred Buildable Custom Software to me. We had interviews with three companies that provided similar business ideas, and we chose Buildable Custom Software because we had a better feeling talking to each other.
How much have you invested with them?

We spent around €125,000 (approximately $134,000 USD) on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Buildable Custom Software from January 2023–April 2024.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We haven't launched the app since our company is going through several internal changes at the time. However, Buildable Custom Software delivered an extremely quick app, which was one of the key issues we had with our previous app. The app was comfortable to use and opened articles instantly when clicking on them. Buildable Custom Software integrated several of our specific requirements, including a video reproduction auto-launch function that worked great. 

The team adapted to our internal changes and evolutions during the process. During the design phase, we hit some roadblocks because we were working with several providers who had to talk to each other, which took time. We also had roadblocks with Apple toward the end of the project.

How did Buildable Custom Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a set budget, and Buildable Custom Software met our planned spending. We communicated well via periodic emails and Microsoft Teams video calls every week. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Buildable Custom Software delivered a great product on budget, and we were very happy with the result. 

Are there any areas they could improve?
As we approached the end of the project, the team's work seemed to slow down, and communications got tough. Maybe it was due to our project's complicated issues, and since I'm not a technical professional, I didn't understand everything Buildable Custom Software talked about.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Verdant Web Technologies

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Verdant provides software for collecting, tracking, managing, and reporting on hazardous building materials in multi-facility organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Buildable Custom Software to accomplish?

• Build an externally facing, RESful API
• Build an integrated online/offline capable data collection app
• Resolve performance issues in MVC application
• Enhance reporting and data presentation options in MVC application

SOLUTION

How did you find Buildable Custom Software?

Referral

Why did you select Buildable Custom Software over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Other clients with our tech stack moved here.

How many teammates from Buildable Custom Software were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Buildable worked with Verdant to create three deliverables: 

1. A RESTful API with a library of endpoints relative to our production database. 
2. Built upon this API, the team was challenged with creating an online/offline capable data collection application. This app needed to provide push/pull of data for three workflows: 3 Year Reinspection,6 Month Periodic Surveillance, and Bulk Sample Inventory. 
3. Our Main MVC application needed to be revised to handle larger datasets, resulting in a third deliverable of seeking several areas of the system and making them more performant. 
4. Several adjustments to the MVC app and Database to accommodate receipt, storage, presentation, and reporting for data elements being sent over the API from our data collection app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

1. API was created and deployed. 
2. DataCollector app was created and deployed. 
3. Performance enhancements were added to main MVC app.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project deliverables were generally delivered on time, though scope changes and delays on our side caused some slippage. As for Project Management, Verdant provided that for this effort, we just outsourced Buildable's development resources. That said, Buildable was consistently responsive and generally in keeping with timing on deliverables.

What was your primary form of communication with Buildable Custom Software?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The people are what set Buildable apart. Verdant was in a bind, having experienced a forced separation from its previous vendor due to them being acquired and distancing themselves from "smaller" low budget projects and clients. 

Verdant needed to move it's tech stack from one vendor to another while keeping production intact and taking on new development efforts with investor backed capital. Buildable quickly took on our project, assigned personnel, and built a plan to ensure our software could be managed, maintained, and worked on without issue. 

From there, we delved into a series of small development efforts to get acquainted with one another. Once that was in place, we embarked on the larger development path discussed in this review. Management and development personnel took on our projects as if they were a part of our firm. 

Eventually, we converted to staff augmentation and the crew we had working with our internal staff felt like an extension of our internal teams.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Buildable Custom Software could have done differently?

We've discussed some minor things that could have been better, but they all dealt with issues related to both vendor and client. We could have been more organized and direct and they could have been more inquisitive and challenged our scope/direction on occasion. 

In the end, we made the right choice and Buildable helped us transition away from outsourced development as we built our internal team, including providing our new team with excellent support and direction, which continues today in our scaled back relationship and approach. 

Now we know that if we get pressed for time, get a huge project, or simply need a helping hand, the Buildable team is available to us, knows our product and clientele, and can jump back in with little to no time lost.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of Stanford University School of Medicine, a healthcare center.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buildable Custom Software?

We didn’t have the internal resources to do software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Buildable Custom Software is helping us build a software for a clinical trial for a grant-funded project of the American Heart Association. They do full stack development for a hypertension management platform, including an integrated system with the electronic medical records accessible through a web portal, allowing doctors to enroll patients into a disease management treatment program.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with around 20 different people at their organization, including Max (CEO & CTO), their head of business development, front- and backend developers, UI/UX designers, and a team of project managers.

How did you come to work with Buildable Custom Software?

We put out an RFP, and Buildable Custom Software was the best option for several reasons. They had significant expertise in building complex systems, were efficient communicators, were highly collaborative, answered our questions promptly, and could work with our budget.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent $250,000–$500,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

According to our internal decision-making team, they met and exceeded our requirements for this project. Overall, they’ve been a phenomenal team to work with.

How did Buildable Custom Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been flexible in adjusting sprint schedules and scope through a consistent and communicative approach. Also, they’re always available, provide constant follow-up, and complete deliverables while ensuring that we accept everything before moving forward.

Their team is also good at setting expectations, building consensus, and ensuring that everyone is valued, including our stakeholders. Buildable Custom Software can also work with our other technical teams, including external software developers and engineers that we’ve brought on as consultants.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We feel confident in our relationship with them — we have a deep and trusting connection with their team. We see them as a direct collaborator with equal weight in the opinions and insights they provide for our project, from a technical perspective and usability, deployment, and implementation of the software they develop.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — every time they commit to doing something, they’ve been able to deliver and set expectations to maintain their position as a key contributor rather than only a service provider.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is a development lab focused on the opportunities in the application market. My position runs the gambit, from project manager to launch strategist.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buildable Custom Software?

Although we didn’t think it would be a challenge at first, we were trying to address an issue around the database for a B2C app development opportunity. We went through a couple of exercises to identify how to treat a data environment that was not in a database form. Additionally, we had to create a backend engine that could take that data, work within some AI layers, and output it to a customer-friendly UI.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Buildable took part in the initial exercise to unravel what we were trying to do from a conceptual standpoint. We’d done a few dry runs in a data science environment and got oversight into what we were putting into the problem. Then, we bridged over to a marketplace solution, and we spent a lot of time with Buildable’s team to develop it.

I don’t know what technology was used. I’ve worked on a lot of projects, and I’ve stopped paying attention to platforms. One of the Achilles’ heels of the startup environment is that we use whatever technology is native to whomever we’re working with, and we've quickly found out that everyone has their own preferred platform. I know that we’re going to end up using the TestFlight platform, but that will be down the road.

What is the team composition?

Max (Founder & CTO) took part in the initial exercise. I don’t have a fixed team size. We’ve had a lot of Zoom meetings because of COVID-19, and there have been a lot of people behind the scenes that have never made it on the calls.

There have been at least six people visible in meetings, and I estimate that there are close to 12 involved in the project, including developers, designers, project leads, and project managers.

How did you come to work with Buildable Custom Software?

We’ve worked with a couple of development shops, and my partner and I always watch out for new developers.

We got a lead for Buildable from an adjunct project that my partner was working on. They knocked that project out of the park, so we thought that we were in the hands of a good company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $450,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

The initial conversation with Buildable happened in late 2019, and we started working together in early 2020. We estimate to reach the app’s alpha phase in July 2021, and we’ll probably engage with Buildable on a legacy project as well, so we’ll be working with them for the foreseeable future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

This project’s success is measured by how carefully they listen to what we’re working on — this is something that Buildable is tremendously good at. There have been moments when something didn’t quite have the right look and feel and others where the project was drifting a bit from what we initially scoped out, and they’ve been very good at stopping and sorting things out.

Buildable has been good at understanding what we want and recognizing how far off we are from that, especially during the early stages, which was hugely critical. Once we commit to something, minor changes can be big changes on the backend. Buildable is very good at understanding that part of the development process, and we haven’t drifted too far from the calendar, either, which is phenomenal.

How did Buildable Custom Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Buildable is enormously good at placing budget-conscious bids, and they’ve done a phenomenal job of managing resources around unexpected changes.

In this type of business environment, the typical project lifecycle has an initial engagement where the parts rough out the idea. Then, they have a team retreat where all the principals get together in person to break the project down on the whiteboard. They do a few other exercises for 3–4 days to get all the features and define where they’re supposed to be for every part of the front and backend.

We didn’t have the luxury of doing that because we engaged right when COVID-19 started. We’ve had to manage the project entirely remotely, and none of us had had experience with a fully remote development process. However, Buildable has been very successful at handling that business shift.

Project management in a remote environment is one of the most challenging positions to be in. We’re trying to marry team resources that are spread across multiple projects. Buildable has managed to have our needs met without making us feel that we were losing speed, developers, or any other kinds of critical resources.

We have weekly meetings over Zoom, and we’ve had meetings over Microsoft Teams and other platforms as well. We were having technical issues with Microsoft Teams, so Buildable suggested moving to Zoom. They have a couple of project management tools and, whatever they’re using, they work well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Buildable’s ability to listen to the client and have that development ear during meetings is impressive. We were a little off-course in the beginning, and they could tell that we weren’t satisfied with the specifications for the app. They looped back as a team and listened to us, which is something hard to do. We thought that we were doing the right work, but we had to backtrack. In the end, we got good results.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had to correct our course a few times, and something challenging for us was the calendar. The project manager was pushing for deadlines, which wasn’t appropriate in the early stages. We had a good scope of work and stack, but, when we got down to actually building it, there were places where we were drifting off.

This issue was no one’s fault, but we had to restart. The project manager wanted to get stuff done — that’s their job. However, it was a minor issue, and it self-corrected.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

One of the things that we did really well was going to Buildable with a mostly road-tested concept. We scoped out a lot of the functional parts, and we built a proof of concept (POC) with a data scientist.

Having that POC meant that we could jump in further down the road than someone who just had an idea for an app could have. That was a good place to start, but there were a lot of questions to answer about its viability in the marketplace.

When we came to Buildable, we were immediately introduced to the right people. Having a data scientist onboard fostered a lot more development in the pre-development stage than if we’d gone to them with 1–2 lines on a piece of paper.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the president of a geothermal energy company that specializes in data collection and the real-time broadcasting of drilling data to our clients all over the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Buildable Custom Software, and what were your goals?

Our online real-time data broadcasting was built in the .net framework and broadcast our data using microsoft silverlight which only operated on the internet explorer browser. We needed to update our online platform to broadcast across all browsers and on all devices.

We hired Buildable to build, design, and maintain our new web platform for our data stream. Our goals were to go live with the first version of our site after 3 months and then make updates and add functionality to it in the following couple months.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Buildable had a strong reputation and was located in close geographic proximity our web design project manager. We figured this would allow for better communication and ultimately less hiccups in the process.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a few meetings to discuss the scope of work that we were requesting. From there, Buildable designed a comprehensive outline of their sprints and what could be expected from them.

Since Buildable was tasked with building a site that tied into our onsite data acquisition streams, the first step in the project was diving into our code and understanding how to design the site to fetch/recieve the JSON packets.

Secondly, they had to figure out how to design the real-time charting of our data to stream vertically (since this is an industry standard) rather than horizontally which is the more common type of charting.

Thirdly, Buildable had to develop a navigation menu that created different users and user groups that each had unique roles and permissions to access the data site. Each with their own specific login and password. Sprint 4 dealt with building out the web interface and the general layout of our data site.

It also dealt with the admin set up which allowed us as admins to create and manage new drilling wells and clients as needed. They also created a platform for us to upload PDF, word, and excel reports to be viewed online as needed.

Finally once these were all achieved, we underwent a testing period on the QA site before officially going live with our live streaming data on our website.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with 5 members of the Buildable staff. A senior software engineer, two junior developers, a frontend designer, and a business development manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our clients have given us pretty much nothing but good feedback on our new real-time data streaming site. They appreciate that we were able to bring it onto all browsers and like the way that it displays on different devices. Thanks to Buildable, we've added some new features from what we previously had and our clients seem to really appreciate those.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had weekly standups with Buildable via Microsoft teams throughout the process. We used Jira and Loom to leave feedback on the issues we encountered during their design process.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I was very impressed with Buildable's ability to learn our program and make it integrate with their ideas on how to develop the web application. It was not an easy project but they did a great job meeting our requirements.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The only issue I really had with them was in meeting the deadlines of the first phase of the project. They were behind schedule on it due to some unforeseen challenges with our program(and due to the holiday season) but they were very forthcoming about expected timeline changes.

Ultimately they delivered everything a bit behind schedule but we were very pleased with the results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a land surveying group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buildable Custom Software?

We were looking for a technical partner that could help us organize our business through software. We had an existing custom solution and wanted someone to refine and further develop it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Buildable Custom Software is refining and developing our custom ERP solution, which will allow us to better manage our projects and resource plan. Essentially, the solution’s purpose is to run our business. It covers all things surrounding the projects that we have running through the firm. As projects scale, we’re able to track them from when we win the project to delivery.

Their team is also building a custom geographic information system (GIS) database application. With the app, we can geocode all of our projects individually onto a map, then leverage that information with different layers of data. 

What is the team composition? 

My two contacts are Max (Founder & CTO) and Jacob (Software Engineering Manager). Max deals with more of the high-level details to get the project off the ground, and then Jacob works with my team to execute. I’m sure there are more people involved, too.

How did you come to work with Buildable Custom Software?

It was through a very careful process. We’d had assessed a number of good companies when a well-respected consultant of ours recommended Buildable Custom Software. This individual knew their team and thought highly of them. That was a big deal for us. We weighed his comments heavily and took a shot with Buildable Custom Software.

How much have you invested with them?

To date, we’ve spent in the range of $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in July 2020, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The solution is still being built, so we haven’t started using it yet. Of course, I’ve seen prototypes during our discussions and have been very impressed so far. I also have an in-house project manager who’s heading this initiative. If my project manager is exceptionally happy with the work, then I consider the engagement to be a success. 

How did Buildable Custom Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Buildable Custom Software has been very solid on this front. Their documentation on statements of work (SoWs) has been tight, and they document everything in their two-week sprints with great detail.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a CEO, it’s really important to me that they’re engaged with us — this was actually a huge reason for why we hired them. Max was engaged, and his team struck me as excited to help us solve some pretty significant challenges. If you couple their hard skills around technical coding with their soft skills around their level of care and engagement, you’ll get a winning combination.

I 100% do not feel like we’re just another project for them. They’re dead-serious and care about moving our project along so that we can use this powerful software.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Normally, there are always 1–2 things that can be improved with most companies. However, based on my personal experience, there’s nothing that I would say Buildable Custom Software needs to change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

This applies to any company, but I would advise potential customers to have an internal person who acts as a go-between to execute the project. As I’ve alluded to, we have an in-house project manager who works deeply between my entire team and Buildable Custom Software. Having that internal point person can really help move these projects along.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of technology and innovation for a medical device company working in neuro diagnostics. We sell a device for the assessment of functional and structural brain injury. In my role, I’m responsible for all technology in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buildable Custom Software?

We brought them on to outsource a portion of our software development activities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a rolling contract where I buy development time from them. Their developers are an extension of my development team. They support development resources for our internal web application, handling backend ERP support. I developed the initial architecture of the web platform with them. They use .NET core and Angular.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Max (Founder & CTO) and Jacob (Software Engineering Manager). People on my team interfaced with their developers. Team composition has varied over the time of our engagement.

How did you come to work with Buildable Custom Software?

My company worked with them before I was hired. I didn’t even know that and rediscovered them because they were referred to us by our IT MSP. My team was working on the direct product, and I didn’t have the capacity to work on internal products.

I was referred to Max and he convinced me that his approach of using a .NET core was going to be better than using a Python backend for microservices. We did a small pilot with them and they performed so well that I dumped the other vendors and went with Buildable Custom Software.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started around May 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Every statement of work had acceptance criteria and their deliverables always met them. When our requirements or needs changed, they were super responsive and delivered what we needed in very commendable timeframes.

I’ve had a very positive experience working with Buildable Custom Software. We architected the web solution together. They developed the solution per our design specifications and requirements and delivered everything we asked for in a timely fashion. They were responsive to our requests and maintained the operational deployment of the servers for us.

Our engagement isn’t a normal B2B engagement, we’re highly technical so I don’t leave the architecture and code design to them. I do it with them and direct them as an extension of my software team.

How did Buildable Custom Software perform from a project management standpoint?

There isn’t much project management involved from their end. We ensured we had the resources available and we did our sprint planning together to make sure those resources were made available to us to execute those sprints. We have a ticketing system where we create a product backlog and define sprints.

We cooperatively went through a sprint training session where they came up with a list of what’d go in the backlog. They agreed on it and locked it in the backlog. Then, we executed the sprint. We then did verification and validation to ensure it met our acceptance criteria and then it’d iterate again.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with their attention to detail, dedication to the quality of their work, and responsiveness to our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have anything. They integrated very well with our development team. There’s been no friction.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to their recommendations because they know what they’re talking about and have the customer’s interests first.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of information services at a self-insurance association.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buildable Custom Software?

We needed to create a software solution for an enterprise risk management (ERM) application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The application Buildable created allows entities to thoroughly evaluate issues impacting their organization in order to make the best decisions possible. The application steps users through various considerations, including responsible and impacted parties, risks, opportunities, and action plans for mitigating/maximizing outcomes. We are able to create our own user-level reports against the database.

In terms of technology, they’re using a proprietary system they themselves developed, and they’ve shared the code base with us. In addition to Admin capabilities within the application, our developers are able to make small code changes independently, which was important to us.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager, main developer, and business analyst. Throughout the process, there have been three or four consistent team members, which has been nice.

How did you come to work with Buildable Custom Software?

We put out an RFP in conjunction with another self-insurance association we’re associated with. They had prior experience with Buildable, so they brought them in.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $110,000–$120,000, combined with the other association.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January 2019–July 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

It’s not a heavily utilized application — it’s very specialized and we’re just now rolling it out to our membership. However, the feedback we have received so far has been positive.

How did Buildable Custom Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a really good methodology in terms of their sprints. Buildable is well-organized, and they’ve delivered everything on time. 

The team has dealt effectively with changes and communicated well when those changes impacted scope and cost. Most of our communication was done over emails and Zoom meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the factors that made them very competitive price-wise was the fact that they had a platform established already. Because of that, we could see the foundation of the application. It also gave them an edge in terms of developing the solution in a timely fashion at a reasonable cost. 

We’re also impressed with their methodology and how organized their sprints were. Every month and week, they laid out what they were going to accomplish, and they stayed on target.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of. Buildable has been extremely responsive to all of our needs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about your requirements upfront. Buildable did a great job clarifying the requirements and eliciting details from us, but the process will go more smoothly if you have them upfront.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I serve on the board of Henderson House, an advocacy center and emergency shelter for survivors of domestic and sexual violence in Yamhill County, Oregon. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buildable?

We had a very outdated website, so we needed a fully new website on a more user-friendly platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We requested a WordPress website with a fillable form, a translation plugin because a lot of our service recipients speak Spanish as a first language, a donations plugin, and a calendar functionality where our community could see the classes and events we had available. 

We provided them with a site map. Buildable then used WPBakery as the page builder, incorporated an M.E. Calendar plugin, and implemented a Donorbox plugin as well.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a frontend business teammate who did quoting and provided business-related information, a web designer, and a technical support teammate. 

How did you come to work with Buildable?

In December 2019, I began to explore what web developers were available to us locally. I met with three different design groups, and Buildable impressed me the most and gave me the most assurance that they’d be able to produce what we were looking for.

How much have you invested with them?

The original quote based on the site map we provided was between $7,500–$12,000. We ended up spending $8,367.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from July–September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We did a walk through with our staff, and they were enthusiastic. The website will serve as a tool for our staff to navigate resources and provide information to our clients. They were very happy with it. We believe that it’s exactly what we envisioned.

We had a goal of making up for some in-person fundraisers through a website reveal fundraiser, and we exceeded our financial goal ahead of time. To our knowledge, the website is hitting every mark.

How did Buildable perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was fantastic. We felt that we were in good hands the whole time, and they were very responsive to our questions and requests.

Buildable delivered and built on our ideas, producing something that was even better than we had hoped. I was astonished by how quickly the website was built. I had weekly standup meetings with the web designer.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Buildable’s designers are well-versed in all of the tools that they use and it’s evident in what they create. I haven’t experienced any issues with the website, which has never happened to me before, so I have a lot of confidence in their technical team as well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. I was very happy with what they produced and how they produced it. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I had an advantage because I had gone through the process of building a website, so I knew that it would take a lot of time on the site map and the vision. I would advise customers to come in with a very good idea of what they need or want, which will be helpful for the process and, ultimately, the budget.