One line, start to finish
The person who understands your problem is the person who builds the solution. No handoffs, no telephone game, no "let me check with the developer." You email me, you get me.
Stuart Dawsons
Founder & Lead Engineer
About CustomSaaS
You'll be talking
You'll be talking
to the engineer.
I'm Stuart Dawsons. I scope, architect, and build every system that leaves this studio — and twenty years in, I still write the code myself. Get in touch and there's no sales layer and no account manager between us. You reach me.
Day to day I build custom web platforms, internal business tools, and browser extensions for companies that are done being passed around agencies. A small team works under me so the studio can take on more — but your relationship stays one-to-one. That's the entire reason this page exists.
20+
years, hands on the code
1:1
one direct line, no middlemen
UK
focused, remote-first
Team
small, specialist, led by me
Why it works this way
Built for the
Built for the
direct conversation.
Most people who have hired a software agency remember the same thing: the person who impressed them in the pitch was never seen again, and the actual build went to whoever happened to be free that week. Every question routed through an account manager who couldn't answer it.
This studio is the opposite, by design. One senior technical lead scopes the work, quotes it, architects it, and writes the code. You get a direct line for the entire engagement, and straight technical answers — including the ones that cost me money, like "you don't actually need that."
Small on purpose. Senior on purpose. Reachable on purpose.
The approach
How I work.
A short list, and I hold to all of it. If any of these sound like what you've been missing, we'll get on.
Boring technology, on purpose
Proven, well-understood tools over the framework of the month. The goal is a system that stays up, that you can afford to run, and that your next developer can actually read. Longevity beats novelty.
Honest scoping
I'll tell you what you need, what you don't, and when your problem is better solved another way — sometimes without me. I sell delivered systems, not billable hours for their own sake.
Ship, then sharpen
Small working increments over a big-bang launch you have to take on faith. You see something real early, use it, and we refine from there. Progress you can log into, not a promise on a slide.
What it costs
Transparent from
Transparent from
the first email.
No mandatory "discovery phase" before you learn a number, no per-seat surprises, no account-management fee quietly baked into the invoice. You're paying for senior engineering time and the systems it produces — nothing else.
Standard day rate
Design, build, integration, review
£XXX/day
Fixed-scope project
Quoted up front once the spec is clear
Fixed quote
Ongoing support & iteration
Maintenance, changes, on-call cover
£X/mo retainer
Estimates are free and specific. You'll know the shape of the cost before you commit to anything.
Twenty years, and counting
The long view.
Two decades of building things that had to keep working after launch. Here's the arc — where it came from, where it is now, and where it's going.
-
2006 — 2011
Cutting teeth on the stack
Server-side web when a "web app" still meant a page and a form. The LAMP years — learning how to make things that stay up, handle real data, and don't fall over when someone actually uses them.
-
2011 — 2017
Going deep
Real products, real users, and the unglamorous half of the job: performance, reliability, data integrity — the stuff that decides whether a system survives contact with a business. Backend architecture became the craft.
-
2017 — 2023
Widening the range
Out of the browser and onto every surface a business needs — web platforms, desktop tooling, mobile, browser extensions — delivered end to end. One person, whole systems, start to finish.
-
2023 — Now Where we are
What we're embracing
AI-assisted engineering, used properly — as a multiplier on a senior engineer's judgement, not a replacement for it. Lean, no-nonsense stacks that ship fast and stay maintainable. And a small team under me, so the studio can take on more without ever losing the direct relationship that makes it work.
-
Now — 2031
Where it's going
Staying small and senior on purpose. Pushing AI-native tooling deeper into how work gets built, without handing over the thinking. The plan is simple: be the studio a business calls when they want a system built properly — by someone who'll pick up the phone.
Not entirely solo
A small team.
A small team.
One point of contact.
The studio runs lean — but not alone. A small, hand-picked group of specialists works under me, which is what lets me take on more without diluting the thing that makes this worth choosing: you still deal with one senior lead who owns your project from first email to final deploy.
The team gives the work depth and cover. You get the boutique relationship. What you'll never get is passed to a stranger you've never spoken to.
Want the
direct line?
Tell me what you're trying to build. You'll hear back from the person who'd build it.