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Done for you: you own the software, we run it

Last updated: Written by Blake Cowan, NCSO

For the company that likes the free software and has no intention of learning what a Supabase project is. You own everything, we run everything, one monthly number.

The short answer

You own the software either way, and the licence is $0. What we sell here is everything around it: we set your system up, host it, hold the API keys, run the upgrades and the backups, and keep it current, from $250 a month for a small company with the Supabase and OpenRouter costs included. Setup is $1,500 for a working empty system, from $3,000 with your whole program loaded in, and $1,000 comes off the loaded price when we take you through COR or SECOR.

The self hosting page is written for the reader who enjoys it. This page is for everyone else.

The part nobody warns you about with free software

Free software has a real cost, and it is not money. Somebody has to create a Supabase project, put the application somewhere, generate API keys, run upgrades when they land, and check that the backups actually happened. None of that is hard for a technical person. All of it is a wall for a contractor whose technical person is the office manager, and the most common outcome we see is the honest one: people love the idea, read the setup guide, and quietly close the tab.

That is not a character flaw. You did not start a construction company to administer a Postgres database.

What done for you means

Every chore on the list above becomes ours. Specifically:

We stand it up

Your company, your crew, your permission profiles, the forms you actually use. You get a login, not a setup guide.

We host it

The application, the database, the file storage, and the API keys behind the AI features. For a small company those costs are inside the monthly fee, not on top of it.

We keep it current

Upgrades, backups, and the small changes that come up: a new form, a crew change, a procedure that moved. You call, we change it.

You stay the owner

Accounts sit in your name wherever practical. Where we open one instead, the bill passes through at cost and the account transfers to you if you leave.

What it costs

Monthly, from $250 for a small company. That number includes the infrastructure: the Supabase project and the OpenRouter API keys are inside it, not extras. Larger companies need a call, because crew size drives what the infrastructure costs, and a number quoted blind would be a guess.

Municipalities are a different price range entirely. A city yard with public works, parks and a fleet is a different scope from a contracting crew, so that conversation starts with a call rather than a table on a website.

Setup, two versions, priced by what lands in your lap:

Comparison table.
SetupPriceWhat you get
Working empty system$1,500The software stood up, configured for your company, ready for you to enter your own program
Your program loadedfrom $3,000We enter your policies, procedures, hazard assessments and forms, so day one is ready to run
Your program loaded, certifying with usfrom $2,000The loaded setup with $1,000 off because we are taking you through COR or SECOR anyway. The certifying partner's own fees stay yours

Scroll the table sideways to see every column. The first column stays in place.

The comparison worth doing is against the per seat vendors: a 40 person crew on the cheapest published competitor runs thousands a year, every year, and you own nothing when you stop paying.

The ownership test

Ask any vendor, including us, one question: what do I keep if I stop paying you?

Their answer is an export file, if the contract allows one. Ours is: everything. The application is free software, the database is a standard Postgres database, the documents are yours, and the accounts either sit in your name already or transfer to you on the way out. Stopping payment ends our work, not your system. That is not a courtesy we extend, it is how the arrangement is built, and it is the reason you can hire us without betting your certification on us.

Which path is yours

  • You have a technical person and time: self host. It is genuinely free and genuinely supported, and this page will still be here if the novelty wears off.
  • You want the system but not the chores: this page. From $250 a month, setup from $1,500.
  • You are not sure the software matters yet: take the free templates and run your program on paper. Plenty of crews do.

Questions people actually ask

Do I still own the software if you run it?
Yes, and that is the point of the whole arrangement. The application is free software under AGPL-3.0-or-later, the program documents are yours, and the audit evidence is yours. We are operating your system, not renting you ours. If we disappeared tomorrow the system would keep running without us.
What does the monthly fee include?
Everything required to keep the system running: the hosting, the Supabase database, the OpenRouter API keys that power the AI features, upgrades, backups, and keeping the software current. For a small company that starts at $250 a month, all of those costs included. Larger companies and municipalities get a firm number on a call, because size and scope drive the infrastructure cost.
Whose name are the accounts in?
In your name wherever that is practical. Where it is cheaper or simpler for us to open an account, we open it, pass the bill through to you at cost on your monthly invoice, and the account transfers to you if you ever leave. Either way there is no account we would keep that your system depends on.
What happens if I cancel?
You keep the application, the data, the documents and the accounts, because they were always yours. We hand over any credentials we hold, and you carry on self hosted or with anyone else you hire. There is no export fee and no wind down charge, and the data is in a standard Postgres database, so leaving is a handover rather than a rescue.
Why are there two setup prices?
Because they are different jobs. $1,500 stands up a working, empty system: your company, your permission profiles, your starter forms, ready for you to enter your own program. From $3,000 we also load your program into it: your policies, procedures, hazard assessments and forms, so the day it lands it is ready to run, not ready to fill.
How does the certification discount work?
If we take you through COR or SECOR certification, we knock $1,000 off the loaded setup, so it starts at $2,000 instead of $3,000. The certification process itself has its own costs, the certifying partner's fees and the audit, and those stay yours. We are discounting our work, not hiding theirs.

If creating a Supabase account is where you stopped

That is the exact moment this page exists for. Tell us your crew size and what paperwork you already have, and you will leave the call with a firm monthly number and a setup quote. If the honest answer is that you should self host and keep your money, we will say that instead.