When the plugin you need doesn't exist
Somewhere between "there's a plugin for that" and "you need a custom web app" sits a lot of real business need: workflows, integrations and features specific to how you operate. We build them as proper WordPress plugins — to coding standards, update-safe, documented.
Typical custom plugin work
CRM & marketing integrations
Form entries into HubSpot, Salesforce or Mailchimp with the field mapping you actually need — not what a generic connector plugin decides to sync.
Membership & access logic
Member directories, gated content, tiered access, renewals synced with your membership database. The logic membership plugins almost handle, finished properly.
Booking & enquiry workflows
Multi-step forms, availability rules, deposits, confirmations into your calendar and CRM at once — flows built around your process rather than forcing your process into a plugin's.
API connections
Pulling live data in (stock, prices, listings, jobs) or pushing content out. Cached sensibly so third-party downtime never takes your site down with it.
Admin & editor tooling
Custom dashboards, bulk operations, editorial workflows — the internal tools that turn "ask the developer" jobs into "click the button" jobs.
Plugin rescue
Inherited a custom plugin from a departed developer? We audit it, document it, and either bring it up to standard or rebuild it — whichever the audit says is cheaper long-term.
Built like software, because it is
The custom code that gives WordPress a bad name lives in theme functions files, hooks into nothing correctly, and dies with every update. Ours doesn't: WordPress coding standards, proper hooks and filters, version control, staging-tested against core updates, and written documentation. The test we hold ourselves to is simple — could a competent developer who's never met us pick this up tomorrow? If not, it isn't finished.
Common questions
A plugin sort of does what we need. Custom or configure?
Usually configure — and we'll say so, because custom code you don't need is maintenance you don't need. Custom wins when the "sort of" gap costs your team real time, or when you're chaining three plugins together with duct tape to fake one feature.
What does a custom plugin cost?
Small integrations and admin tools typically start around £1,500–£4,000; more involved builds are quoted as fixed-price phases from a written spec, so the number is agreed before we write a line.
Will it survive WordPress updates?
That's the point of building to standards: we use stable core APIs, not internals that shift between versions. On a care plan, your custom code is tested against every update round on staging before deploy.
Who owns the code?
You do. It lives in your repository, documented, from the first commit. No lock-in is a company policy, not a slogan.
Describe the gap. We'll scope the fix.
Tell us what you're doing manually, or what your current plugins almost do. A developer replies with an honest take — including "just configure this existing plugin" when that's the answer.
Discuss what you need