Your best people are doing work software should do.
Quotes rebuilt from scratch in Excel. Line items re-typed off PDFs. Job status that lives in one person's head. We build the custom systems and AI that take that work off your team, so their hours go to the work that actually grows the business. If you assumed that costs six figures, it used to. AI-first development changed the math.
- Re-keying RFQ line items into Excel6.5 hrs
- Rebuilding quotes from scratch5.0 hrs
- Reconciling job costs to accounting4.0 hrs
- Chasing status across three systems3.5 hrs
Systems we built, running in production today.
A quoting app for a shop that quoted by hand.
JTR machines complex parts for aerospace, and every quote was built from scratch: pricing assembled by hand, margin estimated job by job. We built a custom job-costing app that turns an incoming RFQ into a priced quote quickly, with margin set on purpose instead of guessed. The rebrand and site came with it, so the shop's capabilities are on record for the vendor checks larger contracts require.
Two hires avoided by building the system instead.
Their billing platform only outputs claim detail as PDF reports, so every claim was typed into a spreadsheet by hand. We built an internal system that pulls the data straight from those PDFs, parses it locally so nothing touches an external AI service, and tracks every failed claim through to resolution.
An AI voice agent that answers every billing call.
Billing questions all landed in one voicemail box, and the team couldn't answer every call. Their AI voice agent now picks up every time, takes down the details, and screens out spam, so callbacks start with the full picture already on hand.
Every business we walk into is running on the same three workarounds.
The spreadsheet became the database. It started as a way to track one thing. Now it holds the orders, the pricing, and the schedule, and nobody dares touch the formulas because something else always breaks.
Your team is the integration. The quoting tool doesn't talk to accounting, so a person copies numbers between them all week. Every copy is another chance to get it wrong.
The process lives in one person's head. It works because they remember it. It stops working the week they're out, and you can't hand it to a new hire.
None of that is a discipline problem. It's what happens when the software that actually fits your business was never affordable to build. Enterprise vendors quoted six figures and a year of rollout, so you built a workaround instead. That math has changed.
It eats hours you can't get back.
Skilled people spend their week re-typing, reconciling, and chasing down the current version of a file. That's payroll going to work a system should be doing in the background.
It hides errors where you can't see them.
One wrong cell in a quote is a job priced under cost. Nobody catches it until the margin is already gone, and there's no record of how the number got there.
It caps how much you can grow.
More volume means more manual work, which means more hires to do it. The workaround stops being an annoyance and becomes the ceiling on the business.
If your team does it by hand, we can build it.
Automate the manual work
Anywhere a person is moving data from one place to another, software can do it faster and without mistakes.
- RFQ and quote intake that turns an incoming email or PDF into a priced quote
- Data entry automation that pulls line items out of documents your systems only export as PDFs
- Secure local parsing for data too sensitive to send to an external AI service
- Reports and reconciliations that run on schedule instead of on someone's Friday
- Job, order, and inventory tracking moved out of spreadsheets and into a real system
Connect what doesn't talk
When your tools don't share data, your team becomes the integration. We take that job back.
- Integrations between the systems you already pay for, including the accounting tools you keep
- Consolidation of five overlapping subscriptions into one system that fits your process
- Custom dashboards that pull live from every source, so the numbers sit on one screen
- One source of truth for orders, jobs, inventory, and billing
Put AI to work inside the process
Not a chatbot pasted on your website. AI doing a job someone on your team currently does.
- Voice agents that answer every call, capture the details, and screen out spam
- Document processing that reads what comes in and files it where it belongs
- Follow-up that chases every open quote without anyone having to remember
- Classification and routing so the right work reaches the right person automatically
Meet Hello Spark
HS.01 Malcolm Felt
12 years as an engineering product lead, 5 years consulting businesses. He handles product, UX, scoping, architecture, and development.
HS.02 Michael Salmon
8 years as a solutions consultant, working with business owners on the software and processes they run on. He handles scoping and client strategy.
Engineers, not an agency with a dev shop on retainer.
12 years of product engineering leads every build. We do the architecture, we write the code, and we're the ones who answer when something breaks. There is nobody in between us and your system.
AI-first is why this is affordable, not why it's risky.
AI runs through the entire build, and everything ships through engineering review. Permissions, backups, error handling, and security are not optional extras. Demos are easy. Production is engineering.
Bring the problem, not a spec.
You don't need to know what to build. Walk us through what your team does by hand and we'll scope it. If the honest answer is a tool you can buy for $40 a month, that's what we'll tell you.
You work directly with us. Not an account manager.
The people you meet on the strategy call are the people doing the work. No handoffs, no junior team, no telephone game between you and the person writing the code.
We're not for everyone. We'll tell you up front.
GOOD FIT This sounds like you
- Your team spends real hours every week on data entry, re-typing, or reconciling spreadsheets
- The software you need doesn't exist off the shelf, or the version that does costs more than it saves
- You know your process well enough to walk us through it, even if you can't spec it
- You want a system that keeps improving after launch, not one that freezes on day one
NOT A FIT Probably not us
- You want the cheapest possible build
- You need it live next week
- You want to hand off a spec and never discuss it again (we'll need your team's input on how the work actually happens)
One flat quote before any code is written. And if a build won't save you more than it costs, we'll tell you not to build it. Plenty of firms won't.
From first call to a system your team runs on.
Strategy call
We walk through what your team does by hand today and where the hours actually go. You leave knowing whether custom software is the right answer, even if you don't hire us.
30 MIN · FREEScope and flat quote
We map the workflow, define exactly what gets built, and give you one flat quote before any code is written. No hourly billing, no surprise change orders.
1–2 WEEKSBuild
AI-first development with engineering review on everything that ships. You see working software the whole way, not a status report about it.
4–12 WEEKSRun & improve
We host it, monitor it, and keep building as your process changes. The system should be more useful in year two than it was at launch.
ONGOINGStraight answers
Less than the six-figure quotes most owners have seen. Those come from enterprise vendors billing a team of contractors for a year and then licensing you seats forever. We scope to your workflow and nothing else, build AI-first with engineering review, and give you one flat quote before any code is written. If a build won't save you more than it costs, we'll tell you not to do it.
Most systems ship in 4 to 12 weeks depending on scope. AI voice agents are faster, usually 2 to 3. You see working software throughout, so you're never waiting months to find out whether we understood the problem.
That's the normal starting point, and it's the part we're actually good at. Bring the problem, not a spec. We map what your team does by hand, where the hours go, and what breaks when someone is out. Then we tell you what's worth building and what isn't.
Yes. It's your system. We build it, we'll host and support it if you want us to, and you are not locked into us to keep using it.
AI accelerates how we build the software. It is not automatically handling your data. When information is too sensitive for external AI services, we build local processing so it never leaves your environment, with role-based access, encryption, and audit logging. We do this today for HIPAA-regulated medical billing data.
Then we'll tell you to buy it. We don't make money selling you software you don't need, and a subscription that solves the problem for $40 a month beats a custom build every time. Custom is worth it when the tool doesn't exist, or when the one that does costs more than it saves.
We host, monitor, and support the system, and keep building as your process changes. Most clients only spot the second and third things worth automating once the first system is running and the hours start coming back.
Yes. High-performing sites, SEO, AI search visibility, and lead generation are all part of what we do, and for some clients that's the whole engagement. See services for that side of the business. This page is about the systems work, because that's where we move the needle most for the businesses we work with.
Tell us what your team does by hand.
One 30-minute call. Walk us through the process that eats your week, and we'll tell you what's worth building, what isn't, and roughly what it would cost. Whether you hire us or not.
Or email us directly: hello@hellospark.ai
Thanks. Your request is in.
We'll take a look at what you have live today and get back to you personally within one business day.