BUILD VS BUY ANALYSIS

Build, buy, or extend? Get the real numbers before you commit.

In 2 to 3 weeks, we model the true multi-year cost of each path, weigh the demand on your team, and hand you a recommendation backed by a build estimate and scope of work.

0–3 wk
Timeline
$0–20K
Investment
0–5 yr
Cost of Ownership
Rec + SOW
You'll Receive

WHAT THIS ENGAGEMENT IS

A cost-of-ownership decision, not a sticker-price comparison.

You run more than one system, and a decision is forcing your hand. A vendor renewal is coming up. A SaaS price increase landed. An acquisition added overlapping tools. Or you’ve hit a capability the off-the-shelf options almost cover, but not quite. Building something custom is tempting, but the real cost of owning it is hard to see from where you sit.

Most teams compare the sticker price of a subscription against the initial quote to build, and stop there. That comparison misses what actually decides the outcome: what each path costs over three to five years, and what it demands from your organization to run. We model both, honestly, across every path that’s real for you, build, buy, or extend what you already own.

Perfect for: Mid-market companies with multiple systems weighing a custom build against buying or extending, especially when a renewal, a price increase, an acquisition, or a capability gap is forcing the decision.

How We Work

How It Works

01

Kickoff & Decision Framing

Week 1

We align on the decision in front of you: the systems in scope, the requirements that actually matter (separating must-have from nice-to-have), and the criteria we’ll judge each option against. We learn how the work gets done today and what’s forcing the decision now.

Scope and criteria alignment
60 to 90 minute working session with the people who own the decision
Requirements list, prioritized
02

Current-State & Requirements Mapping

Week 1–2

We map what your systems do today, where they connect, and where the friction is. In a multi-system environment, this is where the hidden integration and switching costs surface, the ones that never show up in a vendor quote.

System and integration map
Switching-cost and lock-in review
Requirements validated against real workflows
03

Market Scan & Build Modeling

Week 2

We evaluate the viable off-the-shelf, SaaS, and platform options against your requirements, not against a feature checklist. In parallel, we model the custom build: the approach, the effort, and the parts that carry real risk.

Buy-option evaluation against your requirements
Custom build approach and effort model
Risk flags on both paths
04

TCO, Recommendation & Readout

Week 3

We model the multi-year cost and the organizational demand of each path, land on a recommendation, and (if building is in play) produce the estimate and scope of work. Then we walk your team and your board through all of it.

3 to 5 year cost-of-ownership model
Build / buy / extend recommendation
Build estimate and scope of work, if applicable
Leadership readout

What You Walk Away With

01
TCO MODEL

3 to 5 Year Cost of Ownership

The full cost of each path, not just the entry price. We model the costs most quotes leave out: hosting, maintenance, and support; security, compliance, and upgrades; internal staff time; and the cost of switching later.

02
ORG IMPACT

Organizational Demand Assessment

What each path asks of your team: product ownership, expert time, change management, and hiring or upskilling. The effort that decides whether a path is realistic, not just affordable.

03
RECOMMENDATION

Build / Buy / Extend Recommendation

A clear call with the reasoning, including the off-the-shelf options we evaluated and where they fall short. If the honest answer is buy or extend, that’s what you’ll read.

04
ESTIMATE

Build Estimate & Scope of Work

If building is on the table, a phased estimate scoped the way we deliver: a fixed-price Phase 1, with ranges for later phases. Detailed enough to budget against and take to your board.

05
BRIEF

Executive Decision Brief

A plain-English summary of the decision, the numbers, the risks, and the recommended path. Built for leadership and the board, no translator required.

INVESTMENT

Scoped to the decision, not a fixed package.

A Build vs Buy Analysis runs $7,500 to $20,000, depending on the number of systems in play and how deep the buy-side market scan needs to go. We scope it during kickoff, so you never pay for depth you don’t need.

What moves the investment:

  • Number of systems and integrations in scope
  • How many off-the-shelf options need real evaluation
  • Whether a build estimate and scope of work are in scope
  • Whether you need a board-ready deck and readout

We confirm scope and investment in a brief engagement letter before any work begins.

LOGISTICS

What we need from you

  • A point person who owns the decision
  • Access to the systems in scope and any current vendor contracts or quotes
  • 60 to 90 minutes with the people who use the systems day to day
  • Any existing requirements, RFPs, or vendor proposals you’re weighing
  • Availability for a final readout with leadership

OUTCOMES

What changes when the decision is backed by numbers.

  1. The build-versus-buy debate gets settled with multi-year numbers, not opinions or vendor pressure.
  2. You know what owning the chosen path will actually demand from your team.
  3. If you build, you have a scoped, phased estimate you can budget and defend.
  4. Leadership and the board get a decision they can stand behind.
WRONG FIT

This might not be for you if...

You’ve already decided to build and just need a team. You’re choosing between two off-the-shelf products with no custom option on the table (that’s a procurement decision). You need to validate the product idea with users before costing anything.

Better Starting Points

For builders ready to go, see Development + Delivery. For proving the risky technical parts can be built, a Technical Feasibility Sprint. For validating the idea with users first, a UI/UX Design Sprint.

RIGHT FIT

This is exactly right if...

You’re weighing a custom build against buying or extending, and the numbers aren’t clear. You run multiple systems and a renewal, price increase, or capability gap is forcing a decision. A vendor quote or RFP is on the table and you want an honest model before you sign. Leadership wants the real cost of ownership, not just the purchase price.

What Happens Next

We send a brief engagement letter and schedule your kickoff within the week. Most analyses start within 5 to 7 business days.

LOGISTICS

Common Questions

01How is this different from a Technical Feasibility Sprint?

A Feasibility Sprint answers "can this be built reliably at production scale," with working prototype code. This answers "should you build it at all, versus buying or extending," with cost and organizational analysis.

Many clients do this first, then run a Feasibility Sprint on the hard parts if the answer is build.

02Aren’t you biased toward recommending a build?

We make money building software, so the only thing that protects the value of this engagement is calling it straight. If buying or extending is the better path, the report says so.

We once recommended that a $750M manufacturer not build the custom AI system they came to us for, because the data underneath it wasn’t ready. See how that played out →

The fee stands on its own, whatever the recommendation.

03What if we already have an off-the-shelf product in mind?

Good. We’ll evaluate it against your real requirements and model its total cost over time, including implementation, customization, integration, per-seat growth, and the cost of switching if you outgrow it.

You’ll know where it fits and where it doesn’t, and you’ll see how it stacks up against building or extending what you already own. No vendor talking points, just a model of what the next five years actually look like with that product in place.

04Do you only look at building from scratch?

No. Extending or integrating what you already own is often the cheapest path, and it’s one of the three options we model every time.

We look at your current systems first to find what can be repurposed or extended. A platform you already pay for, an internal tool that’s 70 percent of the way there, an integration that consolidates two systems into one. These often beat both building from scratch and buying new.

05How accurate is the build estimate?

It’s scoped the way we actually deliver: a fixed-price Phase 1 where the work is concrete, and ranges for later phases with assumptions documented.

If you proceed, that estimate becomes the basis for the engagement. We’ve never had a client see a Phase 1 price change after we wrote the engagement letter, and the ranges for later phases tighten as scope solidifies.

06Is your team in-house or offshore?

In-house, US-based, out of Cincinnati. The people who analyze the decision are the same people who would build it.

No handoffs, no rotating staff, no offshore subcontracting. The engineers and strategists on your engagement are full-time members of our team, and they stay with you if the work continues.

WHAT'S NEXT

Where This Leads

Build is the answer?

Development + Delivery

The estimate and scope of work become the plan. Your engineering team, or ours, starts building on solid ground.

Explore Development
Need the hard parts proven first?

Technical Feasibility Sprint

If the build carries real technical risk, we prototype the riskiest components before you fund the full thing.

Explore the Feasibility Sprint

Get the real numbers before you commit.

We’ll send a brief engagement letter and schedule your kickoff within the week.

Let's Get Started →Have Questions?