Build Custom Software
We design and build the system your business needs that no product quite is. Design happens beside you in Australia; the build runs in our Manila delivery centre under the same leadership.
Who It's For
This service is most valuable for two scenarios.
- A workaround has become a process.
- The durable fix is software shaped to the flow you actually run, rather than another off-the-shelf tool.
- There is a product to build and no team to build it.
- Hiring one from scratch would take the year the project does not have.
In both cases we design the system with you and build it with our own engineers.
How It Works
- 1 Run discovery. We sit with your team and map what the software actually needs to do, including the exceptions.
- 2 Design beside you. Architecture and design decisions are made in your meetings and your context, led from Australia.
- 3 Build the system. Senior engineers in our Manila delivery centre build under the same local leadership, and you see progress continuously.
- 4 Hand over or run it. Your team takes it over with our documentation, or we keep running and extending it. Decided before we start.
You own the scope, the priorities and the definition of done. We own the architecture, the build and the delivery flow. What you commit to is the engagement and the way we work; the team follows from that.
Team Structure
The build is managed for you. An Australian delivery lead is your point of contact, and everyone else reports through them.
Your team
You set the scope and sign off the design. Everything below this line is run on our side.
Delivery lead
Your point of contact, and accountable to you for the build from discovery through to handover.
Project manager
Runs the build day to day inside our Manila delivery centre, and reports to the delivery lead rather than to you.
Engineers
Build the system under the same local leadership, and ship with Claude Code in the delivery flow.
A larger build adds engineers, QA and designers under the same lead. Your point of contact does not change.
How It Compares
Every alternative below is a reasonable choice for some programmes. Read across a row to see where the two models actually differ.
| A local-only agency | An Adaca build |
|---|---|
| Everyone sits in one city. | Design and leadership in Australia, engineering in Manila. |
| Team size is capped by who can be hired locally. | Engineering scale is not the constraint on the plan. |
| Scope shrinks to fit the team available. | Scope is set by the programme. |
| An offshore-only provider | An Adaca build |
|---|---|
| Discovery and design happen away from you. | Discovery and design happen in your meetings. |
| Nobody local owns the outcome. | An Australian delivery lead is accountable to you. |
| You end up managing the offshore team. | We manage it. You set scope and sign off design. |
| Building an in-house team first | An Adaca build |
|---|---|
| Hire the team, then start the build. | The build starts in weeks. |
| Hiring risk sits with you before a line is written. | Staffing and replacement sit with us. |
| The knowledge stays only while the team does. | Handover with documentation is agreed before we start. |
If you are looking to put AI to work across your business rather than build a system, explore Develop AI Solutions.
Case Studies
Qantas
Collaboration portal for aerospace engineers during aircraft maintenance and repair
Read case study →
ANZ
Real-time CRO dashboard for enterprise risk during the Banking Royal Commission
Read case study →
ShoreTrade
B2B seafood marketplace now powering the new Sydney Fish Market
Read case study →
Prospa
Specialist Salesforce engineering for a leading online lender
Read case study →
Cora Group
Real-time supply chain visibility where there was none.
Read case study →
ClearView
Life insurance advisor portal serving thousands of advisors with 99.9% uptime
Read case study →
Plant Hire Solutions
Ground-up platform rebuild to escape legacy vendor lock-in
Read case study →
Morrison Securities
Hybrid managed team and staff augmentation for a securities firm
Read case study →
BikeExchange
Rebuilding a global cycling marketplace as a fully proprietary platform
Read case study →
EY
R&D claims collaboration portal adopted globally from Sydney to New York
Read case study →
Retail Insight
Vendor managed inventory platform for a major retail supply chain
Read case study →
IAG
Multi-brand data dashboard and rapid-turnaround survey platform for a major insurer
Read case study →
Infomedia
Building a dedicated offshore development team for a global automotive SaaS platform
Read case study →
Portalink
Scaling a dedicated engineering team for enterprise B2B commerce automation
Read case study →
ABL Corp
Custom software engineering for a regulated financial services environment
Read case study →Common Questions
How is a build priced?
Either a monthly rate for the team, or a fixed cost for an initial outcome with later phases moving to a monthly model once milestones are met. Which of the two applies is agreed before the work starts.
An estimate is built from the team the work needs, at the same engineer rates that apply to any Adaca engagement. There is no minimum project size.
Who owns the code when the build is finished?
You do. Intellectual property is assigned to you on payment, and that assignment is written into the contract rather than left to custom.
Your code stays in your repositories, under your access controls, unless we agree otherwise.
What happens at the end of the build?
Whichever of the two was chosen at the start. Your team takes the system over with our documentation, or we keep running and extending it. The decision is made before we start rather than negotiated at handover.
Where does the work happen?
Discovery and design happen in your meetings, led from Australia. The build runs in our Manila delivery centre under the same leadership.
An Australian delivery lead is accountable to you from discovery through to handover.
Can we change scope once the build has started?
Yes. The scope, the priorities and the definition of done stay with you, and design decisions are signed off by you before they are built.
How do we see progress?
Continuously. The delivery lead sits in your cadence, and the project manager runs the build day to day inside our Manila delivery centre.
How quickly can a build start?
Weeks rather than months. Staffing the build team is ours to do, so the start is not gated on you hiring anyone.
Who is accountable if the build goes wrong?
The delivery lead, by name, from discovery through to handover. Escalation does not run through an account manager.