What does the CNL fee pay for?
The rebuild itself: the audit, design, build, testing, moving your data, training your team and the switch-over day. It is a fixed quote, set before we start. If the build takes longer than planned, that cost is ours.
What does the monthly fee cover?
Everything that keeps the system running: hosting set-up and monitoring, security patches, backups, library and AI model upgrades, and bug fixes. Core stack includes one small update a month and Whole stack two. The fee is locked for 24 months, and it never goes up when you hire.
How are updates priced?
From a fixed list, quoted before we start: $450 for a small update such as a field, report or rule, $1,900 for a new workflow, screen or integration, and a fixed quote for a new module. Nothing is billed by the hour.
Can you really replace ServiceTitan?
We rebuild the parts a shop runs on every day: the dispatch board, the customer records (CRM), estimates and invoices, the pricebook, memberships and review requests. Payments (Stripe), phones (Twilio or CallRail) and QuickBooks stay as integrations, because they are cheaper to connect than to own. An offline app for technicians in the field is a bigger build and is quoted as Whole stack. The audit lists what you rely on, and if you depend on something we cannot match, we say so and that tool stays.
What about my ServiceTitan contract?
We plan the switch-over around your renewal date and the notice window in your agreement, so you can give notice on time. You keep running the old system until the new one is live, and your team switches on a day you pick. We do not give legal advice on contracts: for early-termination terms, ask your lawyer.
What if it does not pay for itself?
We only start when the audit shows the rebuild paying for itself within 12 months of going live, measured against the invoices it replaces. If it has not by month 12, the monthly fee is waived until it has. When the numbers do not work, the audit says so and we tell you to keep renting.
Who owns the code, and what if CNL disappears?
You do. The code lives in your GitHub, the data in your cloud account, and every system ships with its documentation, so any capable developer can take it over. Leave with thirty days' notice and we hand everything over.
Where is it hosted, and is it secure?
In a cloud account you own, billed to you by the provider at cost. Every system ships with single sign-on, roles and permissions, encrypted backups and an audit log, and security patches are part of the monthly fee.
Are other companies really doing this?
Yes. In Retool's 2026 Build vs Buy report, 35% of the 817 teams surveyed, all Retool users, had already replaced at least part of a SaaS tool with software they built. AI coding tools have made owned software far cheaper to build and to keep running.
What will you not rebuild?
Email, accounting ledgers and payroll. Tax rules, bank feeds and filings change too often to be worth owning, and some tools are simply cheaper to rent. The audit says which ones.
How long until we switch over?
Our targets: about three weeks for one tool, six weeks for two to four, and ten weeks for a whole stack. Your old tools keep running until the new system is live.