Stephen Binge · Software engineer & consultant · Remote, UK-based (GMT/BST)
I’m a seasoned software engineer who speaks plain English, not jargon. I ran my own business for over a decade, so I know a solution has to pay for itself. Sometimes the simplest answer is a few hundred lines of code joining the tools you already run. Sometimes it’s a new product built from a blank page. I’ll tell you which before you spend anything, then build it, or advise while someone else does.
Free 15-minute call. No pitch, no obligation.
Four kinds of people get in touch. Find yours and I'll show you the most relevant work.
Your tools don't talk to each other, staff spend hours on admin that should be automatic, or you've got an AI idea and don't know whether it's worth doing. You want someone who'll tell you the simplest fix and what it will cost.
Usually a fixed-price build, with support after launch.
See how a fitness studio group got a waitlist on the CRM it already hadYou've sold a client something that needs proper engineering: a CRM extension, an integration, a voice or WhatsApp agent. You need a build partner who delivers under your name and won't make you look bad.
White-label delivery, fixed scope or ongoing.
See work delivered through an agency partnerYou've got an idea, maybe a budget, and no code yet. You want a straight answer on whether it's worth building, what the smallest first version looks like, and then someone who can build it properly.
Advice first, then a fixed-price build if it stacks up.
See a video pipeline built from a blank pageYou need a senior engineer who can own a hard piece of the system: an AI feature that has to be auditable, a data product across several systems, or the legacy platform nobody wants to touch.
Contract or day rate, embedded in your team.
See an enterprise AI recruitment SaaS, built from scratch for EU AI Act rulesMost problems have a version that involves a new platform and a version that involves a few hundred lines of code. I look for the second one first.
Experience is mostly knowing what not to build.
Connecting what you have, automating what's manual, AI where it pays, and new products when that's the right call. Plus straight advice if building isn't the answer yet.
Your CRM, website, payments, email, phones and accounts, all sharing the same information without anyone retyping it. Works with modern tools and with older Microsoft systems a business has run for years.
Under the hood: APIs, webhooks, two-way sync, legacy C#/.NET and SQL Server
The weekly export, the report someone builds every Monday, the follow-ups that get missed when it's busy. Replaced with jobs that run on their own, keep going when something fails, and tell you when they can't.
Under the hood: Background jobs, durable workflows, data pipelines, BigQuery, CI/CD
An assistant that answers the phone or WhatsApp, reads documents or CVs, or does the first pass on a process so your team only handles what needs a person. Accuracy gets measured and costs get capped, and nothing that matters goes out without a person signing off.
Under the hood: Voice agents, LLM pipelines with evals, agent frameworks
A complete product built from scratch when that's the right answer, or a small tool on top of your existing platform when it isn't. Same approach either way: the smallest version that proves it, then build out.
Under the hood: Next.js, Supabase, platform APIs such as GoHighLevel
Not sure what to build, or whether to build at all? A written plan for the simplest route, a review of a proposal or quote you've been given, or a few hours of straight advice before you commit.
A practical review of your code, hosting and who has access to what, with a plain list of what to fix first and what can wait.
A slow website, or a cloud bill that keeps growing. I measure before and after, so you can see the difference rather than take my word for it.
The bug nobody can find, the integration that fails once a week, the system only one person understands. I work out why, fix it, and write down what I found.
Each one starts with what the client already had, and ends with what changed for them.
Extend an existing CRM
A class waitlist that fills cancelled spots automatically and follows up with members who've stopped coming, built on the CRM the studios already paid for.
Read case study
Cross-system data product
A public website that tells travellers whether a car hire quote is fair, built from a price archive the client had been collecting for years, without moving it anywhere.
Read case study
Enterprise SaaS, built from scratch
An enterprise SaaS recruitment platform, built from scratch, that scores CVs and runs first-round voice interviews, with every decision left to a human and designed for the EU AI Act's high-risk rules.
Read case study
Long-running .NET platform
One content platform running 400+ websites in 11 languages, each edited by non-technical staff, built by extending the CMS the client already used.
Read case study
Your CRM, your database, your website, your phones. I connect them with a small piece of custom code rather than moving you onto something new. Twenty-five years across everything from older Microsoft systems to the latest AI tooling means there's a good chance I've already worked with whatever you've got.
For the technical reader, the full list of what I’ve run in production is below and at /stack.
Four steps. The first one is free and takes fifteen minutes.
You tell me what you've got and what's not working. I tell you whether I'm the right fit and roughly what I'd do. No pitch.
I look at what you've got, or at the idea if you're starting from nothing, and come back with a written plan for the simplest route: what to connect, what to build, what not to build, running costs, and a fixed price or day rate. If all you want is the plan, this step stands on its own.
Working increments on a live staging URL. You see progress, not status reports.
Launch, monitoring, handover docs, and an optional support retainer.
I’ve been building software since 1995, from enterprise .NET systems and legal case management to running technology as CTO of a 30-person property and investment company across four countries. Since 2016 I’ve worked independently as an architect, developer and consultant. My work has been integrations, automation and custom systems for agencies and growing businesses, and since 2023 increasingly AI in production: voice agents, LLM scoring pipelines, AI video generation and AI agents that automate back-office work.
I ran my own business for over a decade, which taught me more about cost than any engineering job did. A solution has to be affordable to run, not just to build, and the cheapest fix is often the one that reuses what you already pay for. I explain the options in plain English so you can make the decision rather than just approve it.
Working across that much tech means I can usually build on what a business already has instead of starting again. I like simple solutions, clean architecture and shipping. I work remotely with clients across the UK, Europe and further afield, and I travel for kick-offs or workshops when it helps.
Bring the problem, or the idea. No sales pitch, and no obligation either way. You’ll leave with a straight answer on the simplest route and roughly what it would take.
Prefer email? me@stephenbinge.com