The short answer
Price a custom CRM from its scope, then compare its total cost with the subscription it would replace. A headline build fee is incomplete until you know what happens to migration, integrations, training, hosting and maintenance.
Pavado builds custom CRM software for a one-time project fee, with no Pavado CRM subscription or per-user licence fees. That does not mean a system runs forever without expense. Hosting, paid services, optional support and future changes are separate items in the proposal. Starter builds begin at C$4,900 CAD one-time for a defined core scope: one sales pipeline, contact and company records, basic owner and team permissions, one clean CSV import of up to 1,000 contacts, one reminder rule, one pipeline report and a team walkthrough with handover documentation. Complex integrations and larger migrations are quoted separately. See the published starter scope; the final proposal confirms what is included.
If you already have a quote, use the free CRM Cost Calculator. It compares the build and running costs against your actual CRM bill without asking for an email address.
A scope worksheet for your custom CRM quote
Give each provider the same brief. A request for “a CRM with automation” leaves too many decisions unstated to compare prices meaningfully.
| Area | Specify before comparing quotes | Question to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Records | Contacts, companies, deals, jobs and their relationships | Can one customer have several sites or active jobs? |
| Workflow | Stages, required fields, ownership and handoffs | What must happen before a job can move forward? |
| Access | Owner, sales, operations and finance roles | Who can view, edit, export and delete each record? |
| Automation | Trigger, action and failure handling for each flow | What happens when a follow-up or sync fails? |
| Integrations | Provider, objects, sync direction and frequency | Which system is the source of truth? |
| Migration | Source exports, record counts, attachments and duplicates | Who cleans the data and approves the test import? |
| Reporting | Named reports with example inputs and expected totals | How will you check that a dashboard is correct? |
| Launch | Acceptance tests, rollout stages and training | What must work before the old system is retired? |
| Handover | Agreed ownership, access, documentation and maintenance responsibilities | Who can operate and maintain the system after launch? |
The useful outcome is a provider answering the same questions in writing. A shorter scope can be a sensible first phase; it should be labelled as a first phase rather than presented as the same deliverable as a full replacement.
Separate the one-time costs from the running costs
| One-time work | Recurring or future work |
|---|---|
| Discovery, design and the agreed build | Hosting, database and storage |
| Data cleanup and migration, if included | Monitoring, backups and recovery checks |
| Integration implementation and testing | Provider subscriptions and usage charges |
| Initial training and handover | Security updates and dependency maintenance |
| Launch and agreed acceptance work | Integration repairs and additional features |
Do not count the same migration or training work twice when it is already included in the build fee. Conversely, do not treat work as included just because it appears in a feature list; ask the provider to put the responsibility and acceptance test in the scope.
For a subscription comparison, use the plan your team actually needs. Salesforce's official pricing page distinguishes editions, billing terms, features and add-ons. HubSpot's Sales Hub pricing is another place to check current seat and plan requirements. Neither vendor's lowest headline price is automatically the price of the setup you would replace.
A worked three-year comparison
The following numbers are hypothetical, all in the same currency and before tax. They are not Pavado prices, a customer result or a forecast.
| Input | Subscription | Custom build |
|---|---|---|
| Current monthly CRM bill | 600 | — |
| One-time build | — | 10,000 |
| Additional migration outside the quote | — | 0 |
| Monthly hosting and paid services | Included in the assumed bill | 100 |
| Annual maintenance allowance | Included in the assumed bill | 1,200 |
| Three-year total | 21,600 | 17,200 |
The custom total is 10,000 + (100 × 36) + (1,200 × 3) = 17,200. The difference is 4,400 over three years. Spreading annual maintenance across twelve months gives a custom running cost of 200 per month and an estimated payback of 25 months: 10,000 ÷ (600 − 200).
Change the subscription to 200 per month and it costs only 7,200 over the same period. The custom option still costs 17,200. There is no cost-based payback under those assumptions because the monthly running costs are already equal, before recovering the build fee.
Run the comparison with your own numbers. The worksheet assumes constant costs, excludes financing and does not place a value on labour savings, downtime or additional sales. Budget for those separately when they matter.
What changes the build price?
Integrations: “Connect to accounting” is not a complete requirement. Name the records, sync direction, account permissions and test cases. Deposits, edits after invoicing and duplicate customers can require different handling. See the CRM invoice reconciliation checklist.
Migration: A clean contact CSV is a different job from moving attachments, custom objects and years of activity history. Test a small sample before committing to the full import. Start with the CRM data migration checklist.
Permissions and reporting: Agree who can see and change each type of data, and supply examples of reports the business relies on. The quote should include tests for both allowed actions and actions that must be blocked.
Rollout and support: Name who approves the system and who maintains it. Optional support does not make upkeep unnecessary; it means the business can decide who provides it.
When a custom CRM is the wrong purchase
Keep or configure a standard CRM when it already supports the process, your workflow is still changing, or nobody can own maintenance after launch. If the real problem is incomplete customer data or inconsistent follow-up, replacing the software may leave that problem intact.
Use the custom CRM versus off-the-shelf decision guide before commissioning a build. For local project delivery, see custom CRM development in Ontario.
Tell us how your team works and which tools need to connect. We will scope the one-time build and outline separate running costs before you decide to proceed.