CourtCraft
A white-label club app: training, fixtures and video for a basketball club of 80 players across five squads.
courtcraft.uk ↗
small, bespoke software tools
I fix the faff.
I find the workflow that's quietly costing your team hours, and build one small tool to sort it. No bloat. No lock-in.
Why work with niggle
solves real problems
built around how you actually work, not how software thinks you should.
fast to build
small scope, quick turnaround. fast to value, not a six-month project.
made by one person
direct and dependable. you talk to the person who builds the thing.
what I build
If your team does it,
I can build a tool for it.
Businesses, charities, one-person shows: everyone has them. Those tiny annoyances that quietly steal time. I build the tool that fixes them, so your day runs smoother.
There's no fixed menu. A few of the shapes it takes:
- booking systems
- quote builders
- intake & triage bots
- ops dashboards
- web apps
- the Friday report, automated
- a news-intelligence platform
- kit & asset tracking
- client portals
- that spreadsheet, but alive
- approval flows
- data plumbing between systems
- gamification of processes
- …whatever yours is
From a five-minute annoyance to something genuinely new. Even AI products that didn't exist before. If it can be built, it's on the table.
…but I know where to draw the line.
Small and bespoke is the whole point. Anything heavy on personal data and GDPR, secure logins at scale, or massive file storage, I'll wave you toward a specialist, and tell you straight. No half-built risks with your name on them.
- GDPR-critical data
- secure logins at scale
- massive file storage
- bloated platforms
why now
Bespoke used to cost a fortune. Now it doesn't.
A tool built just for you used to mean a five-figure budget and a six-month wait, so most teams settled for off-the-shelf software that almost fit. The way I build now, a tool made exactly for your workflow costs a fraction of that, and lands in days. For the first time, bespoke is the cheaper option.
And I price against what the problem's costing you, so the fix pays for itself.
pricing
Let's build something great together.
Here's the deal: a free call, a free deep dive, and a free branded prototype of your actual tool. Around three hours of real work before you pay a penny. That's how sure I am you'll love it.
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01
free
The first chat
Thirty minutes, no pitch, no invoice. Tell me what's driving your team mad, the process that could run smoother, or that idea you've always wanted to build. I take notes, and together we work out what's worth doing.
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02
free
The deep dive
You send over the detail. Need an NDA first? Signed and sorted, with everything kept securely on Google's servers. Your business stays your business.
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03
free
The wow
I build a fully branded first pass of the actual tool. Not a slide deck, a real working glimpse of the thing. This is the bit that tends to blow minds. Roughly three hours of my time, on the house.
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04
together
Agree what we build first
We lock in the must-haves: a complete, production-ready tool that does exactly what you need and is solid enough to run your real work from day one. Not a demo, not a trial run, the real thing. Anything non-essential goes on a shared backlog for later phases, so this first build stays focused, never bloated.
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05
the investment
The fee and the phases
A clear price for that finished, production-ready build, and an honest map of where we could take it in later phases. My day rate is £550, and a typical build runs five to ten days spread across a few weeks, shaped by your feedback as it takes form.
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06
building
We build it
Fast turnaround, tight feedback loops, no black box. You watch it come together and steer as we go, so what lands is exactly what you need. This is nothing like the bloated, complex software and web builds you might be used to.
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07
yours
The keys are yours
No lock-in, ever. It's yours to own, and I train your team to run it. Want me on hand afterwards? Ongoing support is there for an agreed fee, never forced.
For the big ones
Sometimes we build more than an internal fix: a brand-new product with real commercial legs, the kind of thing that could one day be sold or licensed on. If we create something like that together, and only that new product, I take a 10% share if it's ever sold or licensed to someone else. Your business stays entirely yours: your day-to-day, your operations, and any tool that just makes your work run smoother are 100% yours, always. This only ever touches a new product we originate together, it's there because the free groundwork and the original idea help make it worth buying, and we agree it in plain English before a line of code. If it flies, we both win.
The maths is simple: the time, effort and daily headache you claw back pays the fix off fast, then keeps paying long after I've handed you the keys. That's ROI you can feel by Friday.
case studies
A few things I've shipped.
Dot to Dot Nutrition
A whole brand, a live website and an Instagram ad funnel for a nutritional therapist.
dot2dotnutrition.com ↗
Off by Heart
A GCSE science revision app built around recalling answers from memory, with pupil data kept inside the school.
about
Niggle is me, Sam.
I've spent years in media and production, solving exactly these kinds of operational headaches from the inside. My background is at Omni, managing medium-sized digital teams: DevOps, software engineers at every level, designers, user testers and project managers.
I've overseen the build of web platforms and systems for the NHS, Oxford University, Ping News, the UN and the maritime industry, to name a few. On every one of them I've gone deep into the workflows, the pain points and the complex integrations. New technology doesn't scare me: I can always find a solution, and I'm full of ideas for better ones.
The point is simple: I think fast, and I think like someone who's sat in your business, not like a software company trying to sell to it.
common questions
The bits people ask.
What does Niggle build?
Small, bespoke internal tools, built for exactly how your team works: booking systems, quote builders, intake and triage bots, ops dashboards, client portals, data plumbing between systems, web apps, and one-off AI products that didn't exist before. If your team does it, I can usually build a tool for it.
Who is behind Niggle?
Just me, Sam Hearn. I work with small and medium businesses across the UK and can work from anywhere. I've spent years leading digital teams and overseeing platform builds, so you deal directly with the person who builds the thing, start to finish.
How much does it cost?
The first chat, a deep dive, and a fully branded prototype are free, before you pay anything. After that my day rate is £550, and a typical build runs five to ten days spread across a few weeks. I price against what the problem is costing you, so the fix pays for itself.
How fast can it be built?
Fast. Most builds land in days, not months, because the scope is small and deliberate: we agree the must-haves for a production-ready first version and park the nice-to-haves for later phases.
Do I own what you build?
Yes, completely. It's yours, with no lock-in, and I train your team to run it. Ongoing support is there if you want it, for an agreed fee, but it's never forced.
What won't Niggle take on?
Anything heavy on GDPR-critical data, secure logins at scale, or massive file storage. That's where I point you to a specialist and tell you straight, rather than leave a half-built risk with your name on it.
get in touch
Got a niggle?
Tell me what's driving your team mad, a process worth streamlining, or an idea you've been itching to build. First chat's free, no pitch.