A sample sketch and quote · small app: An equipment rental: free machines at both depots on the website, handover and return with photos
A small web app: the client sees what is free and books it, and depot staff hand over and take back a machine on a phone. No store apps: it runs in the browser.
ExampleThe firm, its competitors, their numbers and this quote are illustrative and point to no existing business. The method, the rate and the market prices beside the quote, each with its source and date, are real.
- For
- A construction and garden equipment rental in the Lublin region: two depots, about 300 machines, 5 people
- Kind of work
- A small web app with a staff panel
- Recommended scope
- 11 days of work, 4 weeks to launch including a pilot week at both depots
- After launch
- The Watch plan: monitoring, backups and hours of work each month
Five sentences from the client and one question from us
That is enough to start. We ask the sixth question: how will you know it worked?
From the client
We run a construction and garden equipment rental with two depots in the Lublin region, about 300 machines and five people.
Clients phone to ask whether a machine is free, and we phone the other depot and check the notebook.
We write the contract and the handover record by hand, and take the deposit in cash.
At return we argue about scratches and faults, because we have no photos from the handover.
We want clients to see what is free themselves, and handover and return to take a few minutes.
How will you know it worked?
Half as many calls about availability, and almost no arguments at return.
What we read in it
- Most time goes into checking availability between depots. One shared machine calendar solves most of the problem.
- Money leaks through clients who never got an answer, and through arguments without evidence.
- This needs a small app: both depots' data in one place, bookings, and a staff phone beside the machine. An automation on a spreadsheet will not carry it.
- The goal can be measured: the number of availability calls and of arguments at return each month.
A one-page drawing of the process
Today and after the change, step by step. You correct this drawing yourself before we count anything more precisely.
Availability
1Today: The client phones, staff phone the other depot and check the notebook.
1After the change: The client sees on the website which machine is free, at which depot and from when.
Booking
2Today: A call or a text and a note in the notebook. Sometimes one machine goes to two clients.
2After the change: A booking from the website lands in both depots' shared calendar, and staff confirm it.
Handover
3Today: Contract and record written by hand, deposit in cash.
3After the change: Contract and handover record on a phone, with photos of the machine and the client's signature.
Return
4Today: An argument about scratches and faults, because there are no photos from the handover.
4After the change: At return staff take photos beside the handover ones, and the day before the client gets a reminder text.
Deposit
Today: Cash in the depot's till, settled by hand.
After the change: The deposit is paid online at booking and refunded after the return. An item in the Full scope.
- where time or money leaks today
- how we close it
What this process costs today
For a week both depots noted where their time on rentals goes. We count the losses from the five sentences and the booking notebook.
about €2,950
what this process costs a month today
Hours of work: €1,950. What is lost: €1,000. Both come from the five sentences and a week of notes at the example firm.
37 hours
a week go into this process today
€1,950
a month is what those hours cost
€1,000
a month is lost
About 40 clients a month ask for a machine whose availability cannot be confirmed quickly, and roughly 50% of them rent elsewhere. At a margin of about €50 a rental, that is about €1,000 a month.
We count an hour of work at €12, with the employer's costs, and a month as 4.33 weeks.
- today
- after the change
Checking availability between depots
−9 h
Bookings by phone and text
−5 h
Contracts and records by hand
−6 h
Settling deposits
0 h
Arguments at return
−2 h
In total 37 → 15 hours. We check the difference after three months.
Today: a week of notes at the example firm. After the change: our forecast.
Data as a table
| Activity | today | after the change | difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checking availability between depots | 12 h | 3 h | −9 h |
| Bookings by phone and text | 10 h | 5 h | −5 h |
| Contracts and records by hand | 8 h | 2 h | −6 h |
| Settling deposits | 4 h | 4 h | −0 h |
| Arguments at return | 3 h | 1 h | −2 h |
What could make this smaller
- Some clients will choose a nearer rental anyway. We count 60% of the lost rentals coming back.
- If staff do not take photos at every handover and return, the arguments stay. We check this in the pilot week.
Next to three rentals: open prices and bookings only in office hours
We checked three rentals nearby the way a customer looking for a mini excavator for Saturday does: availability, booking, price, deposit and the papers after the handover.
- Client's rental
- about 300 machines, two depots, Lubelskie
- Competitor A
- a nationwide rental chain with booking on its website
- Competitor B
- a rental in the next town, one depot
- Competitor C
- a builders' merchant with a hire department
What a customer can do without a phone call
| Without a call | Client's rental | Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Check whether a machine is free on a given day | no | yes | no | partly |
| Book a machine | no | yes | no | partly |
| See the price per day and the deposit | yes | yes | partly | yes |
| Get a handover record with photos | no | partly | no | no |
| Pay the deposit by card or transfer | no | yes | yes | partly |
| Google rating | 4.564 reviews | 4.2180 reviews | 4.745 reviews | 3.688 reviews |
| How many hours a week a machine can be booked | 51 h | 168 h | 54 h | 50 h |
- Competitor C, availability and booking: a list of machines and a form; the office confirms the booking by e-mail the next business day.
- Competitor A, handover record: a PDF contract without photos.
- Competitor B, prices: the price per day, without the deposit.
- Competitor C, deposit: only a transfer in advance.
Each rental's office hours from its website. Where the website confirms a booking at once, we count the whole week, 168 hours. A form confirmed the next day counts as a phone call.
Data as a table
| Firm | Result |
|---|---|
| Competitor A | 168 h |
| Competitor B | 54 h |
| Client's rental | 51 h |
| Competitor C | 50 h |
What follows
- Only competitor A takes bookings all week (168 h). At the client it is 51 h, the office hours of both depots.
- The client already shows the price per day and the deposit. What is missing is the availability calendar and booking on the website, which is the Start scope.
- Nobody nearby sends a handover record with photos. In a dispute over scratches it is evidence, and in the offer it sets the client apart. It is in the Recommended scope.
- A and B take the deposit by card or transfer. Payments are in the Full scope.
Three scopes, one rate
Each scope is counted the same way: days of both founders times the day rate. The range comes from the risks below.
Start
A shared machine calendar, booking on the website and a panel for the depots. It solves the main problem: availability.
price: €3,360
- days of work
- 7
- range
- €2,880–4,320
- to launch
- 3 weeks
- gives back
- €1,100 / mo.
- payback
- in month 4
Recommended
Our pickStart plus handover and return on a phone with photos, a contract from a template and reminder texts. Closes all four places in the drawing.
price: €5,280
- days of work
- 11
- range
- €4,800–6,240
- to launch
- 4 weeks
- gives back
- €1,550 / mo.
- payback
- in month 5
Full
Recommended plus an online deposit and a machine use report.
price: €6,720
- days of work
- 14
- range
- €6,240–8,160
- to launch
- 4 weeks
- gives back
- €1,750 / mo.
- payback
- in month 5
| Item | Days | Start | Recommended | Full |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing down the process, prices and contract templates | 1 | included | included | included |
| Both depots' machine catalogue with prices | 1 | included | included | included |
| Availability and booking on the website | 2 | included | included | included |
| The staff panel: both depots' calendar | 2 | included | included | included |
| Handover and return on a phone with photos | 2 | not included | included | included |
| Contract and record from a template, signed by the client | 1 | not included | included | included |
| Reminder texts about the return | 1 | not included | included | included |
| An online deposit at booking | 2 | not included | not included | included |
| A machine use report | 1 | not included | not included | included |
| Launch and a pilot week at both depots | 1 | included | included | included |
| days of work | 7 | 11 | 14 | |
| price | €3,360 | €5,280 | €6,720 | |
| range | €2,880–4,320 | €4,800–6,240 | €6,240–8,160 |
- A day of both founders: €480 net, which is €30 for one person's hour.
- Amounts are net, plus 23% Polish VAT.
- Providers in the Recommended scope: about €46 a month. You pay them directly, on your own accounts, at cost.
- In the sketch, one business day after five sentences, you get the same scopes as ranges rounded to whole thousands: Start €2,000–5,000, Recommended €4,000–7,000, Full €6,000–9,000. We close the quote after the free first week.
- Our amounts are converted from złoty at the NBP average rate of 28 October 2026 (table 210/A/NBP/2026, EUR 1 = PLN 4.409) and rounded up. Figures from publications and from the example firm's own market stay in their own currency.
Why we recommend Recommended
Start removes the availability calls, but contracts, deposits and arguments stay on paper. Recommended adds a staff phone beside the machine and closes all four places in the drawing. Full adds the online deposit, which needs a contract with a payment provider and a change to the rental's terms. That decision is better made after the pilot, so we propose it as a second step, at the same rate.
Less money means fewer items
If the budget is smaller, we strike items from the table above, starting with the last scope. The day rate stays the same, and each item we strike takes its days with it.
What the price leaves out
- Apps in the App Store and Google Play: staff and clients use the browser.
- A link to the accounting software and invoicing.
- A new website: we embed the booking in the current one.
- Server, text message and payment provider fees: you pay the providers, and they are in the providers' costs below.
Payback and the cost of the first year
Payback is arithmetic on the example firm's numbers: hours times the cost of an hour, plus what is lost today, minus the providers and the care plan. We check the result after three months.
- Recommended
- Start
- Full
Data as a table
| Quarter | Start | Recommended | Full |
|---|---|---|---|
| launch | −€3.4k | −€5.2k | −€6.6k |
| quarter 1 | −€910 | −€1.8k | −€2.9k |
| quarter 2 | +€2.3k | +€2.7k | +€2.3k |
| quarter 3 | +€5.7k | +€7.3k | +€7.3k |
| quarter 4 | +€8.8k | +€12k | +€12k |
| Start | Recommended | Full | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build | €3,360 | €5,280 | €6,720 |
| Providers for 12 months | €420 | €552 | €684 |
| The Watch plan for 12 months | €1,440 | €1,440 | €1,440 |
| First year | €5,220 | €7,272 | €8,844 |
- You pay for the build once. Providers and the care plan are monthly, so we show them apart.
- We count payback after the Watch plan (€120 a month): a payback without a cost we propose ourselves would look better than it is. The industry rule, 15–20% of the build's price a year, gives €66–89 a month here. Watch costs more because it includes hours of work, monitoring and backups. Care plans after launch
What we recommend and why
Recommended and Full both pay back in the fifth month. After a year Recommended gives +€12k, Full +€12k. The difference comes from the online deposit, so it depends on how many deposits are lost today. We recommend Recommended now and the online deposit after the pilot, once that is known.
This price against the market
Published 2026 prices for small web apps. Almost all come from firms that build them, and most are „from” prices.
- published ranges
- our three scopes
malinski.ai · a simple CRM or ticket panel, built with AI help
Zleca.pl · a simple app with login and an admin panel
Megabajty · a first version with one module
Iguana Studio · a simple internal tool
TechConcepts · a tool with 8–12 views, Europe (EUR)
BizBees Studio · Start
BizBees Studio · Recommended
BizBees Studio · Full
Foreign currencies converted at NBP rates of 28.10.2026 (table 210/A/NBP/2026): EUR 1 = PLN 4.409. The Recommended scope is about ten views for clients and staff, closer to an internal tool than to a first version with one module.
Data as a table
| Source | Range |
|---|---|
| malinski.ai · a simple CRM or ticket panel, built with AI help · 16.10.2026 | PLN 8,000–20,000 |
| Zleca.pl · a simple app with login and an admin panel · 29.10.2026 | PLN 15,000–40,000 |
| Megabajty · a first version with one module · 20.05.2026 | PLN 20,000–40,000 |
| Iguana Studio · a simple internal tool · 7.10.2026 | PLN 20,000–60,000 |
| TechConcepts · a tool with 8–12 views, Europe (EUR) · 05.2026 | €10,500–16,500 |
Risks and what we do about them
Each risk has a name, a plan and an effect on the price. The top of the range is all the risks at once.
| Risk | What we do | Effect on price |
|---|---|---|
| Machine data sits in several spreadsheets and notebooks | One model spreadsheet the depots fill in before the start. We move the rest ourselves. | +1 day |
| Depot staff need more time to learn | A day at each depot in the pilot week and a short guide on the phone. | +1 day |
| The payment provider takes longer to verify the firm than we assume | We apply on day one. Until verification the deposit stays in the till. | +1 day |
The bottom of the range assumes the machine data is in one spreadsheet: then we save a day.
Terms and what we need from you
Terms
A fixed price for an agreed scope. We quote any change of scope in writing before we make it.
Everything made in the first week stays with you, even if we do not continue.
The code, server, domain, data and documentation are yours, on your accounts.
Payment in three parts: 30% at the start, 40% after the first demo at a depot, 30% after launch.
draft term · to be confirmed
For 30 days after launch we fix bugs at no extra charge.
draft term · to be confirmed
What we need from you
- A list of machines with prices and photos, in any form.
- The rental contract and handover record you use today.
- One person at each depot for the pilot week.
This page is not an offer under the Polish Civil Code (art. 71). We give your price in the sketch, one business day after five sentences.
Your sketch looks the same, only with your five sentences
One business day, no meeting and no contract. Write how your process works today and how you will know it worked.