A platform for video consultations in the trades - in twelve weeks instead of a year and a half.
How a marketplace with 21 business processes came about for a start-up: specified, built with AI agents, accepted with 90 % test coverage. More than a year earlier to market, at a fraction of the staff costs of a classic team.
2 min read
What does it cost to be on the market a year earlier - and what does it cost to arrive a year late?
Advice before referral
A customer describes their problem, an advisor looks at it by video and decides: a do-it-yourself guide or quotes from vetted trade businesses. Three portals, one process - development finished in twelve weeks, with 1.5 full-time positions.
The starting point
Appointments with tradespeople are scarce, and a large share of enquiries can be settled in ten minutes by video. A start-up wanted to turn that into a business: customers describe their problem, an advisor looks at it by video and decides whether a guide is enough or whether quotes from vetted trade businesses should be obtained. Getting started required three portals with one shared process: for customers, for advisors and for the trade businesses.
The schedule was the real opponent. A marketplace depends on being there when the demand is there. Planned the classic way, the project would have kept 19 people busy for around a year and a half - and would have launched with the requirements of the day before yesterday.
What was built
21 business processes on one platform: from the enquiry through the video consultation to the quote, with notifications, roles and permissions for customers, advisors and trade businesses. First every process was described and given acceptance criteria. Then AI agents built it, while 1.5 full-time positions specified, steered and reviewed. Every change was tested automatically, and two acceptance rounds with the client were part of it. At the end there was 90 % test coverage - and a product that belongs to the client.
Twelve weeks instead of a year and a half: the biggest gain is not the money saved, but the lead in the market.
The calculation: time and money
The classic way: 19 full-time positions over around 18 months is 342 person-months. At 6,000 euros per full-time position and month - our assumption for fully loaded staff costs - that is around 2.1 million euros before the first version runs.
With Hexa Logic: twelve weeks to completed development and a fixed price in the range of a platform - according to our price model up to 150,000 euros. That is a tenth of the classic staff costs or less.
The bigger item is not in the table: 15 months of lead in the market. Anyone who starts that much earlier collects customers, data and revenue that much earlier - with software that is up to date today, not a year and a half old.
Where the project stands today
Development is complete, client acceptance is under way, and go-live is planned for October 2026. Further development and operation follow the same approach: describe the process, have it built, review it, release it. At the client's request, the start-up's name remains undisclosed.
- instead of 18 months the classic way (estimate)
- 12 weeks
- earlier to market
- 15 months
- staff costs of the classic team (model calculation)
- 2.1 million euros
- full-time positions, classic estimate
- 1.5 instead of 19
Where is money left on the table in your business?
The first conversation is free and non-binding. We listen before we propose.
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