From an irritation to a workshop
FLINT started as a roofing company and still is one. Roofs remain the bulk of what we do, and that trade is what pays the wages.
Software came in through the side door. We were looking for something to track our jobs, we tried several, and none survived a real working day. Too many fields, a mandatory connection, screens designed for an office.
We hired a developer to write the version our foremen actually needed. It held up. Other roofing firms asked whether they could use it, and that one job became a second trade.
Four rules shared by both trades
They look alike because a roof and a piece of software age the same way.
The structure before the finish
On a roof you check the frame before laying tiles. In code you write the calculation before the screen. Either way, afterwards it is all hidden.
What lasts over what shines
A handsome roof with no ventilation rots quietly. A handsome app that demands an account for nothing ends up uninstalled. Both are judged at ten years.
A readable quote
The lines of our roofing quote, like the scope of a software project, have to make sense without us on the phone.
Remove rather than add
A feature nobody opens costs something at every release. A version where we delete two settings is a good version.
Small, and planning to stay that way
Both trades live in the same house. When you write, it is someone who lays tiles or someone who writes the code who reads your message, not a layer in between.
We take a limited number of jobs and projects at a time so the ones we accept get finished. If we are full, we say so instead of putting you in a queue.
What we do not do
- Apps stuffed with advertisingIncluding when the client asks for it. We would build it badly.
- Fixed prices without a visitA figure given from an office is a wrong figure, revised upwards later.
- Projects with no written scopeOne page is enough, but it has to exist before the first line of code.