Websites that work harder · Full stack software and AI house
Custom Website Development in Brisbane
Custom websites for Australian businesses, built by our Brisbane-led team. Your website is usually the first point of contact between your business and everyone who's yet to become a customer, so we build sites that are fast, functional and wired into the systems you already run.
Custom-built, tailored websites
Workflow automation built in
Live integrations with your systems
Full stack software and AI house
Sound familiar?
Four signs your website is holding you back.
You don’t need a full rethink. You just need to recognise one of these.
It looks fine, but does nothing
Enquiries land in an inbox, orders come in by phone, and the website itself is just a slightly expensive business card.
Every small change costs money
Page-builder lock-in and plugins nobody installed mean simple edits - a price, a photo, a new page - become support tickets.
Fast for you, slow for your customers
Heavy themes, bloated plugins and cheap hosting make visitors wait. Every second of load time quietly sends them to a competitor.
Your website and your systems don’t talk
Stock, pricing, orders and job statuses live in your business systems, but your website makes staff re-type them by hand.
If your website is genuinely pulling its weight, none of these will sting. If one of them did, the next step is the same free consultation either way.
What we build
Marketing sites, shops, portals - built as one system.
01
Marketing websites that convert
A site built to win customers, not just look nice.
Custom WordPress builds with no page-builder lock-in: fast, accessible, and easy for your team to keep current. Designed around your customers’ journey, not a template.
Talk to us about a new website →02
E-commerce & ordering
Selling online, from catalogue to checkout.
Product catalogues, online ordering, subscriptions and complex pricing, wired into your stock and accounting so nothing gets re-keyed.
Talk to us about selling online →03
Portals & member areas
Give customers and members a place to log in.
Client portals, member areas, bookings and job tracking - the parts of your business your competitors still run on email.
Custom portals and apps →04
Integrations & live data
Your website, plugged into the rest of your business.
Xero, HubSpot, CRMs, POS and the odd legacy system: live data feeds so information is entered once and right everywhere.
System integration →Not sure which of these you need?
That’s normal - most projects mix two or three of them. Tell us the outcome you’re after and we’ll tell you what it takes.
Integrations
Website API integrations with your CRM, ERP & payments
Most websites stop at the contact form. Ours connect to the systems that run your business, so enquiries, orders and payments flow straight through without anyone re-typing them.
CRM & marketing
Enquiries, quote requests and sign-ups land in your CRM, such as HubSpot, with the page and source attached, ready for follow-up.
Accounting & ERP
Orders, invoices and customer records sync with Xero or your ERP, so finance sees the same numbers your website does.
Payments
Card payments, deposits and subscriptions taken through established payment gateways and reconciled against your accounts automatically.
Stock, pricing & job status
Live stock levels, pricing and order or job status pulled from your business systems, so the website is never out of date.
Need two systems talking that have nothing to do with your website? That's system integration, and it's one of the things we do most.
For B2B businesses
B2B websites & customer portals
When your customers are other businesses, your website has a different job: helping existing customers order, reorder and self-serve, as well as winning new ones.
1
Trade and wholesale ordering
Customer-specific pricing, account terms, quick reorder and order history, connected to your stock and accounting.
2
Client portals
A secure login where customers see their jobs, documents, invoices and reports, instead of emailing your team for them.
3
Quotes and approvals online
Quote requests, approvals and sign-offs handled on the website, with every step recorded.
4
Room to grow
When a portal outgrows the website it becomes custom software on the same foundations, and a mobile app can sit on top of the same data.
Selected work: Rain Harvesting
A website that’s part of the business, not a billboard for it.
We build websites that carry real weight. Your website becomes part of your business, not a billboard for it.
That's the Code Squirrel difference - the hard parts aren't outside our scope, it's where we deliver real value. We integrate and extend to make meaningful connections between your business and customers. Live data feeds from your systems, customer portals, ordering, e-commerce and more.
Dedicated project management throughout, an in-house team, and support that continues long after launch. Building with Code Squirrel means you're getting an end-to-end solution, all the way from concept to support.
How it works
Five steps. You sign off on every one.
No jargon and no surprises. Here's what happens at each stage, and exactly what you get out of it.
Step 1 · Scope
We learn how your business actually works
We take the time to understand what you do, how your team works and what a win looks like for you. We ask a lot of questions. You don't need to know a single technical term.
- A written scope in plain English
- A fixed-price scope, plus a time and cost estimate for the first release
- Honest advice if something off-the-shelf would do the job
Step 2 · Proposal
You get a plan you can hold us to
We design a solution using current, well-supported technology and map the whole project out transparently: milestones, release cycles, cost and timing.
- Milestones estimated and agreed before we start
- A clear picture of what launches first and what comes later
- A dedicated project manager as your single point of contact
Step 3 · Development
You see working software, not slide decks
We're speedy and thorough. Your project manager keeps things moving, we test as we build, and nothing moves to the next milestone until you've signed off on the last one.
- Ongoing access to real, working software - you have access throughout
- Your sign-off on each milestone, and your approval before any variation
- Testing built into every stage - signed off by both our QA team and you
Step 4 · Release
Your big day - Launch Day!
The exciting part. We launch, hand over the documentation, train your team and get your application launched into production.
- Deployment to your infrastructure or ours
- Launch-day support - we make sure everything goes smoothly
- Support team at the ready for priority assistance
Step 5 · maintain & support
We keep things running smoothly
Team Squirrel sticks around to make sure everything continues running smoothly and your application delivers ongoing value, safely and securely. Optionally we host, maintain, support and even continue with an ongoing development roadmap.
- Ongoing security and compatibility updates
- Ongoing development roadmap for future versions and features
- Phone, E-mail and Instant Messaging Support
Cost & commitment
Clear pricing. Progress you can see. No long-term commitment.
You’ll never open a surprise invoice. Code Squirrel customers stay with us because they choose to - not because they’re under contract to.
1
Free consultation ($0)
A no-obligation chat about your website and an honest take on what you actually need - a tune-up, a rebuild, or possibly nothing at all.
2
Fixed price, detailed scope & design stage (from $1,200 ex. GST)
A fixed price for the scoping and design work: sitemap, wireframes and design direction signed off up front, plus a time and cost estimate for the build before a line of code is written.
3
Month-to-month development with milestone sign-offs (estimated at stage 2)
We build to the agreed plan and you see the site as it comes together. Nothing moves to the next milestone until you’ve signed off the last one. If feedback or changing requirements mean a variation, we get your approval first.
4
Hosting and maintenance package of your choice
Updates, backups, security and uptime handled month-to-month - no long-term contract. 12-month pre-payment options are available at a discount.
Why Code Squirrel
Built by people who’ll still be here next year... and the year after that.
We’ve been building software for Australian businesses for a long time. Your website is too important to hand to whoever quoted first.
Experience
20+ years in the game
We’ve seen technology come and go. We pick what’s proven and well supported, so your site stays secure and maintainable for years to come.
Track record
150+ apps and websites shipped
Many of them under other companies’ names. We’re used to delivering quietly and reliably.
Performance
Fast by default
Custom builds, clean code and proper hosting. No forty-plugin WordPress Frankenstein that takes eight seconds to load on mobile.
Local
Australian-based team
Based in sunny Brisbane, and only a phone call away on (07) 3522 8888.
Ownership
You own everything
Source code, hosting accounts and your data belong to you from day one. No lock-in, ever.
After launch
Supported, not abandoned
Maintenance plans, monitoring and real people who answer the phone when something needs attention.
Don’t just take our word for it
“They were timely, even with a 15 hour time difference between us.”
I have worked with the team at NXTwork/Code Squirrel for the past two years. They were great to work with. They were timely, even with a 15 hour time difference between us. The App developed by Code Squirrel has afforded our members ability to contact each other with just one or two touches which is essential in referring clients to one another, David and Dawn were very pleasant to work with. I highly recommend Code Squirrel as we will continue using the team for further App development ourselves.
Lorri – Lawyers Associated Worldwide
"I have worked with David Swinton and his team for over 6 years. They have delivered above expectations on every project I've thrown at them, including a tailor made database to manage information and reporting. I will continue to go to the team of Code Squirrel for all my software development and web projects with the peace of mind that their expertise is next level."
Tracie, Marketing 2aT
FAQ
Questions we get asked a lot.
How much does a new website cost?
It depends on what you need, so we don’t publish a price list. After a free consultation and a fixed-price scoping stage (from $1,200 ex. GST), you get a time and cost estimate broken into milestones. Any variation needs your approval first, so there are no mystery extras.
How long will it take?
Most marketing sites are live within four to twelve weeks of scope approval. Larger shops and portals ship in stages, so you get value early instead of waiting for everything at once.
WordPress? Or something custom?
Usually a bespoke WordPress build (including WooCommerce stores): proven, well supported, and easy for your team to update - but coded properly, not cobbled together from page builders and forty plugins. Where your business needs something more, we build custom.
Can you take over the website someone else built?
Often, yes. We regularly rescue and rebuild other teams’ sites - and we’ll tell you honestly whether your current site is worth evolving or cheaper to rebuild from here.
Will our team be able to update it?
Yes. You get training and documentation, and the sites we build are designed for non-technical teams. No hostage situation where every typo needs a developer.
What about SEO, speed and accessibility?
Built in from day one: clean markup, Core Web Vitals kept in the green, and analytics wired up before launch. SEO isn’t a bolt-on we forget about after the design is signed off.
Can my website talk to Xero, HubSpot or our other systems?
Almost certainly. Connecting systems is one of the things we do most, from CRMs like HubSpot to Xero, ERPs and payment gateways, and we’ll confirm the specifics during scoping. See system integration.
Do we need to be in Brisbane?
Not at all. Most projects run remote, and we’ve delivered on time across 15-hour time differences. A phone call is always just a phone call away on (07) 3522 8888.
Who owns the website?
You do. Source code, hosting accounts, your domain and your data are in your name from day one. No lock-in, ever.
Do you build customer portals and B2B ordering sites?
Yes. Trade ordering, client portals and quote approvals are a natural next step for a website that’s connected to your systems. When a portal grows into a full application, it becomes custom software.
Do we need a mobile app as well?
Usually not to start with. A well-built website works on every phone with nothing to install. If people will use it daily, offline or with the camera and GPS, a mobile app may be worth it, and we’ll tell you honestly.
Ready to put your website to work?
Send us your website problem - a full rebuild, a rescue, or a shop that finally talks to your systems. You’ll hear from an engineer, not a sales rep, and you’ll leave the conversation with a straight answer.
