daydream labs
07795 664840Start a brief

Bespoke software · Built in the UK

See it working before you pay for the build.

We build bespoke websites, apps and platforms for UK businesses. AI does the heavy lifting, so we deliver in weeks what an agency bills for months — and you get a working prototype in your hands before you’ve paid for the build.

  • Same working day reply
  • Full IP transferred to you
Step 1 of 6Takes about a minute

What do you need built?

No obligation. We'll send your finished brief to you either way.

In confidence. Everything you tell us here is confidential. We use it only to understand, quote for and build what you need. We never use it for our own ends, and we don't share it. Read our confidentiality terms.

Built and shipped

  • Trade marketplace with escrow payments
  • Multi-vendor retail with its own currency
  • Creative production platform, four user roles
  • AI card scanning, Android app

What we build

From a five page site to a platform that moves money.

Every project starts the same way: we work out what you actually need before anyone talks about price.

Websites

Bespoke design, never a template. Edit your own pages and add content without touching code. A year of hosting included.

From £500

Web applications

Logins and user roles, real booking calendars, card payments, admin dashboards, automated email and SMS.

From £2,000

Marketplaces & platforms

Multi-sided systems where trust and money change hands. Escrow, split payments, payouts, disputes, ratings.

From £5,000

Mobile apps

Android and iOS from a single codebase, through the store review process, with subscriptions and in-app purchases.

AI integration

Image recognition, language models and automation wired into work people actually do — not a chatbot bolted on the side.

Technology advice

Which stack, which host, what it costs to run, where the security risks are. Included as standard on every project, not billed as consultancy.

Selected work

Real platforms, designed and built in full.

View all work →
The BOOKaTRADE homepage, headed "Find the Right Tradesperson. First Time." above a search box asking what you need done and your postcode, beside a photograph of a screwdriver and its bit set

BOOKaTRADE

A UK trade marketplace where homeowners hold money in escrow and release it milestone by milestone. Two payment rails, automated payout ledgers and scheduled release logic.

  • React 18
  • TypeScript
  • Vite
  • Supabase
  • PostgreSQL
  • Edge Functions
  • Online Payments Platform
  • Resend
  • Google Cloud Run
The vBuy storefront, headed "Shop Smarter. Earn v£ Rewards Every Time." beside two products showing their price and the v£ each purchase earns — a dash cam at £59.99 earning v£6.00, and a make-up brush set at £32.99 earning v£4.95

vBuy

A multi-vendor marketplace with its own rewards currency, where v£1 is worth £1 at checkout. 84 custom classes, 20 bespoke database tables, staging and production environments.

  • WordPress
  • WooCommerce
  • WCFM Marketplace
  • Custom PHP plugin
  • MySQL
  • Cloud SQL
  • Trilo
  • Stripe
  • Resend
The Yash Talent homepage, headed "The platform built for the creative industries" above Book talent and Join as talent buttons, beside a close-up photograph of a make-up artist working on a model

Yash Talent

A creative production platform serving four different user roles at once — talent, agencies, clients and admin — from portfolio to call sheet to payment.

  • Next.js 14
  • TypeScript
  • Supabase
  • PostgreSQL
  • Supabase Auth
  • Supabase Storage
  • Online Payments Platform
  • Resend
  • Google Cloud Run
  • Playwright
Three CardPrism phone screens side by side — a trading card being analysed by the camera, the identification that follows with its set, number, rarity and estimated value priced by condition, and the collection the card is filed into

CardPrism

Point a phone at a trading card and get it identified, valued and filed into a collection. AI vision, live pricing data and subscription billing in an Android app.

  • React 18
  • TypeScript
  • Vite
  • Capacitor
  • FastAPI
  • Python
  • Firebase Auth
  • Firestore
  • Google Gemini
  • RevenueCat
  • AdMob
  • Google Cloud Run

The difference

Same result. Structured completely differently.

Agencies aren’t doing anything wrong. They’re carrying a team, an office and an account management layer, and that has to be paid for somewhere. We don’t have those, and AI does the work that used to need five people.

Typical agencyDayDream Labs
Who you talk toAccount manager, then a PM, then a designer, then a developerThe person building it
DiscoveryBilled by the hour, so kept shortAs long as it takes, before anything is quoted
Man-hoursA team of five to eight, each one billing your projectAI-leveraged — a fraction of the hours. This is where the cost difference comes from
Technology choiceUsually the stack the agency is set up to sellChosen for your complexity, security and budget — and explained to you
RequirementsVerbal, evolving, disputed laterWritten specification, agreed before build starts
ChangesChange order, re-scope, new quoteReasonable changes absorbed, no new invoice
CommunicationSplit across people, tools and inboxesOne place, one thread, backed up daily
PaymentA large deposit before anything existsMilestone payments as each stage lands
Typical timelineEight to twelve weeks for a mid-sized buildTwo to four weeks for the equivalent
Who owns itOften licensed, or retained by the agencyYours in full on final payment — code, repository and credentials
When you see itAfter you’ve paidA working prototype before you pay for the build

Before you commit

We'll build it before you buy it.

Tell us what you need and we’ll put a working prototype in front of you — something you can click through, not a picture of one. No deposit, no build contract, nothing to cancel. If it isn’t right, you walk away and it’s cost you a conversation – or, on a larger build, the discovery fee, with a specification you can take to any developer.

Start your briefBook 20 minutes

Pricing

Published, so you can rule us in or out today.

  • Technology advice included
  • Fixed quote after discovery
  • Milestone payments
  • Daily backups
  • Full IP transfer on final payment

Websites

Brochure sites, local business sites, landing pages.

from £500

Discovery free

  • A full year of hosting and SSL
  • Edit your own pages and add content
  • Multi-step enquiry form, not a contact box
  • News section, gallery, WhatsApp chat
  • Your Google reviews pulled in live

Web applications

Software your customers or staff log into and use.

from £2,000

Discovery £400, credited to the build

  • Multi-user login with roles and permissions
  • Booking system with real availability
  • Card payments and invoicing
  • Admin dashboard and reporting
  • Automated email and SMS

Platforms

Multi-sided systems with real business logic.

from £5,000

Discovery under £1,000, credited to the build

  • Several user types, each with their own journey
  • Third-party integrations and APIs
  • Automated background processes
  • Separate staging and live environments
  • Reporting and analytics

Flagship platforms from £10,000

Discovery under £5,000, credited to the build

Escrow and conditional split payments, live selling, task management systems, marketplaces with multiple roles and their own currencies. This is the tier BOOKaTRADE, vBuy and Yash Talent sit in — go and look at what they do.

See the work →

How we work

Waterfall for the plan. Agile for the build.

Read the full process →

  1. Discovery

    We’ll keep asking the right questions until we genuinely understand it. No time limit, and free for websites.

  2. Specification

    Everything written down and agreed, so nobody discovers a surprise in week six.

  3. Prototype

    Something real to click through, before you pay for the build.

  4. Build

    Milestone by milestone. You see it as it grows and you pay as each one lands.

  5. Handover

    Code, repository, credentials and IP. All yours, in writing.

Questions

The things people ask before they commit.

Who owns the finished software?

You do. Code, repository and credentials transfer to you in full on final payment — it is written into the terms, not offered as a favour.

What happens if I want changes during the build?

Reasonable changes are absorbed without a new invoice. If a change genuinely alters the scope we agreed, we tell you before doing it and you decide.

How long does a project take?

A website is usually one to two weeks. A web application is three to five. A platform is six to ten. You get a milestone timeline before you commit to anything.

Do I really get a prototype before paying for the build?

Yes. We build something you can click through and walk you through it. No deposit, no build contract. If it is not right, you walk away. For a website nothing has been paid at all; for anything larger, the only payment so far is the discovery fee, and the specification it produced is yours.

What if I do not know what I need yet?

That is normal, and it is what discovery is for. We keep asking questions until it is clear. For a website we do not bill for that time; for a web application or platform the discovery fee is credited in full against the build if you go ahead.

Can you take over a project someone else started?

Often, yes. We will look at what exists and tell you honestly whether continuing or restarting is cheaper for you.

Tell us what you're trying to build.

Six short questions, about a minute. We’ll turn it into a proper written brief and send it to you — whether you go ahead with us or not.

Start your briefBook 20 minutes

Or just call — 07795 664840. We reply the same working day.