CaseSL-2026-001
ClientLingenfelter Auto Spa
LocationBrighton, MI
Build window~14 days async
StatusIn build · proposal accepted

Case study · Brighton, Michigan · Founding rate build

Lingenfelter Auto Spa
PROPOSAL SENT · IN-BUILD PROOF POINT

Replacing a monthly subscription with something the shop will own.

—Paint Protection Film (PPF)
—Colored PPF
—Ceramic Coating
—Window Tint
—Vehicle Customization
7891 Lochlin Drive
Brighton, Michigan 48116
(810) 355-2458
lingenfelterautospa.com

Founding-rate CRM build proposed by Septim Labs · proposal sent Apr 2026

01 — What we proposed to replace

Urable works. Until the monthly invoice starts adding up.

Five frictions the proposal scopes out, drawn from how a shop on Urable actually operates day-to-day.

Urable charges every month regardless of how the shop runs. A slow month in winter still generates the same invoice. There is no off switch.
Monthly cost$200 / mo
The customer-facing experience is whatever Urable decides it is. The owner can't change how customers book, how estimates look, or how confirmations are phrased. The shop runs on someone else's UI.
Roadmap control0%
QuickBooks Online sync is manual. Jobs closed in Urable have to be re-entered in QBO. Two systems, same data, double the work — and the two rarely match when it's time to look at the numbers.
QBO syncManual
SMS reminders are either off or generic. A luxury PPF client dropping off a Porsche Taycan gets the same automated text as a window tint job. The tool doesn't know the difference.
Reminder qualityGeneric
At the end of every year, the shop owns nothing. If Urable raised prices or shut down, the shop's appointment history, customer records, and estimate data would be inaccessible. Twelve months of paying — and nothing to show for it in the asset column.
OwnershipNone
The shop pays roughly $2,400 a year for software it doesn't own and can't customize. Our proposal: $2,000 once, full code ownership, $0 / month to Septim afterward. Payback inside year one — every month after that is margin the shop keeps.
Septim Labs proposal · April 2026 — awaiting client decision

02 — What the scope ships

Twenty features. One system. Theirs on handoff.

Organized into four functional areas. Every feature was driven by what Matt's shop actually does, not by what a generic shop platform assumed.

Bay scheduling
  • Appointment calendar per bay
  • Job type + duration presets
  • Drag-to-reschedule
  • Technician assignment
  • Capacity view by day
Customer flow
  • Customer portal, magic-link auth
  • Self-serve appointment booking
  • Structured estimate + approval
  • Automated SMS reminders (Twilio)
  • Automated email confirmations
Money
  • Stripe Connect payment processing
  • QuickBooks Online bidirectional sync
  • Invoice generation from estimate
  • Deposit collection on booking
  • Payment status per job
Reporting
  • Revenue by service type
  • Job profitability per technician
  • Aging receivables dashboard
  • Customer lifetime value
  • Monthly vs. prior-period comparison
Why the customer portal matters at a detailing shop: a luxury PPF or ceramic-coat client wants to see what's been done, what's pending, and pay without a phone call. The portal collapses three Urable surfaces into one page the client can hit from their phone.
Scope rationale — drafted in the Septim Labs proposal, April 2026

03 — How the build is structured

Roughly fourteen days, async-only, $2,000 one-time.

No on-site visits. No discovery deck. The Septim Labs team works async — message-based updates with Loom walkthroughs. The shop never closes for a demo. Below: how the build plan is sequenced once the proposal is accepted.

Day 01
Intake and scope lock
Owner describes how the shop runs — service types, typical job duration, how invoicing works, how QBO fits in. Scope locked to ~20 features in a single async document. No discovery call needed.
Day 03
Auth and database live
Supabase schema up with customer, job, and estimate tables. Magic-link auth wired. Stripe Connect linked to the shop's existing Stripe account.
Day 06
Scheduling and customer portal
Bay calendar in place. Customers can book via the portal and receive an SMS confirmation through Twilio. First Loom walkthrough sent for review.
Day 10
Estimates, invoicing, and QBO sync
Structured estimate builder live. Approval flow tested end-to-end. QuickBooks Online bidirectional sync wired — jobs close in the CRM and appear in QBO automatically.
Day 13
Reporting and final review
All five reporting dashboards wired. Owner review pass. Refinements handled in hours, not sprint cycles.
Day 14
Delivery target — repo handed over
Full codebase transferred to the shop's GitHub. Runbook included. Urable subscription can be cancelled. No recurring fee to Septim Labs. The system is theirs from day one of delivery.

04 — The math, as proposed

The math is simple. The savings are projected.

One subscription cancellable on delivery. One one-time invoice. Everything after that is margin the shop keeps. Figures below are projected against the current Urable subscription; final numbers depend on plan tier and shop volume.

Current Urable cost
$200/mo
What the shop pays today for SaaS it doesn't own.
Projected annual saving
$2.4k/yr
$200/mo × 12, once Urable is cancellable. No escalation. No seats fee.
Build cost (one-time)
$2k
Founding rate. Code and database transferred outright on delivery.
Projected payback
~10mo
Every month after payback is margin the shop keeps.
$2,000 once. Code and database owned outright, $0 / month to Septim afterward. The proposal is structured this way on purpose — so the shop's software bill stops being a recurring tax and starts being an asset.
Septim Labs proposal · April 2026 — awaiting client decision

Stack

Five production tools, zero vendor lock-in.

Each piece was chosen because Matt's shop can replace it independently. No proprietary glue, no Septim-only runtime.

Next.js (App Router) Frontend + API routes
Supabase Postgres DB + auth + storage
Stripe Connect Payments + deposits
Twilio SMS Appointment reminders
QuickBooks Online Bidirectional accounting sync

05 — The proposal

One number. One time.

The founding-rate proposal sent to the shop in April 2026. Posted as reference for SMBs evaluating a similar move away from subscription tooling.

Scope·····························CUSTOM CRM, ~20 FEATURES
Duration·····························~14 DAYS ASYNC
On-site work·····························NONE — REMOTE ONLY
Discovery fee·····························$0
Build + delivery·····························$2,000
Source code·····························CLIENT-OWNED ON DELIVERY
Recurring fee to Septim·····························$0 / FOREVER
PROPOSAL · ONE-TIME$2,000

Before the build

Not sure what your project costs? Scope it first.

The Lingenfelter build started with an 8-minute intake. You describe your workflow, your current tools, what's broken. We return a scoped feature list and a one-time price — before any commitment. No discovery call. No invoice until you approve the scope.

$29 Scope your project 8-min intake · written scope doc
credited toward your build

Ready to replace a subscription?

Septim builds custom software for shops paying $200-$500/mo in tools they don't own. One-time price. Full code ownership. No recurring license to us — ever.

Start the conversation →
More scopes we can build

Common scoped builds

→