First, I want to be right up front. I have been developing software for churches for 10 years. My opinions may be skewed slightly to my benefit (off the shelf software) so use what I have to say as you wish.
Custom software development is an option for churches wanting church management software tailored specifically to their unique needs. There are some big name churches that have been successful developing their own software. After all, custom software does put you in complete control of the features you want. However, custom software development is the most expensive way to purchase a church data base both in real dollars and in time.
Generally custom software is 10 to 100 times more expensive than an off the shelf option. Typical custom development cost ranges in the $50 -$100/hour range. You will be able to get some discount on this price purchasing blocks of time. Most of the time you will not know how much the software will cost up front. Nailing down a solid price depends most on how well you have documented your needs and communicated these needs to your software developer. Then your contract should spell out the cost. For your information, We have over 30,000 hours of development in Nspire. A company like ACS Technologies has well over 100,000 hours of development in their product. These are not costs a Church typically wants to pay for software.
Not only does it cost the most but it also takes the longest to acquire and implement. When you buy off the shelf software you have to shop, pick a product, wait for it to come in the mail or download it, then install and begin to use it. When you buy custom software you have to decide what you want it to do, find a developer, secure a contract, participate in development over the next 6 to 24 months (depending on complexity), and debug the software after delivery. You could easily expect to spend 12-36 months getting it right. Speed also depends on how much you pay. You can get it faster by paying more.
Next time I will write about the common mistakes made when you develop custom software. I also want to highlight the benefits of off the shelf software.
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