Contents
- According to published estimates from FullStack Labs (2025), Keyhole Software (2026), and Qubit Labs (2026), building a production-grade operations platform with CRM, affiliate tracking, analytics, communications, and multi-tenant architecture takes:
- PRJ-01 was built by one operator -- Michael George Keating -- with no prior software engineering background, using AI-assisted development.
- The compression happened for three reasons:
In one documented build, a single operator replaced six SaaS platforms with one internal system in 74 active development days. The system -- 194,954 lines of code, 135 database tables, 20 external integrations -- went from first commit to production processing 616,543 leads. Industry benchmarks for the same scope: 12-18 months with a team of 4-6 people.
What the industry says
According to published estimates from FullStack Labs (2025), Keyhole Software (2026), and Qubit Labs (2026), building a production-grade operations platform with CRM, affiliate tracking, analytics, communications, and multi-tenant architecture takes:
- US mid-market development firm: 12-18 months, $780,000-$1,560,000
- Eastern European firm: 12-18 months, $400,000-$800,000
- Internal team (5 people): 12-18 months, $960,000-$1,440,000
These timelines assume standard team structures: developers, a project manager, QA, DevOps, and a technical architect. The coordination overhead between those roles is a significant portion of why it takes that long.
What the documented build shows
PRJ-01 was built by one operator -- Michael George Keating -- with no prior software engineering background, using AI-assisted development. The timeline (CS01, git-verified):
| Phase | Dates | Output Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | Oct 8-31, 2025 | 4.6 commits/day |
| Iterative | Nov 1-27, 2025 | 6.4 commits/day |
| Acceleration | Dec 21-31, 2025 | 24.1 commits/day |
| Peak Sprint | Jan 1-6, 2026 | 61.5 commits/day |
The operator was 13.4x faster in January than in October -- same person, same project. Every new feature built on patterns established in earlier phases. October was the investment period. January was the return.
Peak single-day output: 89 commits shipped on January 1, 2026.
Why 74 days, not 12 months
The compression happened for three reasons:
No coordination overhead. One person making all decisions eliminates meetings, handoffs, and approval chains. In a Stripe study on developer productivity (2023), engineers reported spending only 30-40% of their time writing code; the rest went to coordination, context-switching, and organizational processes. A solo operator inverts that ratio.
Pattern reuse. Once the CRM module was built, its patterns transferred to affiliate tracking, analytics, and communications. By the end of the build, new features took hours instead of days.
No ramp-up cost. The person who built the system is the person who understands it. There is no knowledge transfer, no onboarding documentation, no sprint planning for a team that does not exist.
Monthly operating costs dropped from $6,312/month average to approximately $825/month. Total cost displaced in the first year: $82,640 (CS01, QB-verified February 2026).
Related: How much does it cost to build a custom CRM? | When should a business replace SaaS with custom-built software?
References
- FullStack Labs (2025). "Custom Software Development Price Guide." Development timeline and cost benchmarks by team structure.
- Keyhole Software (2026). "Software Development Benchmarks." Mid-market build timelines for production-grade platforms.
- Qubit Labs (2026). "Software Development Market Rates." Team-based development cost and timeline estimates.
- Stripe (2023). "Developer Productivity Survey." Developer time allocation and coordination overhead benchmarks (30-40% coding time).
- Keating, M.G. (2026). "Case Study: The Flagship Build." Stealth Labz. Read case study