Yours, and it doesn't expire
One figure for the whole operation — every site, user and vehicle, no per-seat charge. Whatever we build runs on your own machine and your own database. Stopping the subscription doesn't switch anything off.
Pricing & engagement
Own what we build you. Subscribe to keep it running.
Two kinds of engagement — Tally adapted to your operation, or a new system for an industry it doesn't cover — and one commercial shape behind both: a perpetual license you keep, a monthly subscription for updates and support, and the build itself scoped and signed off before it starts.
The model
Three lines, and no surprises on any of them.
What it takes to stay current
Operating systems shift, databases shift, regulators re-issue their forms. The monthly fee is what keeps someone accountable for the software still working years from now.
Fit-out, or a system of your own
Adapting Tally to your trade, or building from scratch for an industry with no tool made for it. Either way it's scoped and quoted feature by feature, and never started without sign-off.
What it costs
Two kinds of engagement, one structure.
Whether you're a hauler who needs Tally reshaped to your yard or an operator in an industry we haven't touched yet, the commercial shape is the same. There's no checkout page — there's a scoping step, then a written quote across the three lines below that you approve before any code is written.
Perpetual license
Yours to keep, no expiry. One figure for the whole operation — every site, user and vehicle, no per-seat charge.
quoted
Support & updates
Monthly. New versions, fixes ahead of new work, a named person on the phone, your regulator's forms kept current.
monthly
The build
A Tally fit-out or a new system, scoped feature by feature and priced against that scope. Never started without sign-off.
on scope
If the support subscription ever stops, the software keeps running — you just stop getting updates and support. The license doesn't expire either way.
How an engagement starts
Scoping first, quote second, build third.
The scoping step is where we work out whether this is Tally adapted or a system of its own, what it has to do, and what it will take. Nothing is billed until you've seen and signed the quote it produces.
01 — Scope
Learn the operation
Time on site mapping how the work moves — and whether the existing build fits, bends to fit, or needs to be written new.
02 — Quote
Put it in writing
A license figure, a monthly support figure, and the build priced feature by feature. Approve it before work starts.
03 — Build & go live
Build it, then hand it over
Adapt or write the agreed system, load your data, train the crew. The support subscription begins at go-live.
If the subscription lapses
Nothing switches off.
The perpetual license stands on its own. If you stop the monthly subscription, the version you're on keeps running exactly as it did — same database, same features, same field app.
What you give up is forward motion: no new releases, no prioritised support line, and no one on the hook when the next operating-system update or regulator form change breaks something. Restart the subscription and that all resumes.
You are never renting the right to keep working. You're subscribing to the work of keeping it current.
If you ask
The questions that actually come up.
- → We're not in waste or haulage — can you still build for us?
- That's the plan. Batsford Systems builds for operations with a particular shape — a fleet or a scale, a schedule that changes daily, a regulator at the end of the year — that the software industry skipped. Tally is the first system, not the only one. If your work fits that shape, the scoping visit is the same.
- → Is it Tally, or something new?
- The scoping visit decides. If your work is close to a container yard's, you'll likely get Tally adapted. If it isn't, you get a system built to the same standards but to your trade — same commercial structure either way.
- → Something breaks at 6am — then what?
- A named person answers the phone. Not a ticket queue, not an overseas call centre. When the operation is stopped, that fix jumps ahead of whatever was planned that week.
- → Why does support cost forever — didn't we already pay for it?
- The license pays for what exists today. Operating systems change, databases change, regulators change their forms — the subscription is what keeps someone accountable for that three years from now.
- → Is there a per-seat or per-vehicle charge?
- No. The license is one figure for the whole operation. Adding a user or a driver's phone costs nothing.
- → Why won't you put a price on the page?
- Because it would be wrong for almost everyone reading it. A one-truck operation and a three-site operator with a scale house are not the same job, and a new build is different again. The structure is fixed and public; the figures follow the scope.
- → What if you're the only person who knows this software?
- Batsford Systems is small, and for now that's a short list of people who know the code well. A source-escrow arrangement — so you're not stranded if the company disappears — is on the table and being put in writing. It isn't signed yet, and we won't say otherwise.
- → What do we need to run it?
- For Tally: a machine to host it (Windows or Mac), SQL Server, and Tailscale to reach it securely — the platform section on the Tally page has the detail. A new system is built to a similar shape: self-hosted, your database, reachable over your own private network.
Get in touch
Want a quote for your operation?
Tell us the trade and the shape of the work — sites, fleet, whether you run a scale, what a regulator asks of you at year-end. We'll set up a scoping visit and come back with figures in writing.
Independent & founder-led · First product in production at Contento's