Custom Build
Custom LMS Build — Engineered Around Your Certification Methodology
When your curriculum, exam logic or audit trail does not fit an off-the-shelf LMS, we build the platform around your methodology — and hand over the codebase at sign-off.
A custom LMS build is a fixed-scope engagement where we discover your methodology, design the data model, ship the platform, and transfer the source code to you on completion.
Best fit: Regulated trainers with non-standard exam logic · Trade bodies issuing accredited credentials · Universities productising professional courses · Multinationals consolidating fragmented L&D vendors
Quick Facts
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Engagement model | Fixed scope, fixed fee, milestone billing |
| Discovery sprint | €4,500 (1 week, deliverable: scope + technical spec, fee credited if you proceed) |
| Build duration | 10–16 weeks depending on integrations |
| Tech stack | TypeScript, Postgres, Astro/Next, deployed to your AWS or our managed Cloudflare |
| Code ownership | Full repository transfer at sign-off — no licence fees, no lock-in |
| Post-launch support | 90 days included, retainer optional thereafter |
| Compliance | GDPR, audit logs (immutable), SOC 2-ready architecture |
When is a custom build the right call instead of rental or off-the-shelf?
When your methodology drives commercial value — recertification cycles, niche exam logic, multi-tenant white-labelling, or audit trails a generic LMS cannot produce.
Most teams should not build a custom LMS. Rental is faster, cheaper, and the feature gap is rarely as wide as people think.
The exception is when the methodology itself is the product. We see this in three patterns: certification bodies whose exam logic is the differentiator (item-response-theory scoring, scenario-based assessment, peer review chains); regulated industries whose audit trail is a compliance artefact (banks, healthcare, public sector); and platforms reselling certification under their tenant's brand (where multi-tenant theming and per-tenant data segregation matter).
In those cases, the cost of bending an off-the-shelf LMS to your shape — through plugins, workarounds, or a manual ops layer — exceeds the cost of owning the codebase by month 18. We've seen the maths play out enough times to be opinionated about it.
What does the discovery sprint actually produce?
A written technical specification: data model, exam logic, integration list, deployment plan, and a fixed-fee build quote you can sign off.
The discovery sprint is one week, paid, and structured. We talk to your subject-matter experts (curriculum, exam policy, certificate revocation), your operations lead (learner support, payment, refunds), and your IT (SSO, hosting, data residency).
Output is a 25–40 page document covering: the entity model (courses, modules, assessments, attempts, credentials, recertifications, learners, organisations), the exam engine logic (item bank structure, randomisation, scoring, anti-cheat), every external integration (CRM, payment, SSO, regulator reporting), and a deployment plan with named environments.
You leave the sprint with a fixed-fee quote for the build. If you proceed, the €4,500 discovery fee credits against the first build invoice. If you don't, you keep the spec and can take it to another vendor.
Who actually does the engineering work?
A small team of three to five — typically one principal engineer, two senior engineers, one designer, and a delivery lead — all in-house, no offshoring.
Every Bitloom build runs with a named principal engineer who joined discovery and stays through handover. The team is in-house and senior; we don't offshore engineering or design work.
You get weekly demos starting in week three, a Slack/Teams channel with the engineers (not a project manager filter), and access to the staging environment from day one. The cadence is two-week sprints with a written progress note at the end of each.
Frequently asked questions
What if scope changes mid-build?
Small changes (under 5% of scope) absorbed for free. Larger changes go through a written change request with a delta quote.
We over-deliver on small things — adding a field, tweaking a flow, polishing a screen — because hourly arguments slow everyone down. Material scope changes (a new integration, a new user role, a redesigned exam engine) get a one-page change order with a delta cost. You sign or you don't; nothing happens until you do.
Do we get the design files and the codebase, or just the running platform?
Both. Figma source files, the Git repository, the deployment configuration, and the runbook all transfer to your team at sign-off.
Code transfer happens through a private GitHub or GitLab repository in your organisation. Figma source files move to your workspace. We do a two-day knowledge-transfer session with your engineers covering architecture, deployment, common operations and the alerting setup.
Can you build mobile apps too?
Yes — React Native or PWA. Native iOS/Android adds 4–6 weeks and €18,000–28,000 depending on offline support and app-store complexity.
What does post-launch support actually cover?
90 days of bug fixes, performance tuning, and minor feature requests bundled in. Retainer pricing thereafter, scoped to your needs.
Want a working version of this on your domain?
A 30-minute call is enough to know whether this fits. We'll be honest about whether rental, build or a different vendor is right.