Custom SaaS for operators
who’d rather not duct-tape it.
I design and ship production-grade SaaS for SMBs and operators — internal admin apps, customer portals, and AI-augmented workflows. Real demos every week. Fixed-price scope. You own the IP.
- Next.js 16
- TypeScript
- Postgres
- Claude API
- Vercel
Selected work
Two operators. Two SaaS apps. Both shipping.
Each case study below started with a single operator's workflow problem. Both replaced a stack of spreadsheets and disconnected tools with one production app — built solo, end to end.
What clients say
Chris understood our workflow before he wrote a line of code. He shipped in six weeks what three SaaS subscriptions and a shared drive couldn't do in three years.
What I build
Three things, done well.
Most engagements fall into one of these. If yours doesn't, the discovery call sorts that out fast.
Internal admin apps
The SaaS your operators wish you'd buy them — except yours is custom-fit, owns your data, and costs less than the seat licenses you're already paying for.
- Replace Excel + QuickBooks + shared-drive sprawl
- Role-based access, audit logging, MFA
- AI-augmented data entry and document parsing
Customer-facing portals
Read-only dashboards and self-serve workflows your customers actually log into — billing portals, investor reports, partner consoles, anything that needs strict data isolation.
- Tenant-isolated data access enforced at the query layer
- Branded, responsive, fast on every device
- Email-magic-link or SSO sign-in — no password hell
AI-augmented workflows
Real Claude / OpenAI integrations doing real work — drafting outreach, extracting data from PDFs, summarizing research, with a human review step where it matters.
- Tone-faithful drafting with prompt + sample tuning
- Append-only audit tables for every external API call
- Cost dashboards so you never get a surprise bill
How we work
Four steps. Fixed price. Weekly demos.
No retainers, no surprise scopes, no ‘account managers.’ You work directly with the person writing the code.
Discovery
30 min · freeWe talk through the workflow, the people, and what success looks like. If I can't help, I'll say so and refer you. No pitch deck.
Scope
3 – 5 daysI write a fixed-price proposal with the full feature list, timeline, and what's explicitly out of scope. You sign or you don't.
Build
3 – 8 weeksWeekly demos on a real, hosted preview URL. You click around, I adjust. No invoice surprises, no agency middlemen, no quarterly status meetings.
Ship
Day of launch + 30 daysI deploy to your accounts, hand over docs and admin credentials, and stay on for 30 days of free fixes and small tweaks. After that, we agree on a maintenance plan or part ways cleanly.
Pricing & engagement
Fixed-price tiers. No retainer trap.
Every engagement starts with a scoping conversation. After Discovery, you get one number, one timeline, and weekly demos — nothing changes unless you ask.
Discovery Sprint
3 – 5 days · fixed
A paid scoping engagement. By the end of the week you have a written technical scope, an architecture diagram, and a fixed-price proposal for the build.
- Two working sessions with you and your team
- Written technical scope + architecture diagram
- Fixed-price proposal for the full build
- 100% credited toward the project if you hire me
Starter Build
3 – 4 weeks
For when one workflow is killing your team. Replaces a single spreadsheet, manual process, or duct-taped tool with a real internal app.
- Single core workflow, 1 – 2 user roles
- Auth, role-based access, audit logging
- Modern UI with responsive design
- Hosted deploy + 30-day post-launch support
Standard Build
5 – 8 weeks
Multi-role app with polished UX, AI integration, and the full security baseline. This is the TenantLens / Prospecting Copilot tier.
- Multiple user roles + data isolation
- Real AI integration (Claude, OpenAI)
- Security: per-request CSP, MFA, audit logs
- Data imports, weekly demos, full handoff
- 30-day post-launch support
Custom Engagement
8+ weeks · scoped per project
Multi-portal apps, complex integrations, multi-month builds. Quoted after a Discovery Sprint.
- Admin + customer / investor portals
- Complex permissions and tenant isolation
- Multiple AI workflows or third-party integrations
- Co-developed roadmap and weekly check-ins
Ongoing fixes, small features, dependency updates, and on-call response. Industry standard is 15 – 25% of build cost annually — these numbers track that.
All tiers include weekly demos on a hosted preview URL, full source on your GitHub, and a clean handover. You own the IP, the repo, and the deployment infrastructure.
About
I build the SaaS your operators wish you’d buy them.
I’m Chris Mendenhall — a full-stack builder from San Diego shipping production-grade SaaS for B2B operators. Year-long full-stack bootcamp at Covalence, then thousands of hours of obsessive personal-project shipping. I run my own home server stack — Linux, Docker, the works — because I’d rather understand the whole pipeline than abstract it away.
My work is hands-on. I do the design, the architecture, the code, and the deploy. No agency overhead, no “account manager” layer between you and the person doing the thinking. You get one person who has skin in the game, ships every week, and leaves you with software you actually own.
When I’m not at a keyboard, you’ll find me surfing, snowboarding, or out on a dirt bike. Same instinct as building — get your hands on the thing, ride it, fix it when it breaks.
Security from day one
Per-request CSP nonces, HSTS, parameterized queries, MFA, audit logs. Not bolted on at the end.
Real demos every week
Hosted preview URLs you click on, not Figma. If you can't break it, I haven't shipped enough.
You own everything
Your repo, your Vercel, your database. I leave; the app keeps running.
The stack
Get in touch
Let's see if it's a fit.
Send a note about what you're trying to ship, or grab a 30-minute slot directly. Either works.
Pick a 30-minute window.
Discovery calls are free. We’ll talk through the workflow, the people, and what success looks like. If I can’t help, I’ll tell you who can.
- 30 minutes, video or audio — your call
- Camera-on optional, agenda-free
- I'll follow up with notes, even if we don't move forward