Quotes rebuilt from scratch, every time
Every estimate starts at a blank email. The good version lives in one person’s head, and it leaves the building when they do.
→ we build: a quoting engine. same inputs, same number, minutes not days
Operations studio · Bath, UK
We rebuild the busy work so you can think.
An operations studio for small and mid-sized businesses that have outgrown their spreadsheets. We replace the manual core of how you run, rather than adding another tool on top of it.
01 · Who we are
The people you meet are the people who build it.
We don’t bill a junior to you as a senior, and nothing gets handed offshore once the kickoff call is over.
Luke Hodges
Founder · ops & engineeringBased in Bath. Writes the systems, sits in the businesses, does the handover.
Book Luke →
Alex Stewart
Head of CommercialBased in Bath. Runs scoping, keeps the engagement honest about what it will cost.
Book Alex →Hi, I’m Luke. I keep Ironheart small on purpose. At most consultancies you meet a partner, and then a junior does the work. Here the person who takes your call is the one writing the proposal, and the one pushing the commits. We only take two or three companies at a time. You get a meeting and something shipped every week, and when the work is done we either wrap up or roll into a retainer.
Luke Hodges. Founder · luke@theironheart.org
02 · What we fix
Four places the work gets stuck.
Not industries. Symptoms. A haulier and a podiatry clinic both know what a week-late invoice run feels like.
Five systems, none of them agreeing
Spreadsheet, inbox, booking system, accounts: four different answers to “how did we do last month?” and no way to say which is right.
→ we build: one source of truth, synced both ways
Chasing that happens when someone remembers
Reminders, follow-ups, unpaid invoices. Goodwill is the scheduler, and goodwill goes on holiday, gets busy, moves on.
→ we build: chasers that fire themselves. day 8, every time
Month-end that eats a working day
Assembled by hand from four exports, every month, by the person whose day is worth the most.
→ we build: month-end as a live dashboard. open it any day
03 · What we build
Five systems we build again and again.
Every engagement starts with a look at the actual work. Then we build the smallest thing that removes the biggest constraint, and nothing more until that one has paid for itself.
/ 01
Process automation
The quote, the chase, the handoff, rebuilt as a system that runs without being remembered.
- automation map
- built workflows
- monitoring
- runbook
/ 02
Data & reporting
One number everyone trusts, instead of five spreadsheets that disagree.
- source inventory
- live dashboards
- alerts on change
/ 03
Internal tools
The app your team needed, instead of the spreadsheet pretending to be one.
- working app in weeks
- role-based access
- training + docs
/ 04
System integrations
Your booking system, your accounts and your inbox, finally on speaking terms.
- integration spec
- middleware
- retries + monitoring
/ 05
AI-assisted ops
Drafting, triage and lookups handled before anyone opens the inbox.
- use-case scoping
- production agents
- guardrails + audit
04 · The work
Three businesses, before and after.
Bristol Upholstery · workshop
Quoting stopped being one person.
- was
- quotes priced from memory, days late
- now
- same inputs, same number, minutes
The diary stopped leaking.
- was
- reminders when somebody remembered
- now
- booking to chase, one chain, unattended
Enquiry to paid, without a chase.
- was
- payment whenever somebody chased it
- now
- one thread, and the nudge fires itself
Fifteen minutes, and you leave with a written answer either way.
Book the call →
05 · How we work
A sprint, not a saga.
Five steps, six weeks, fixed price. You know the cost before we start and the number does not move.
Step 1 of 5
06 · Engagements
Three ways in.
Every price is fixed and quoted before we start. Scope changes the number, so we quote the scope, not a menu.
Process audit
A week inside the business, then a written map of where the time goes and what to fix first. Yours to keep whether or not we build it.
Fixed price
quoted upfront · 1 week
Most common
Build sprint
One constraint removed, in production, with a runbook and a 90-day warranty. Weekly demos throughout.
Fixed price
quoted upfront · 4–6 weeks
Retainer
We keep what we built running, and take the next thing off the pile each month. Most clients end up here.
Monthly
rolling · cancel any month
Not sure which one fits? That’s what the call is for.
Book the call →
07 · FAQ
The things people ask.
Who is this for?
Businesses of roughly 5 to 50 people who have outgrown the spreadsheet-and-goodwill stage. If one person leaving would break how you operate, that is us.
What does it cost?
It depends on scope, which is why we don’t print a menu. Audits and build sprints are fixed price, quoted before we start, and the number does not move. Book a call and you’ll get a straight answer inside fifteen minutes.
Do you build, or just advise?
We build. Every engagement ships working software, automations or infrastructure, not slides. We’ll advise along the way, but only alongside something real we’re delivering.
How fast can you start?
Usually within one to two weeks. The audit week is the fastest thing to book because it needs nothing from you but access.
What happens if it breaks?
Every build ships with a runbook, training and a 90-day warranty. After that most clients keep us on retainer, which is what the retainer is for.
We already have a developer. Does that matter?
No. We work alongside in-house teams often. We hand over source, documentation and access, and we do not hold anything hostage.
Do you need to be in the building?
For the first week, ideally yes, at least for a day or two. After that we are UK-based and remote-first.
08 · Book
Fifteen minutes, and you leave with a written answer.
No pitch. You describe what’s hurting, we tell you whether we’d take it on and roughly what it would cost.
- no sales deck, no follow-up sequence
- a written plan of attack, yours to keep
- a straight no if it isn’t worth building