When email stops scaling.
Customers need a login. They need history. They need to upload, download, message, and approve. Email threads and shared folders stop scaling at customer five — that's the trigger.
THE WORK · LANE 03 — CLIENT PORTALS
Stop emailing PDFs.
A branded portal where your customers see their orders, files, invoices, requests, and status — without a phone call to you.
Plugged into Stripe, your CRM, and your ops database. Magic-link sign-in by default, your brand on the door, and a fixed band you can budget against.
BAND $45K–$90KTIMELINE 10–16 WEEKSYOUR BRAND, YOUR DOMAIN
02 — THE CASE
The shape of a portal.
What it solves, what you get, and where the band lands — the three things to know before you commission.
What's in the room.
A branded portal that fits your operation: auth, permissions, document workflow, messaging, status tracking, and an audit trail — plugged into the systems you already run. Stripe, your CRM, your ops database, from day one.
The number, up front.
Most portals land at $45K–$90K over 10–16 weeks, multi-tenant included. Full white-label — a different brand per tenant — changes the architecture and moves into the Custom App band, $75K–$175K+ over 4–8 months.
03 — THE PATTERN
ONE LOGIN, EVERY ANSWER
Your operation, behind one door.
Customers sign in with a magic link — SSO or password with 2FA if your industry expects it — and see only their own rooms: orders, invoices, files, requests. Every action lands in the audit trail, signed and queryable. And the brand on the door is yours — portal.yourcompany.com, your colors, your type, your tone.
MAGIC-LINK SIGN-INSSO & 2FA OPTIONAL
Read the stack04 — THE FIRST WEEK
The first week, on paper.
Portals touch your customers directly, so week one nails the brand, the auth model, and the integration map — before anything is drawn.
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DAY 01 — MONDAY
Journey
The customer's path, mapped.
From invite to first login to daily use to support to renewal — the full path, walked end to end. Which screens they need, which actions are gated, and which integrations carry their data.
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DAY 03 — WEDNESDAY
Auth
Brand, auth, and integrations.
Brand assets — colors, typography, logo, the email-from name. The auth strategy: magic link, SSO, or password with 2FA. The integration list: Stripe, your CRM, your ops database.
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DAY 05 — FRIDAY
Band
Brief delivered, quote attached.
You receive the customer journey map, screen inventory, auth model, integration plan, deploy plan, and risk register — with a fixed-band quote attached. Most portals land in the $45K–$90K band.
05 — QUESTIONS
Portals, specifically.
Asked before anyone hands a customer a login.
How do customers sign in?
Email plus magic link by default — no passwords, no friction. SSO via Google, Microsoft, or SAML if your customers are enterprise; password with 2FA if your industry expects it. All three are first-class.
Will it match our existing brand?
Yes. We work from your brand kit, or build a minimal one with you during discovery. Custom domain — portal.yourcompany.com — your colors, your typography, your logo, your tone. The portal reads as your product, not a Toledo template.
Can it integrate with our CRM / ERP / billing?
Yes — integrations are first-class. Common: Stripe for billing, HubSpot or Salesforce for CRM, NetSuite or QuickBooks for accounting, Slack for notifications, SendGrid or Postmark for transactional email. Custom integrations are scoped during discovery.
What about white-label / multi-tenant?
Multi-tenant — one portal, separated by organization — is supported inside the $45K–$90K band. Full white-label, where each tenant's customers see a different brand, changes the architecture substantially and moves into the Custom Web App band ($75K+).
What about SOC 2 / compliance?
The portal is built audit-ready: every action signed, persisted, and queryable. SOC 2 itself is a process you run — we provide the architectural evidence and configure the observability, so the audit becomes reasonable rather than nightmarish.
What happens when a customer wants to export their data?
It's built in. Every portal ships with self-serve CSV and JSON export per entity, and GDPR/CCPA right-to-be-forgotten flows are configured at launch — no scramble when the request lands.
06 — BEGIN
The door is open.
Customer-facing software earns its scope on paper first — published fee, written brief, half the fee credited toward the build.
DELPHI APP DISCOVERY RIGHT FIT
For internal tools, portals, and custom web apps.
The customer's path mapped, the auth model chosen, the build banded — on paper, before you commit to it.
- Two scoping workshops with the principal
- Written architecture brief and data model
- Fixed-band quote, credited 50% if you proceed within 30 days
$3,500–$5,000 · 1–2 WEEKS
Begin
PREFER TO TALK FIRST
Email the principal.
Outline the customer problem in three sentences. The reply comes within one business day — from the person who would design and build the portal.
CREDIT RULE — 50% OF THE DISCOVERY FEE CREDITS TOWARD YOUR KICKOFF PROJECT RETAINER WITHIN 30 DAYS.