Guides — Dopara Group
Straight answers, with real prices.
Written from the working end of the problem — running live systems for UK firms — not from a template. Every guide publishes real numbers.
Custom database cost UK (2026): what it actually costs
A straight 2026 UK price guide to custom databases: real Dopara prices from £295 a month, what drives the cost up or down, and off-the-shelf vs bespoke.
GuideCommercial lease key dates: how to never miss a break clause
The dates every UK commercial lease needs tracked — expiry, break notice deadlines, rent reviews — with a free tracker template and real system costs.
GuideCommercial lease management software UK: honest 2026 guide
A straight guide to commercial lease management software in the UK: what each option really costs, with real prices, and when a spreadsheet is still enough.
GuideHow to manage a property portfolio (UK): system beats spreadsheet
How to manage a UK property portfolio day to day: the records you need, the dates that cost money, spreadsheet vs software with real prices, and the reports lenders ask for.
GuideProfessional website cost UK (2026): real prices, not ranges
What a professional website really costs in the UK in 2026: published prices from £750, market ranges to sanity-check any quote, and the five questions that expose a bad one.
GuideCustom CRM: build or buy? An honest UK guide (2026)
Build or buy a CRM in the UK: the real costs of each, when building genuinely pays, when it does not — and the middle option most people miss. From a studio that sells both.
GuideSpreadsheet to a system: when to move, and what it costs
When a spreadsheet stops coping, what actually breaks, and what replacing it costs in the UK. Real prices from a studio that does this build — plus when to stay put.
GuideLandlord admin: spreadsheet, software, or a system of your own?
The honest three-way comparison for UK landlords in 2026, with real prices — including the option the software listicles never mention, and why most landlords should ignore it.
GuideCustom, off-the-shelf, or Airtable? An honest comparison
Off-the-shelf, no-code or bespoke? The 2026 three-way comparison for UK small businesses, with real published prices and the point each one stops fitting.
GuideWebsite or system? Where the line actually falls
A website brings people in. A system runs what happens next. The honest boundary for UK businesses — which you need, which to build first, and what joins them.
GuideOff the spreadsheets: what one property system really took
A first-hand account of replacing a UK commercial-property firm's spreadsheets with a private database: the real timeline, what changed after launch, and what it cost.
GuideAfter the build: what a custom system costs to run
What custom software actually costs to maintain in the UK — the industry rule of thumb, what hosting really costs, what 'maintained' looks like week to week, and who owns it.
GuidePermissions that stop the buttons, not the data
Most business systems check who you are in the app, not in the database. Here is the difference, why it matters, and the questions to ask your software supplier.
GuideIs your website dated? Seventeen checks, all measurable
Not "it looks tired" — seventeen things you can actually measure on a homepage, what each one costs you, and the scoring we use to decide whether a site needs rebuilding at all.
GuideImporting your spreadsheet: what the tests will not catch
Moving years of records into a new system is where these projects actually fail. Here are the failures we found in our own importers, and the one question to ask your supplier.
GuideShould you let AI use your website? Three different questions
Crawling, citing and training are separate things with separate switches. Here is the position we took on our own site, the reasoning, and the numbers behind it.
GuideIf your developer goes out of business, what do you actually own?
Paying for bespoke software does not make the copyright yours — under UK law the person who wrote it owns it by default. Here is what you do get, what happens if the supplier is struck off, and the four things to settle before the next invoice.
GuideHow long it actually took: three builds, with dates
Everyone answers this with a range. Here are three real projects with the dates they started and the dates they went live, what the dates do not show, and the one thing that decides your timeline.
GuideYou can have your data. Can you read it?
Most advice about leaving a software supplier treats it as a data-protection question. It usually is not. Here is what the law actually gives a business, what an export is really worth, and how to test it before you need it.