Custom Web Application Development on Azure
Custom Web Application Development on Azure takes a line-of-business need — the process running on spreadsheets, an aging Access-era database, or a tool nobody dares touch — and turns it into a supported web application your team signs into with their existing Microsoft 365 accounts. The engagement covers discovery, UX design, iterative build on Azure App Service and Azure SQL Database with Microsoft Entra ID sign-in, CI/CD deployment, documentation, and handover. Work is billed time and materials at $175 per hour; a typical build starts around $14,500 and runs about 6 weeks, managed by Alex Nikulin. Sixty days of post-launch support — knowledge transfer plus fixes for code defects from basic to critical — is included in the price; ongoing monitoring and support after that window is a paid time-and-materials plan. Everything — code, pipeline, and Azure resources — is delivered into your own repository and subscription.
What this engagement is
This service exists for the systems every growing company accumulates: order tracking in a shared workbook, approvals over email, an Access-era database only one person can maintain. We design and build the replacement as a modern web application on Microsoft Azure — Azure App Service for hosting, Azure SQL Database for data, Microsoft Entra ID for sign-in — so it runs on a managed platform Microsoft patches and scales, and your users authenticate with the accounts they already use for email and Teams; access ends the day an employee is offboarded in Microsoft 365. The build is iterative: you see working software at scheduled demo checkpoints, not at the end, and every deployment goes through a CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps Pipelines) with a staging slot, so future changes — ours or yours — ship the same controlled way. Where the application needs Microsoft 365 data (documents in SharePoint, users and groups, Teams notifications), we integrate through Microsoft Graph. Everything is built in your Azure subscription and your source repository, so there is no dependence on us afterward. This page covers building a new application; if an existing site or app just needs to move to Azure, the smaller fixed-price App Service migration is the better fit, and a public marketing site without sign-in and workflow is a different, simpler engagement we quote separately.
Success criteria
What you receive
How the work unfolds
Workshops with your process owners: what the application must do, who uses it, what data it holds, what it integrates with. Output is a prioritized backlog and a written estimate you approve before design starts.
Wireframes for the core screens, the data model, the Entra ID role model, and the Azure architecture. You approve the design before production code is written.
Development in short cycles with demo checkpoints — you see working software as it grows and can reprioritize the backlog between cycles. The CI/CD pipeline and staging environment are stood up in the first cycle.
Microsoft Graph and line-of-business integrations wired and tested; access reviewed against least-privilege roles; secrets moved into managed configuration.
Your testers run the UAT cases against staging; defects are fixed and retested until the agreed set passes.
Production deployment through the pipeline, monitoring and alerts confirmed, documentation delivered, and a recorded handover session for your administrators and future developers.
Included in the price: knowledge-transfer sessions as your team takes over, and fixes for code defects from basic to critical severity, shipped through the same pipeline. When the window ends, ongoing monitoring and support continue under a paid time-and-materials plan if you want them.
Prerequisites
Who does what
IT Partner
- Run discovery and produce the backlog, estimate, and solution design.
- Design the UX and review it with your product owner before build.
- Develop the application, the database schema, and the agreed integrations.
- Stand up the Azure environment, the CI/CD pipeline, and the staging and production slots.
- Test continuously during build and support your team through UAT.
- Deliver documentation, source code, and a recorded handover — with written estimates before each phase and scope changes flagged before the work is done.
- Provide 60 days of post-launch support — knowledge transfer and fixes for basic-through-critical code defects — at no additional charge.
Your team
- Assign the product owner and make design and priority decisions on the agreed cadence.
- Provide business rules, sample data, and access to systems in scope for integration.
- Review demos and give feedback within the agreed turnaround so build cycles keep moving.
- Run user acceptance testing with realistic scenarios and sign off on the results.
- Own Azure consumption costs and any Microsoft or third-party licensing.
- Handle internal communication, training rollout, and process changes around the new application.
What's not included
Limitations & technical notes
Frequently asked questions
What is included in Custom Web Application Development on Azure?
The full lifecycle for one line-of-business web application: discovery workshops, UX design, iterative development on Azure App Service and Azure SQL Database, Microsoft Entra ID sign-in with role-based access, agreed integrations, a CI/CD pipeline, user acceptance testing, documentation, and handover. Sixty days of post-launch support — knowledge transfer and fixes for basic-through-critical code defects — is included in the price. The code lands in your repository and the application runs in your Azure subscription.
How much does a custom web application cost?
Work is time and materials at $175 per hour, and a typical focused application starts around $14,500. Discovery produces a written estimate before build begins, and any scope change is priced in writing before we do the work. Larger builds — heavy integrations, complex reporting, big data migrations — are quoted per project after discovery.
How long does the build take?
A typical engagement runs about 6 weeks from kickoff to go-live: discovery and design in the first two, iterative build through week five, then acceptance testing and cutover. The largest variable is review turnaround on your side — the timeline assumes your product owner responds on the agreed cadence.
What technology stack do you use?
The default is a current long-term-support .NET stack on Azure App Service with Azure SQL Database, Microsoft Entra ID authentication, and GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps Pipelines for CI/CD. We stay on mainstream, Microsoft-supported components so any qualified developer can maintain the application after handover. If your team already has a standard, we align to it during design.
Who owns the code and the Azure environment?
You do, from day one. Source code lives in your GitHub or Azure DevOps organization, and the application runs in your Azure subscription under your tenant. There is no proprietary framework and no dependence on us afterward — that is deliberate, and it matches how we work everywhere else: no lock-in, in either direction.
Can users sign in with their existing Microsoft 365 accounts?
Yes — Microsoft Entra ID sign-in is the default. Users get single sign-on with the account they already use for email and Teams, your conditional access policies apply automatically, and access to the application ends when you disable the account. There is no separate password database to run or breach.
Can the application integrate with Microsoft 365, Teams, or SharePoint?
Yes, through Microsoft Graph — reading and writing SharePoint documents, posting Teams notifications, looking up users and groups, sending mail from shared mailboxes. Each integration is scoped during discovery because it depends on permissions and licensing in your tenant.
We run this process on spreadsheets today — is a custom application overkill?
Sometimes the honest answer is no custom code at all: if the process fits Power Apps or built-in Microsoft 365 automation, we say so during discovery and point you at the cheaper option. Custom development earns its cost when you need multi-user workflows, a real data model, external integrations, or performance and UX that low-code tools cannot deliver.
What happens after launch — can we add features?
First, the included support: for 60 days after go-live we fix code defects from basic to critical severity and run knowledge-transfer sessions for your administrators and developers, at no additional charge. New features are separate — the usual pattern is an enhancement backlog delivered as time-and-materials work at the same $175 per hour, each batch estimated in writing first. Because the pipeline and staging environment already exist, later changes ship the same controlled way as the original build, and because you own the code, you can equally hand it to your own developers. Once the 60-day window ends, ongoing monitoring and support continue under a paid time-and-materials plan if you want them.
What support is included after go-live?
Sixty days from production go-live, included in the price: knowledge transfer for the people who will run and extend the application, and fixes for code defects from basic to critical severity, shipped through the same pipeline as the original build. The window covers defects — behavior that departs from the acceptance-tested scope — not new features, and it does not include 24/7 production support, which is a separately contracted plan. After the 60 days, ongoing monitoring and support are a paid plan on a time-and-materials basis.
Do you host the application, and what will hosting cost?
The application runs in your Azure subscription, so Microsoft bills you directly at its published rates. Before go-live we give you a monthly cost estimate for the deployed environment; for a typical single-application setup the largest components are the App Service plan and the Azure SQL Database tier, both of which can be scaled up or down as usage changes.
Is a mobile app included?
The delivered application is a responsive web app that works in phone and tablet browsers, which covers most line-of-business needs. Native iOS or Android applications are a separate build with different tooling and app-store overhead — if discovery shows you genuinely need one, we scope it separately rather than burying it in this estimate.
How do you keep a time-and-materials project from running away?
Three controls: a written estimate you approve before each phase; short build cycles with demos, so drift is visible in days rather than months; and a hard rule that out-of-scope work is never started without your written approval. Nobody at IT Partner earns a sales commission, so no one is paid more when your invoice grows.
We already have a web application — can you just move it to Azure?
If the application works and only the hosting needs to change, the Website or Web App Migration to Azure App Service service is the right fit — a small fixed-price engagement. This development service is for building new applications; moving or upgrading an existing one is scoped differently, and we will steer you to the cheaper path when it applies.