Websites · Plugins
I write WordPress plugins for processes that no ready-made solution covers. Through APIs, I connect websites to the systems your company works with every day, for example a CRM, stock management software, a recruitment system or a supplier’s portal. A custom plugin also makes sense when the ready-made one needs a subscription that grows with your traffic, or brings dozens of features when you need one. The code is yours, and I quote after a short brief.
Scope of work
These jobs come up regularly. Each one starts with a check of whether I can solve the task without custom code, and sometimes I can.
It might be a quote calculator, a form with unusual validation or a panel for data that does not fit into ordinary posts. The code sits in a separate plugin rather than in the theme files, so it keeps working after a theme change and does not disappear with a theme update.
The website connects to the system your company works in every day, such as recruitment software, stock management, a CRM, a course database or a supplier’s portal. I fetch the data at set intervals and store it on your hosting, so an outage of the external server does not stop your website.
Projects, products, offers or training dates have their own properties and need their own views. I build them as custom post types with fields that match the data, filters and repeatable layouts, instead of assembling every page by hand in the editor.
The data might come as an XML file from a wholesaler, a spreadsheet with a price list or an export from an old system. I set up an import that recognises new and changed items by itself and does not fill the database with duplicates on every run. Whatever it cannot match, it reports without losing any data.
I go through every plugin on the website and check whether anyone uses it, whether it duplicates another one and whether it has gone two years without an update. Thirty plugins usually come down to a dozen or so, and the website gets faster and less exposed to attacks along the way.
I wrote my own cookie consent plugin. It keeps a register of accepted consents only, the data stays on your server, and you need neither an external service billed every month nor another script from someone else’s server. You can see it on this website too, by clicking “Cookie settings” in the footer.
Decision
The WordPress plugin directory lists tens of thousands of plugins, and in most cases one of them is enough. I write a custom plugin only when there is a specific reason for it.
When I advise against custom code
My work then comes down to choosing the plugin, configuring it and checking that it does not clash with the rest of the website. That usually takes an hour or two.
When a ready-made plugin is not enough
The code is yours. You pay no licence or annual fee, and you do not depend on whether the author of a plugin is still developing it two years from now.
Three examples from my work. A plugin pulls job vacancies from a recruitment system through its API and shows them as ordinary pages. It replaced the provider’s widget, an embedded script whose content Google could hardly see because it was only generated in the browser. On a website built with JetEngine, custom post types and repeatable layouts replace pages assembled one by one. The third example is my cookie consent plugin from the list above, which replaces an external service with a monthly fee. You will find more projects in the case studies.
Process
Sometimes the first step is enough, because it shows that the task needs no custom code. The last step matters more here than when building a website, since I have to watch code connected to someone else’s system with real data.
I start by asking whether I need to write anything at all. A plugin you already have, or a ready-made one with active support, may solve the problem. If it does, I tell you, even if that turns the job into two hours of work instead of two weeks.
For an integration, I read the API documentation and check the request limits, the authentication method and what the system returns in practice, beyond the examples. Before anything touches the live website, I test the connection with a test key. If there is no documentation, I agree the format with the provider.
The code becomes a separate plugin, with settings in the admin panel, error handling and a log entry whenever the external system does not respond. You see the working version on a copy of the website and can click through it before you decide on the launch.
After launch, I watch the logs for an agreed period and fix what the real data reveals, because an external API sooner or later returns data that was not in the documentation. The quote sets the scope and length of this period, along with the rules for later changes.
Starting the project
With integrations, waiting for access to the other system usually takes longer than writing the code. That is why the test key and a contact at the provider come first.
If you do not know whether your system has an API, send me the name of the software. I will check the documentation and tell you whether I can connect it to the website before I send a quote.
Other services
Most of the plugins I write come with a larger project, for example a new website or a shop that has to follow a non‑standard rule.
Company websites, including multilingual ones, built with WordPress or as static sites. Design, development, go-live and transfer of the content from the old website. Quote after a short brief.
Online shops built with WooCommerce, with payment methods, shipping and integration with your inventory system. Sales modules coded for your industry. Quote after a short brief.
Maintenance for static and custom-coded websites: hours of work for changes, monitoring, security updates and backups. From €100 net per month.
The Websites page lists the other website services. If something stopped working after you installed a new plugin, start with WordPress support, where conflicts between plugins are a case of their own. It is worth keeping a website with custom code under ongoing maintenance, so that critical updates do not cause an outage. All prices are net, excluding VAT. The offer is for businesses only.
FAQ
What clients ask before ordering, most often about the cost, whether the code survives updates and who owns it.
It depends on how many rules the plugin has to cover and whether the system on the other side has usable documentation. A simple plugin that displays data from an external API usually takes a few days of work, and an extensive module with settings and an import a few weeks. I give you the price after a short brief and an analysis, together with the scope, and I start only once you accept it. All prices are net, excluding VAT. The offer is for businesses only.
I write the code using the official WordPress mechanisms, without changes to the core or the theme, so updates go through without surprises. The risk comes from elsewhere, when the external system changes the format of its data or the author of another plugin adds a library that causes errors. In those cases you come back to me with a specific report, or the website goes on a maintenance plan and I monitor it without any action from you.
You do. The plugin comes with its source code and a short description of how it is built. There is no licence to renew and no activation key needed to keep the features working. If you move to another developer later, you hand them the files, and that is all. This is one of the reasons I do not package such work as my own subscription service.
Yes, for instance enquiries from a form going straight into a CRM, orders passed to stock management software or notifications sent to a ticketing system. With connections like these, I make sure that no data gets lost when the recipient briefly does not respond, and that nothing arrives twice after a retry.
I reproduce the situation on a copy of the website and switch components off there under controlled conditions, leaving the live website untouched. The most common case is two plugins that each load their own version of the same JavaScript library, after which the gallery or the editor stops working. I describe diagnosing faults like this in more detail on the WordPress support page.
Yes. I work remotely with companies in the UK and the EU, among them a chain of tattoo and piercing studios in the UK and education organisations in Belgium. You deal with me directly, in English. The work needs no visit, because I build and test the plugin on a copy of your website and agree the details in writing or in a video call. You can reach me by email, WhatsApp, phone and video call, Monday to Friday, 9:00–17:00 Central European Time (8:00–16:00 UK time).
