Hi, I'm Kaide.

In our building business, we started with quotes on pen and paper. We eventually moved to a management system costing around $400 a month. It helped, but scheduling the guys, collecting timesheets and keeping track of every job still took up a lot of my time.

I first looked into websites because I wanted an email address with our own domain. After looking at the setup fees and ongoing subscriptions, I got curious about what was involved in doing it myself. I learned about front ends and back ends, and built a website.

It grew from the things we needed.

Timesheets were the first addition. We'd gone from paper to a free app, then paid versions for everyone, and more subscriptions were creeping in. I added a staff login to the website so the guys could fill in a timesheet and send it straight to the office, with a copy for themselves if they wanted one.

Then came health and safety forms, followed by scheduling for staff and contractors. Each part solved a problem we were already dealing with.

For a full job system, I needed somewhere practical to keep the documents. Discovering how to connect it to Dropbox was the turning point. Plans, quotes, invoices and contractor uploads could stay in a familiar folder structure, accessible through Dropbox as well as the system.

I also built an estimating tool around our cladding work. Measure a wall, choose the cladding system, and it works out material quantities using our board sizes and cavity systems. That approach can be adapted for other products and ways of working.

What I want to offer.

KM Systems is about getting a useful website or system set up for you, then giving you the tools and knowledge to keep developing it. That could be a public website, staff and contractor logins, job management, document storage or your own estimating workflow.

I charge a one-off fee for the agreed setup and handover. There is no required KM Systems subscription. You can use the editing features included with your site, or work on bigger changes from a PC or laptop with the right tools and some technical knowledge. Extra help or development from me is available separately.

My own projects have grown into property-search tools, electronics prototypes, engineering review pages and a baking website for my partner. I also take custom 3D printing enquiries for parts and prototypes.

What does it cost to run?

Keeping the ongoing cost low is a big part of why I started this. Here's an example using Dropbox for files, a domain with Cloudflare hosting, and Microsoft's cheaper email-only plan.

These figures use my current Dropbox and domain costs, plus Microsoft's listed NZ price. Microsoft excludes GST. Setup, optional support and any paid hosting usage are separate. Prices checked 10 November 2026 and may change.

For KM Systems itself, I'm keeping things simple while it gets established and using my existing Hotmail address. I'll add a custom-domain mailbox when the interest makes it worthwhile.