Websites, software & AI that pay for themselves.
I'm Colby, based in Boston, MA. I build custom websites, booking systems, and AI tools for restaurants, shops, marinas, and tour operators. Fixed price, agreed in writing before work starts.
Selected work
Two projects, start to finish
Northern Lake George Boat Tours
A booking platform built from scratch for a family-run scenic boat tour: real calendar availability, Stripe checkout, self-service rescheduling, and an admin that works from the dock on a phone.
- Built in
- 6 weeks
- Year
- 2026
- Stack
- Next.js
- Status
- Live
LeaseLens
An equipment lease management product built end to end. Upload a lease PDF and the terms, obligations, and renewal deadlines come back extracted and tracked, with the AI pipeline, billing, and infrastructure all shipped solo.
- Role
- Solo build
- Year
- 2026
- Stack
- Django · AI
- Status
- Live
What I build
What it costs, before you sign
Every project is fixed-price, quoted after a free thirty-minute conversation. Most projects land between $2,500 and $6,500; the numbers below are starting points for the usual scope.
Marketing Site
Five to seven pages that explain what you do and make it easy to get in touch, designed around how your business works.
- Custom design from a blank page
- Mobile friendly
- Contact and lead capture
- SEO basics and analytics
- From$2,500
Booking Site
Take reservations online with real calendar availability, card payment, and automatic confirmations. This is what I built for my mom's boat tour business.
- Booking flow built around your schedule
- Stripe checkout and refunds
- Admin dashboard
- Automatic customer email
- From$6,500
Online Store
Sell products with inventory, shipping, and tax wired into Stripe, so the money goes to you instead of a platform percentage.
- Product catalog with variants
- Cart and Stripe checkout
- Inventory and order admin
- Shipping and basic tax setup
- From$6,500
AI & Automation
Put AI on the tedious parts: pulling data out of documents, answering the same question forty times a week, moving information between systems that do not talk.
- Document and PDF extraction
- Custom assistants
- Workflow and email automation
- Connected to tools you already use
- FromBy scope
Something Custom
An internal tool, a member portal, a dashboard across three locations. Anything that doesn't fit the four boxes above. Tell me what you're trying to do.
- Scoped to the problem at hand
- Written in plain, standard code
- Documented so anyone can pick it up
- You own the code
- FromBy scope
Hosting and ongoing changes are a separate monthly retainer, from $250, and entirely optional. I'm just as happy to hand everything over and let you run it yourself.
How it goes
Four steps, and you always know which one you're in
The usual way hiring a developer goes wrong is a month of silence and then an invoice. This is the whole process, so you know what happens and when.
- 01
Conversation
Coffee or a video call, thirty minutes. I want to understand your business, your customers, and where the current setup falls short. It's free and I won't pitch you.
- 02
Proposal
Within about a week you get a written scope, a fixed price, and a date. You know what you're buying before you sign anything.
- 03
Build
Every week you get a live preview link where you can click through the real thing as it takes shape. Most projects run three to six weeks from kickoff.
- 04
Launch & Support
I handle deployment, the domain, and sitting down with you until you can run it yourself. A monthly retainer for hosting and changes is optional, from $250.
Step one costs you thirty minutes and nothing else.
Start a projectAbout
Hi, I'm Colby
Colby Vickerson, Marblehead, MA
I've spent the last decade in data science and engineering at a Fortune 100 insurance company, building pipelines and internal tools that turn messy documents and data into something a team can act on. LeaseLens was the first time I built something like that for myself: it reads equipment lease PDFs and extracts the terms, obligations, and renewal deadlines automatically. The first thing I built for someone else was the booking platform for my mom's boat tour company on Lake George. I like working with operators who are very good at what they do and whose website hasn't caught up with the rest of the business.
Most work ships in three to six weeks, and you are talking to the person writing the code the whole way through.
- Based
- Boston, MA
- Home port
- Marblehead, MA
- Working
- Remote, anywhere
- Stack
- Next.js, Python, Stripe, AI
- You own
- All of it
Questions
Answered before you have to ask
- Who owns the site when it is done?
- You do. The code, the design, the domain, and every piece of customer data are yours outright, whether or not we keep working together. If you ever want to move to another developer, everything is documented for the handover.
- What happens after launch?
- Your choice. A monthly retainer from $250 covers hosting, fixes, and small changes. Or I hand everything over, documented, and you run it yourself.
- How long does a project take?
- Most projects run three to six weeks from kickoff, and the proposal gives you a date in writing before anything starts. If you need something in two weeks, say so on the first call: sometimes the answer is yes with a smaller scope, and if it is no I will tell you straight away.
- What does it cost?
- A fixed price, in writing, before you commit. Marketing sites start at $2,500 and booking sites or online stores at $6,500; the exact number depends on scope and is agreed in the proposal, so it does not drift while the work is underway.
- I already have a website. Can you work with it?
- Yes. Sometimes the right move is a rebuild, sometimes it is adding booking or a store to what already works. Tell me what you have and what is bothering you about it, and the free call will sort out which it is.
- Do I need to be technical?
- No. You describe how the business works and what customers should be able to do; the technical decisions are my job, explained in plain English whenever you want the reasoning. Launch ends with a walkthrough so you are comfortable running the day to day.
Get in touch
Tell me what you're trying to fix
A couple of sentences about your business is plenty to start. I reply within one business day.
Or just email me
hello@burgeelabs.comBased
Boston, MA, working remote anywhere