Have you built software for a metals business before?

The metals business is one I operate in: I run a gold-buying company and serve as COO of a private vault, and the internal tools described here are the ones I built for my own operations.

Can the system show a live spot price?

A live spot price is fetched on a schedule from a data provider you subscribe to, cached, and used by the pricing rules, so the counter and the website show the same number at the same time.

How is customer data kept safe in a custom tool?

Customer data in a custom metals tool lives in a database you own, on infrastructure you control, with access by role and retention rules set to match the regulation, which is a stronger position than a shared SaaS account.

The systems a metals business runs on, built to fit it

A metals business runs on numbers that change every minute and paperwork that has to be perfect for years. Off-the-shelf software handles neither. The dealers I know keep the real records in a ledger, a spreadsheet and the owner's head, and the price on the counter is typed in at nine.

Custom internal tools for Southwest Florida metals businesses: a pricing engine tied to spot, a compliance ledger, settlement reconciliation and vault inventory, scoped in writing with a price before work starts and delivered as code in a repository you own.

Send me the situation How it works

I read every one and reply within the day. When an off-the-shelf product covers it, I tell you which one and stop there.

For metals dealers, coin shops, refiners and vault operators running the counter on a point-of-sale, a pricing spreadsheet and a filing cabinet.
An operator who has built software inside this trade
The four tools that sector actually runs on
Scoped in writing, priced before work starts

Twelve

companies operated, six of them his own, on software he built

790+

products in a catalogue that started at 105, run from one internal tool

15,868

records synced between two systems every run, zero failures

Thirty

live sites generated and shipped from one engine

The tools precious metals actually runs on

A pricing engine tied to spot

Buy and sell prices calculated from a live spot feed and your premium rules, published to the counter screen and the website at the same moment. The rules are written down once and the storefront and catalog reads from the same source, so no one types a price again.

A compliance ledger

Every transaction above the threshold captured with the ID, the form and the check, filed with the original attached and a retention clock running. Built as an intake and scheduling flow at the counter, so the record is complete before the deal closes rather than reconstructed for an auditor.

Settlement reconciliation

Payouts, deposits and refinery settlements matched against the ledger automatically, with only the exceptions put in front of a person. The billing and collections engine handles the money side; the reporting dashboard shows margin by metal and by week.

Vault inventory

Stock counts, box assignments, purchases and sales in one record that agrees with the books. I built the operating system a private vault runs on, and the inventory system here is the same pattern cut to a dealer's size.

Questions from precious metals

Have you built software for a metals business before?: The metals business is one I operate in: I run a gold-buying company and serve as COO of a private vault, and the internal tools described here are the ones I built for my own operations.
Can the system show a live spot price?: A live spot price is fetched on a schedule from a data provider you subscribe to, cached, and used by the pricing rules, so the counter and the website show the same number at the same time.
How is customer data kept safe in a custom tool?: Customer data in a custom metals tool lives in a database you own, on infrastructure you control, with access by role and retention rules set to match the regulation, which is a stronger position than a shared SaaS account.

The tools most often built first

Inventory systemOne count that is true, on a screen your staff will use, tied to what you sold and what it cost.Intake and schedulingEvery request captured once, put on the right calendar, and visible to everyone who needs it.Billing and collectionsInvoices raised when the work happens, reminders on a schedule, and a cash position you can read on a Monday.Reporting dashboardThe numbers you actually run the business on, pulled from your systems, on one screen, every morning.

The other trades

Luxury retailJewelers, watch dealers and galleries whose client book is a salesperson's notebook and whose repairs live on paper tickets.ConstructionContractors and trades estimating from a price list in a spreadsheet, scheduling on a whiteboard and invoicing from memory.Legal servicesSmall law firms and referral groups whose intake is an email inbox and whose practice software stops at the matter.Real estateBrokerages, locators and property managers running transactions, commissions and lease dates across agents' private spreadsheets.

Tell me what is in the way.

A short form and a same-day reply from the person who would write the code. When buying covers it, the reply says what to buy.

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