An engineer, not a consultant
One painful
workflow, automated
in about a week.
I'm Matt Gardner. I'm an engineer in Annapolis. You tell me the task that's eating your team's week — customer follow-ups, appointment scheduling, pulling the same report from two systems — and I build something that handles it. Fixed price, quoted before we start. Most projects run $500 to $1,500.
Case Study · Insurance Agency
From ten customers a day to reaching the entire book, on schedule.
Before
~10/ day
Agents manually calling customers. Most didn't answer. Follow-ups slipped. Renewals dropped off the edge of the desk.
After
Everycustomer
Automated SMS reaches the entire book on a pacing schedule, follows up on its own, routes replies to the right agent.
A regional insurance agency had four thousand customers and a carrier change on the horizon. The agents could only call ten a day, and the ones who didn't answer fell out of the pipeline entirely. Renewals were at risk, and there was no way to catch up by hand.
I built a text-message system that pulls from a simple export of their CRM. It sends each message at the time customers in that timezone are most likely to reply, follows up at three, five, and seven days if there's no response, and stops the second a customer replies. Replies route to the right agent. Inbound calls forward to the main office. The agency's office manager can edit the message templates without calling me.
Built in about a week. Sits alongside tools the agency already used. Replaces a task that used to fill a person's week.
Selected Work
Things I build, over and over, for small businesses.
- Customer follow-ups
- Automated text and email on a schedule you control. No lead gets forgotten; the system stops the second someone replies.
- Appointment scheduling
- Customers pick a time from your real calendar. You stop playing phone tag; they stop waiting on a callback.
- Summaries of calls, emails, meetings
- The key points land in your inbox. You stop reading long threads to find the one sentence that matters.
- Data moving between tools
- An order in one system becomes a row in another. A form submission triggers the right text. The copy-paste goes away.
- Something you have in mind
- If you already know the task that's eating your week, that's usually the one worth automating. Describe it on a call and I'll tell you if I can build it.
How it works
Three steps. No surprises in the middle.
A 15-minute call
You describe the task. I ask a few questions. If I can't help, I'll say so on that call and often point you somewhere that can.
I build it
One week, typically. Fixed price, quoted before we start. You get a Loom walkthrough, the code, and the config. It's yours.
It runs
One week of email support included after delivery. If something breaks later, you hire me again or you take the code to anyone else. No lock-in.
Pricing
Fixed prices. Quoted before we start.
Most projects fall into one of these shapes. If yours is different, we'll figure out a number on the call — and I'll tell you before you commit to anything.
Starter
$500
Flat, one workflow
- One painful workflow, automated
- 5–7 days from call to delivery
- Loom walkthrough + documentation
- One week of email support
- You own the code and config
Standard · Most popular
$1,500
Flat, multi-step
- Multi-step workflow or integrations
- ~2 weeks from call to delivery
- Loom walkthrough + documentation
- Two weeks of email support
- You own the code and config
Custom
Quote
Priced on the call
- Anything bigger than two weeks
- Multiple systems, unusual constraints
- Still fixed price, quoted up front
- Or a monthly retainer if it fits better
- Still yours at the end
What "fixed price" means here: I quote it before you commit. If the work turns out to take longer than I thought, that's my problem, not yours — I keep going until the thing does what I scoped.
About
I build. I don't just advise.
I've been shipping production software for fifteen years — the kind that runs in real businesses, gets used every day, and has to keep working when nobody's watching it. Before Gardner Tech Group I worked on developer platforms and infrastructure at a handful of software companies.
I started this practice because small-business owners in the DC Metro kept asking me for the same kinds of fixes as a favor: one sheet, one text-message loop, one thing that should be automatic but isn't. I enjoy that work. I'm faster at it than you'd expect.
Who this isn't for
If you need enterprise SSO, a multi-tenant SaaS product, HIPAA-grade compliance, or anything with a six-figure budget, I'm not your person. I'll tell you that on the call and try to point you somewhere useful.
Questions
Things people ask on the first call.
Who owns the code when it's done?
You do. Everything — the code, the configuration, the Google Sheets, the API keys — lives in your accounts and is yours to keep. If you ever want to hand it to a different engineer, they can pick up where I left off without asking me for anything.
What if it breaks later?
You email me and I fix it, usually for a flat fee depending on the scope. Or you hire someone else — the code is documented and you own it, so you're not stuck with me. I build things to run on ordinary tools (Google Sheets, Twilio, standard APIs) precisely so they don't require a rare specialist to maintain.
Do I have to buy new software?
Usually not much. Most projects use tools you already pay for (Google Workspace, your CRM, your phone system). Sometimes a small usage fee for SMS (Twilio is pennies per message) or a $20/month integration service. I'll lay out exactly what it costs before you commit.
How is this different from hiring a freelancer on Upwork?
I'm an engineer who's built production software for fifteen years, I quote fixed prices before we start, and I'm one phone call away if something goes wrong. The trade-off is that I'm not the cheapest option. If price is the thing that matters most, a marketplace is a reasonable place to look.
What if my team hates the new system?
I design these to slot into how your team already works, not replace it. If your office manager runs everything out of a spreadsheet, the new system talks to that spreadsheet. I deliver a short Loom walkthrough and answer questions for a week afterward. The goal is "they don't have to change anything," not "they have to learn a new tool."
Can we meet in person?
I'm based in Annapolis and work with clients across the DC Metro area. Happy to come to you for the first meeting if you're nearby. After the kickoff, most of the work happens over email with one or two scheduled check-ins.
Ready?
Tell me what's slowing you down.
Fifteen minutes. Free. If I can help, I'll quote a price at the end of the call. If I can't, I'll say so.