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Custom Websites & Web Apps
Client Portal Build
A branded login area where each client sees their own files, status and requests, so updates stop living in email threads.
Service firms often share files and updates by email, then spend hours answering status questions. Client Portal Build gives clients one place to log in instead. Each client sees only their own documents, status and requests. Your staff upload files, update status and reply from their side, and email alerts tell clients when something changes. There is no per-seat portal subscription.
- Each client sees only their own files and status
- A staff side to upload files and update status
- Email alerts, one integration and no per-seat fees
$11,775
40–50 working days
Optional maintenance $400/mo
What it is
Client Portal Build is a secure, branded web portal where each client logs in to see their own documents, project status, requests and messages. It has up to 6 screens, a client role and a staff role, email alerts and 1 integration. It runs as a custom web app in your own accounts.
Why businesses buy it
Off-the-shelf portal tools charge per seat and often look like someone else's product. Email costs nothing but scatters files across inboxes and threads. This build gives you a portal in your brand, running in your own accounts. Clients log in to a dashboard with documents, requests, messages and account screens. Staff manage everything from their side, and an admin screen adds new clients and staff. Access-control tests check that each client sees only their own records. One integration links the portal to a tool you already use, such as your CRM or Google Drive.
Problems this solves
Clients keep emailing to ask where their work stands
A dashboard shows each client their status, and email alerts tell them when something changes. Staff update status once instead of replying to every email.
Files are scattered across inboxes and attachments
Secure upload and download keep each client's documents in one place. Staff add files from their side, and the client gets an alert.
Portal tools charge for every seat you add
The portal runs on your own hosting, database and storage, on entry plans. There is no per-seat subscription as your client list grows.
Client data must never show up in the wrong account
Each client sees only their own records, and access-control tests check this before launch. The admin screen controls who has access.
A good fit if
You run an agency, accounting practice, law firm or consultancy that shares files with clients by email today.
Clients often ask where their work stands, and staff lose time answering.
What clients need fits six screens: login, dashboard, documents, requests, messages and account.
You want the portal and its data in your own accounts, with no per-seat subscription.
Not the right fit if
Clients need to pay or subscribe inside the portal. See Web App MVP Build.
You want paid member tiers and gated content on WordPress. See Membership Website.
Your portal needs more than six screens, several integrations or features you cannot yet describe. Start with Discovery Sprint.
You only need a public marketing site with no logins. See Custom Website Build.
How it works
- You send a list of what clients should see and do, plus access to hosting, database, storage and the tool the portal connects to.
- A written scoping questionnaire, with follow-up questions by email, confirms the screens, the client and staff roles and the one integration, and you approve the screen list.
- We build up to six screens: login, dashboard, documents, requests, messages and account, with secure file upload and download.
- The staff side, the admin screen for adding clients and staff, email alerts and the integration are connected.
- Access-control tests check that each client sees only their own records, and browser tests run on desktop and mobile before two revision rounds.
- The portal goes live with a staging copy, your staff get a written walkthrough, and 30 days of post-launch support begins.
What you provide within 72 hours
Your portal lists these the moment you order. Delivery starts the working day after everything is in and your access is checked.
- A list of what clients should see and be able to do.
- Invites to hosting, database and file storage accounts you own, or approval to create them in your name.
- Access to the tool the portal connects to, by invite or a key you control.
- Your logo and brand colors.
- One decision-maker for the questionnaire and approvals.
The 72-hour rule. Send everything on your checklist, including access, within 72 hours of ordering so your build starts on time.
Timeline
Start
Order placed. The client wish list, account access and brand assets are due within 72 hours.
Weeks 1–2
Scoping questionnaire answered, screen list approved and wireframes for each screen.
Weeks 2–5
Client screens built: login, dashboard, documents, requests, messages and account.
Weeks 6–7
Staff side, admin screen, email alerts and the one integration connected.
Weeks 7–8
Access-control and browser tests, two revision rounds, deployment with a staging copy and the staff walkthrough.
After launch
30 days of post-launch support for anything not working as agreed.
| Option | Delivery time | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 40–50 working days | $11,775 |
What you receive at handover
- A portal with up to six screens: login, dashboard, documents, requests, messages and account
- Client and staff roles, with each client seeing only their own records
- Secure file upload and download, plus email alerts for new files, status changes and replies
- An admin screen for adding clients and staff, and one integration
- Deployment to your hosting with a staging copy, plus setup notes
- A written staff walkthrough and 30 days of post-launch support
Expected benefits and how to measure them
- Can cut the status-check emails your team answers
- Helps clients find their files without asking
- Keeps client data in accounts you control
- Status emails
- Count client emails asking for updates each month, before and after launch.
- Portal logins
- Track how many clients log in each month from the admin screen or the database.
- Requests handled
- Count requests submitted and closed in the portal each month.
Before you start: Count status-check emails and file requests over a typical month. Note how long staff spend finding and sending files today.
These are things to track, not promised results. Outcomes depend on your data, your team and your market.
Running costs
The build is a one-time payment, with no per-seat portal fee. Typical running costs are ~$25–100/month for hosting, database, storage and email sending on entry plans, billed by each provider. Large file volumes can need a bigger storage plan, billed to you directly. All accounts stay in your name.
Ask about running costsCustom requirements
Add a note at checkout if you need something specific. If it fits within the Scope Card it is simply included. If it goes beyond it, you get a written Change Quote within two working days, and that work starts only once you accept it, with its time added to your delivery date.
Request a custom versionKeep it running
A portal holds client files, so it should be watched after launch. Optional Upmark maintenance after the support period covers monitoring, fixes, a monthly health report and change hours for small changes, such as a new request type. Bigger features are quoted through a Change Quote. You can stop maintenance any month.
$400/mo (3.5% of the build price a month, includes 4 change hours)
Optional. Starts after the post-launch support period. Cancel any month.
How maintenance worksHow this compares
| Do it yourself | Hire a traditional agency | Upmark Labs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fees | A monthly fee for every staff seat or client | A build quote plus a support retainer | One fixed build price and no per-seat fees |
| Branding | The vendor's look with your logo added | Custom, at a custom price | Your logo and brand colors throughout |
| Data | Stored on the vendor's platform | Often hosted by the agency | Kept in hosting, database and storage accounts you own |
| Privacy between clients | Set by the vendor's permission settings | Tested to the agency's own standard | Access-control tests so each client sees only their own records |
| Connections | The integrations the vendor chooses to offer | Quoted per integration | One integration, such as your CRM, invoicing tool or Google Drive |
Questions about this product
How is a custom client portal different from a portal subscription tool?
A custom portal is owned, while a subscription tool is rented. Portal tools charge monthly, often per seat, and keep your data on their platform. This build runs in your own hosting, database and storage accounts, in your brand, with no per-seat fee. You pay the providers' entry plans directly instead of a portal subscription.
Can each client only see their own documents in the portal?
Yes. The portal has two roles, client and staff, and each client sees only their own records. Before launch we run access-control tests that sign in as different clients and check that nothing crosses over. Staff work from their own side, and the admin screen controls who has access.
Which tools can the client portal connect to?
One tool, chosen in the scoping questionnaire. Common choices are your CRM, your invoicing tool or Google Drive, for example HubSpot, Xero or QuickBooks. We need access to that tool by invite or a key you control. A second integration is quoted through a Change Quote before any work on it starts.
Can clients pay invoices or sign documents inside the portal?
No. Payments, subscriptions and e-signatures are outside the Client Portal Build. Clients can view and download documents, and send requests and messages to your team. If people must pay inside the product, see Web App MVP Build. For paid member tiers on WordPress, see Membership Website, which handles recurring payments.
Is the messages screen in the client portal a live chat?
No. The messages screen holds written messages between a client and your staff, with an email alert when someone replies. Chat apps, video calls and instant messaging built into the portal are outside this build. Written threads keep every exchange in one place, next to that client's files and requests.
Who owns the client portal and the files stored in it?
You do. Hosting, the database and file storage sit in accounts in your name, and so do the code and setup notes. Client files are kept in your storage, not ours. If you serve clients in the UK, the EU or elsewhere, your lawyer confirms the privacy rules for the data you hold.
Can you move our existing client files into the new portal?
Not in this build. Moving old files from another system is outside the scope, so the portal starts clean. Staff can upload current files from the staff side after launch. If you need a bulk move from another tool, describe it in a custom requirements note at checkout and we send a written Change Quote first.
When should a client portal project start with a Discovery Sprint?
When it needs more than six screens, more than one integration, or features you cannot yet describe. A Discovery Sprint gathers requirements through two written questionnaires, wireframes up to 10 key screens and ends with a fixed quote and timeline. If your list fits the six standard screens, order the Client Portal Build directly.
Guides on this topic
All guides Give clients one place to check in
Order the Client Portal Build and give every client a branded login for their files, status and requests, with no per-seat fees to pay.
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