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Cylas Tee

Custom WordPress Plugins & Features

The Feature Your WordPress Site Needs, Built As A Proper Plugin

Sooner or later every WordPress site hits the question: “can it do this?” A quote calculator for your service. A members-only area for your course. Booking rules the booking plugin cannot express. A directory of projects, properties or practitioners with its own fields and filters. The answer is nearly always yes, and the only real question is how it gets built. We build it as a proper plugin, in its own folder, that works alongside your theme and Elementor instead of inside them, so it keeps working through every update and any developer can find it later.

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  • More Than A DecadeIn The Digital Space
  • 9Countries Served
  • 12hUsual Reply Time
  • 100%Code Ownership

The Unfair Advantage

Stop Bending Your Business To Fit A Plugin Directory

Can your site survive on off-the-shelf plugins alone? Yes, and most should. But the moment you need something the directory does not quite do, you are choosing between a workaround and a proper feature.

There are tens of thousands of WordPress plugins, and for the common jobs they are the right call. We install them happily. The trouble starts with the uncommon job: the calculator that uses your pricing rules, the member area with your access tiers, the booking flow with your deposit logic. Most owners end up stacking three plugins and a page builder trick to get close, then paying for all three forever and fixing the stack every time one of them updates.

A custom plugin does the one thing you need, exactly your way, in one place. And because it is built as a plugin rather than pasted into the theme, it survives updates, moves with you if you change themes, and can be read by any WordPress developer you hire later. If you are one of the owners stuck in the workaround, we can help you get out of it. If a plugin in the directory already does it well, we will tell you which one.

Build My Plugin

Advantage #1

Get The Feature No Plugin In The Directory Quite Does

Off-the-shelf plugins are built for the average site. You are not the average site. So you end up with a calculator that cannot handle your pricing tiers, a membership plugin that charges for features you will never use, and a booking tool that does not know your deposit rules.

A custom plugin is the opposite. It does your one thing, in your words, with your rules, and nothing else. A quote calculator that mirrors how you actually price. A member area that unlocks exactly what your course or community needs. Booking logic that follows your real-world policies. A custom post type, which is simply WordPress’s way of storing a new kind of thing, like properties, practitioners or case studies, with the fields and filters that belong to it.

It is not a bigger version of your site. It is a smaller, sharper piece that does the job the directory could not, and that your editors use like any other part of WordPress.

Advantage #2

Why A Plugin Beats Editing The Theme

Here is the shortcut a lot of developers take: paste the custom code into the theme’s functions file, or into a code-snippet box in the page builder. It works, today. Then the theme updates and the code is gone. Or the site is redesigned, the theme changes, and nobody remembers that the booking logic lived inside it. We have been handed more than one site where the “feature” disappeared with an update and nobody knew why.

A plugin lives in its own folder, separate from the theme and from Elementor. WordPress, the theme and your other plugins can all update around it and it keeps working. Change the theme next year and the feature comes with you. Hire another developer and they will find it in the plugins list, with a name, a description and readable code, instead of a mystery buried in a template.

Did you know? That separation is how WordPress was designed to be extended in the first place. Theme hacks are not a cheaper way of doing the same thing. They are a loan you pay back with interest at the next update.

Advantage #3

Your Editors Keep Editing In Elementor

A feature is only useful if the people running the site can actually use it without calling a developer. So when it needs a place on the page, we build it as an Elementor widget or a Gutenberg block, which means it appears in the same editor your team already uses, with its own settings panel, and they drag it onto a page like any other element.

Behind the scenes it is still a proper plugin. The logic, the data and the settings live in one place, and the widget is just the handle your editors hold. Change the pricing rules in the plugin settings, and every calculator on every page updates. No shortcodes to memorise and no custom template to protect.

If you are building a whole site from a design rather than adding a feature to one, that is our Elementor Development service. This page is for the piece Elementor cannot do by itself.

Who It's For

When A Custom Plugin Makes Sense

Most sites never need one. These are the situations where it is the right call, and where a stack of workarounds is costing you more than a proper build would.

  • Service Businesses That Quote By Rules

    Your price depends on size, options, distance or tiers, and prospects want a number before they call. A calculator built on your actual pricing gives it to them and sends you the lead.

  • Coaches & Creators With Members-Only Content

    Courses, resources or a community behind a login, with tiers that match how you sell. A member area built for your structure instead of a membership plugin you fight with.

  • Businesses With Booking Rules Of Their Own

    Deposits, buffers, staff rosters, seasonal pricing, group limits. When the booking plugin cannot express your policy, custom logic can.

  • Sites With Their Own Kind Of Content

    Properties, practitioners, projects, products with unusual fields. A custom post type with filters, templates and an Elementor widget makes them first-class content your editors can manage.

What's Included

What Every Plugin Build Includes

Whether it is a calculator, a member area or a new content type, these six pieces are part of the work every time.

  • Scope & Plain-English Spec

    What the feature does, what it must never do, and whether a directory plugin already does it well. Approved by you before any code.

  • A Proper Plugin

    Its own folder, a name, a version number and readable PHP following WordPress conventions. Separate from the theme and from Elementor.

  • Elementor Widget Or Gutenberg Block

    Where the feature needs a place on the page, a widget with its own settings panel that your editors drag in like any other element.

  • Settings Your Team Can Change

    An admin page for the rules, prices, tiers or options the feature depends on, so the everyday changes never need a developer.

  • Staging Build & Update Testing

    Built and tested on a staging copy against the current WordPress, theme and plugin versions, then moved to live with a backup taken first.

  • Documentation & Handover

    A short guide for your editors, notes for your next developer and a recorded walkthrough. The plugin is yours.

Our Plugin Build Process

From “Can The Site Do This?” To “It Already Does”

Fully remote and time zone friendly. A short call to pin the feature down, a spec to approve, a build on staging you can try, then it goes live. Most single features are typically live within 1–4 weeks.

  1. 01

    Pin The Feature Down

    We start with a call in your time zone and a look at your site, your theme and the plugins already running. Then we ask the awkward questions: what exactly should it do, who uses it, what happens at the edges, and what must it never do. We also check the plugin directory honestly, because if something well-maintained already does ninety percent of the job for a few dollars a month, you should use it and we will say so. If not, you get a plain-English spec and a fixed quote before anything is built.

  2. 02

    Spec And Mock Up

    Before any code, you see what the feature will look like and how it will behave: the calculator’s fields and the rules behind them, the member area’s tiers and what each one unlocks, the booking flow step by step. For anything with a place on the page, a quick mock-up of the widget inside Elementor so your editors know what they are getting. You adjust until it matches how your business actually works. Changing a spec takes minutes. Changing a plugin your customers are already using takes a lot longer.

  3. 03

    Build On Staging

    We build the plugin on a staging copy of your site, against the real theme and the real plugins, so nothing is a surprise on launch day. You get a link to try the feature yourself, with real-shaped data and the awkward cases on purpose: the empty field, the expired membership, the double booking. Feedback comes in writing when it suits you, and we adjust until you would trust it in front of a customer. Honestly, this is the simplest step. The thinking already happened.

  4. 04

    Launch And Hand Over

    With a fresh backup taken, the plugin moves to your live site, usually in a quiet window, and we check it on real pages and real devices. You get a short guide for your editors, notes for your next developer and a recorded walkthrough, and the plugin is yours. Then you decide: look after the site yourself, or put it on one of our Hosting & Maintenance Plans and we keep WordPress, the theme, the plugins and your new feature updated and backed up together.

Custom WordPress Plugins & Features Pricing

Pinned Down First, Then One Fixed Quote

Every plugin is custom, because the whole point is that the directory did not have it. So we pin the feature down first and give you one fixed quote before any work starts.

If you’re looking for a “cheap” fix pasted into the theme, we’re probably not the best fit, and honestly, neither is anyone who offers it. What we quote is a proper plugin: scoped, built on staging, tested against your real theme and plugins, documented, and yours. Small features are small quotes.

A quote calculator with a handful of rules is a very different job from a member area with payments, and the spec at the start tells you which you have. The way in is a short call or the free website audit. Tell us what you wish your site could do, and you will have a fixed price in writing before anything starts.

Custom Quote

One bespoke feature for your WordPress or Elementor site, built as a proper, update-safe plugin, scoped around how your business actually works.

Custom Quote

  • Scope, spec & directory check
  • Proper plugin, not a theme hack
  • Elementor widget or Gutenberg block
  • Admin settings page
  • Staging build & update testing
  • Documentation & recorded walkthrough
Request My Custom Quote

We scope first, then quote one fixed price before work starts. Any third-party services the feature depends on, such as Stripe or a licensed plugin, are paid directly by you. Builds: 50% deposit, 50% on launch. Ongoing updates are covered by our Hosting & Maintenance Plans if you want them.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Straight answers to the questions we hear most. If yours is not here, just ask.

What Is The Difference Between A Plugin And Editing The Theme?
A theme controls how your site looks. A plugin adds what it can do. Code pasted into the theme’s files lives inside something that gets updated and replaced, so it disappears with the next theme update or redesign. A plugin lives in its own folder, shows up in your plugins list with a name and a version, and keeps working while WordPress, the theme and Elementor update around it. Same feature, very different lifespan.
Will It Break When WordPress Or Elementor Updates?
It is built not to. The plugin uses the official WordPress and Elementor APIs rather than tricks that depend on a particular version, and it is tested on staging against your current versions before it goes live. No software can promise that a future update never changes anything, which is exactly why the plugin is readable and documented, and why our Hosting & Maintenance Plans test updates on staging first.
Can It Work With Elementor?
Yes, and usually it should. When the feature needs a place on the page we build it as an Elementor widget with its own settings panel, so your editors drag it in like any other element. For sites using the block editor, the same feature ships as a Gutenberg block. Either way the logic lives in the plugin, so changing a rule in one place updates every page that uses it. For building a whole site from a design, see Elementor Development.
Is There Not Already A Plugin For That?
Often there is, and if a well-maintained one does the job, we will tell you to use it. We check the directory honestly on the first call. Custom work makes sense when the closest plugin does eighty percent and the missing twenty is the part your business is built on, when you are paying for three plugins to approximate one feature, or when a plugin has become the thing you fight with every week.
What Kinds Of Features Can You Build?
Quote and pricing calculators, members-only areas and course access, booking and reservation logic, custom post types with their own fields, filters and templates, directories, front-end forms and dashboards, Elementor widgets and Gutenberg blocks, and connections from WordPress to the other tools you use. If it runs on WordPress and you can describe it, it can almost certainly be built as a plugin. For connecting WordPress to outside systems, see API & integrations.
Who Owns The Plugin?
You do. Once the project is paid the code is yours, it sits in your plugins list on your hosting, and any WordPress developer can read it. If you want, just send us “We are taking it in-house”, and you already have everything you need.
How Long Does A Custom Plugin Take?
A single feature such as a calculator or a custom post type is typically live within 1–2 weeks. A member area or booking logic with payments typically takes 2–4 weeks, including testing on staging. The spec at the start tells you which you have before you commit.
Can You Fix Or Extend A Plugin Someone Else Built?
Usually, yes. We will look at the existing code and tell you honestly whether it is worth extending or whether it is cheaper to rebuild it properly, and quote either. If the “plugin” turns out to be code pasted into the theme, the first job is usually moving it into a real plugin so it stops disappearing with updates.

Our Guarantees

Promises We Put In Writing

We would rather work for free than see an unhappy client. These are the guarantees every project comes with.

Fixed Quote Before Work Starts

Software projects have a reputation for running over budget, and honestly, most of that reputation is earned. So we do it differently. After discovery you get a fixed scope and a fixed price, in writing, before any work starts. If you ask for something outside that scope later, we tell you what it costs before we build it, not after. No surprises, no hidden extras, and no invoice you did not see coming.

You Own The Code And The Accounts

Everything is built inside accounts in your name: your WordPress admin, your hosting account and the plugin itself, sitting in your plugins list under your name. Nothing runs through a login you cannot see, and once the project is paid the source code and the intellectual property are yours. If you want, just send us “We are taking it in-house”, we won’t take it personally, and you will already have everything you need. We would rather you understand your own systems than be stuck with us.

Our Time Is Limited

As every build here takes up a significant amount of time and attention, and Cylas Tee or someone from his team reads and tests the code before it goes near your customers, we only take on a handful of new projects each month. That is how each of our clients gets the attention they deserve. If you are remotely interested in getting your plugin built this year, we strongly suggest you contact us today to reserve a slot.
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Compare

Proper Plugin vs Theme Hack

FeatureCustom PluginCode Pasted Into The Theme
Survives Theme Updates-
Moves With You To A New Theme-
Visible In The Plugins List-
Has Its Own Settings PageRarely
Next Developer Can Find ItIn minutesWith luck
Cost To BuildA little more up frontCheaper today, expensive later

Got A Question?

Ready To Build The Feature Your Site Is Missing?

Tell us what you wish your WordPress site could do. You will get a straight answer on whether a directory plugin already does it, and if not, a plain-English spec and a fixed quote. Every message is read and answered by Cylas Tee himself or someone from his team.

Build My Plugin

Usually replies within 12 hours · Fixed quote before starting