Leads wait too long for a reply
An inquiry arrives outside working hours, or lands in an inbox nobody owns, and the first response happens whenever someone notices.
Software and automation studio
Build the systems your business needs to capture opportunities and operate reliably.
DevLab Studios designs and connects conversion websites, backend services, structured data, CRM workflows, and AI automation into maintainable business systems.
01 / Capture
Intake and follow-up that never drops an inquiry
02 / Operate
Automation with visible failures and real owners
03 / Build
Interfaces, APIs, and data that outlive the first release
Visitor / LeadIntent captured
Web InterfaceReact + Astro
API ServiceJava + Laravel
Structured DataSQL + D1
AI DecisionQualify + route
Automationn8n + Make
Human HandoffCRM + response
Overview
The problems these systems are built to remove
These are the failure modes that cost a business opportunities quietly, without anything obviously breaking.
Operational problems DevLab Studios addresses
Follow-up depends on someone remembering
There is no record of what stage a conversation reached, so the next step happens only if the right person recalls it.
Customer data is spread across disconnected tools
The same contact exists in an inbox, a spreadsheet, a form provider, and a CRM, and none of them agree.
The same details get typed in more than once
Information already captured at intake is re-entered by hand further down the process.
Nobody owns the step between two tools
Work reaches the boundary between two systems and stops there, because the handoff was never assigned to anyone.
Automations fail without telling anyone
A workflow stops running and the first sign of it is a customer asking why they never heard back.
A website captures inquiries with no operational handoff
The form works, the email sends, and after that the inquiry has no status, no owner, and no record.
Overview
Four ways that gets solved
Each one is a complete system — the interface, the logic, the data, the integrations, and the handoff to a person.
Solution categories
Capture and follow up
Lead Intake and Follow-up Systems
For businesses that need to capture, qualify, route, follow up with, and track opportunities without any step depending on a person remembering it.
Every inquiry is captured, recorded, routed to an owner, and visible until someone has acted on it.
What this includesRepeat work
Workflow and AI Automation
For repeated processes that move between inboxes, spreadsheets, CRMs, task systems, content, and customer communication.
The process runs on a schedule or a trigger, exceptions surface, and a person approves what should need approval.
What this includesBeyond an automation
Custom Software and Operations Systems
For businesses that need a real interface, a real data model, and services that other systems can talk to.
A maintainable system with its own data, its own interface, and documented integration points.
What this includesStart here
Workflow Systems Audit
A structured review of one workflow end to end, ending in a recommended architecture and a prioritized roadmap — whether or not the build happens here.
A written recommendation you can act on, in priority order.
What this includesOverview
Systems already running
Each write-up describes the problem, the system designed for it, and what the system verifiably does — not what it is claimed to have earned.
Featured work
Automation system
Memory Preview — Human-Governed AI Knowledge System
AI conversations contain valuable project decisions, requirements, and lessons, but that context is often lost between sessions or stored without clear ownership, provenance, or review. The challenge was to create durable project memory without allowing an AI agent to write directly into trusted knowledge. The system also needed to prevent cross-project leakage, detect duplicates and conflicts, preserve source evidence, and require explicit human approval before any proposed knowledge became permanent.
ChatGPTMCPGitHubAI Agents
Read the system write-upAutomation system
Automated Real Estate Lead Qualification & Outbound Calling System
Raw property leads needed consistent validation, qualification, calling, and follow-up without losing context between tools.
Retell AIClaude/OpenAIGoogle SheetsGoogle Docs
Read the system write-upAutomation system
Real Estate Wholesaling Buyer Intelligence
Buyer research required several location, property, skip-trace, and ranking steps that were difficult to repeat consistently by hand.
n8nGoogle Geocoding APIBatchDataSkip Sherpa
Read the system write-upBuilt by DevLab
Devlab Pickleball
A free web app this studio builds and runs: host open play or a casual tournament for your group from one phone.
- Fair rotation on up to 16 courts: paddle stack, winners play winners, by standing or balanced teams.
- Players follow every court by QR, and a TV board shows the hall. Nobody needs an account.
- Tournaments too: round robin, pools then a bracket, or single or double elimination.
Overview
How delivery works
Four phases: understand the workflow, agree the system, build it in stages, and hand it over so the team can run it.
Delivery approach
Phase 01
Map the workflow
Walk the current process end to end: where it stalls, where ownership is unclear, what the data actually does, and which integrations already exist.
- Current workflow review
- Bottleneck and handoff mapping
- Priority opportunities
Phase 02
Agree the system
A written recommendation: the system structure, the tools, the delivery phases, and what will be true once it works — before any build starts.
- Recommended architecture
- Scope and delivery phases
- Defined success criteria
Phase 03
Build in phases
Implementation in controlled phases across interface, integration, data, and automation, with each layer tested before the next depends on it.
- Phased implementation
- Connected integrations and data flow
- Validation for reliability
Phase 04
Hand it over
Deployment, a walkthrough, documentation, and the failure paths written down — so the system can be operated by the team, not only by whoever built it.
- Launch-ready delivery
- Documentation and walkthrough
- Known failure paths and owners
What "reliable" has to mean before a system ships
These are not aspirations. They are the rules this studio builds to — including on this website, whose own inquiry pipeline works exactly this way.
Every layer has a purpose, and every handoff stays visible.
Persist before you deliver
A submission is written to the database before any email, CRM, or webhook call is attempted, so an outage leaves it undelivered rather than lost.
Failures are visible, not silent
Every delivery attempt is recorded with its outcome and whether retrying it can help, so a broken integration surfaces to an operator instead of to a customer.
Deterministic rules own routing
AI summarizes and drafts; sequence, permissions, and delivery are decided by rules that can be read, tested, and explained.
Every workflow ends at a person
Anything ambiguous or high-impact routes to a human reviewer rather than being auto-resolved.
Free resource
The Lead Intake and Follow-up Systems Checklist
The checks we run on a lead intake and follow-up system before calling it reliable: capture, qualification, routing, delivery confirmation, failure visibility, and human handoff.
Latest insight
Where AI automation fits in small business workflows
Most small businesses do not need AI everywhere. They need it in the four or five places where the same information gets rewritten by hand. Here is how to find them.
Read the articleWho builds it
One engineer accountable for the whole system
Stephen Rey Agustinez designs and builds the technical systems delivered through DevLab Studios — from customer-facing interfaces and backend services to APIs, databases, AI workflows, and operational automation. Nothing is handed to a subcontractor who was not in the original conversation.
- Full-stack development across React, Astro, Java, Spring Boot, and Laravel
- Backend services, REST APIs, webhooks, and SQL-backed data models
- AI automation architecture with n8n, Make, and Zapier
- Integration, deployment, and documented handoff
Overview
Questions people ask first
Frequently asked questions
Do you only build automations?
No. Automation is one layer. The same engagements regularly include a conversion website, backend services, an API, a data model, dashboards, or an internal tool — whichever the workflow actually needs.
Can you work with the tools we already use?
Yes. Systems are built around the CRM, forms, spreadsheets, inbox, and task tools already in place, using n8n, Make, Zapier, or direct API integration depending on what stays maintainable.
What happens if an integration goes down?
Submissions are stored before any external delivery is attempted, every delivery attempt is recorded, and failed attempts stay visible to an administrator who can retry them. An outage leaves work undelivered, not lost.
How does a project start?
With a workflow review. The goal is to understand the business problem, map the current process, and define the smallest reliable system that solves it before any build work begins.
Who does the work?
Stephen Rey Agustinez, the founder, designs and implements the systems delivered through DevLab Studios. The Founder Profile lists the full technical background.
Next step
Start with the workflow that loses the most time.
Describe what is slowing down, and you will get a straight answer about whether the right first move is a website, an automation, an integration, an internal tool, or a backend service.