Dunedin · Otago Peninsula · Otago
Websites & custom software for Dunedin businesses.
Direct-booking systems for tour operators, patient portals for clinics around the new hospital, custom web apps for Dunedin's software firms. Hand-coded by one senior engineer — clear scope, and code you own.
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NZ-based · NZD · GST-registered · you own the code
In depth
Web development in Dunedin, built for a health-sciences, tourism and software city
A Dunedin web developer’s real job isn’t a smarter-looking brochure — it’s the software underneath: direct-booking flows for the peninsula’s wildlife operators, patient portals and compliant forms for clinics near the new hospital, and the API and integration work Dunedin’s Warehouse Precinct software firms need shipped to spec. Tally Digital builds exactly that for Otago’s lead sectors — hand-coded by a senior engineer, and yours to own.
What a Dunedin web developer actually builds
Concretely: a direct-booking system for a peninsula operator like Penguin Place or Monarch Wildlife Cruises — availability calendar, payments, multilingual SEO — so the visitor books with you, not Viator. A patient portal and compliant intake forms for a clinic near the New Dunedin Hospital. A Shopify store with subscriptions and a wholesale portal for an Ocho or Emerson’s-style producer, wired to inventory and Xero. Or an extra senior pair of hands for a Warehouse Precinct software firm — overflow engineering, an internal tool, an API or AI feature shipped to spec.
Why so much Dunedin tourism revenue leaks to the OTAs
Because operators like Larnach Castle, the Royal Albatross Centre and Dunedin Railways sell through Viator, GetYourGuide and Bookeasy, they hand 20-30% commission on every booking and never see the customer’s data — no email, no way to bring them back. A direct-booking flow on your own site changes the economics: real-time availability, calendar sync, secure payments and multilingual SEO so an international visitor books with you first. You keep the margin, you keep the customer record, and the OTA becomes one channel among several rather than the only one.
The health-sciences precinct needs software, not a theme
The $2.1b New Dunedin Hospital, ADInstruments and a run of university spinouts and specialist practices around the precinct all handle patient data — which brings real privacy and safety rules a WordPress theme can’t meet. What they actually need is patient portals, secure and compliant intake forms, HL7 or API integrations into existing clinical systems, and AI intake or triage tooling that keeps data where it belongs. That’s software engineering with health-grade care around it, not a plugin bolted onto a template, and it’s a large part of what I build here.
Custom-built vs a template — when each makes sense
Be honest about which you need. If you want a straightforward brochure site — a few pages about a trades business or a law practice — a template is fine, and I’ll tell you so rather than sell you more. The moment there’s real logic, though, a page-builder stalls: a booking engine with live availability, a patient portal, a wholesale ordering flow, a Xero or inventory integration. That’s where custom code on a modern stack you own pays off. In practice a lot of Dunedin projects are a mix — a fast marketing site with one custom system behind it.
Who you actually work with
Not an account manager and an offshore team — Isaac Vicliph, a senior software engineer with a decade shipping software in financial services, writing the code himself. Clear scope and a fixed price before anything starts, direct contact throughout, and full ownership of the code at the end. NZ-based, priced in NZD, GST-registered.
Timelines and what it costs
It depends on scope, and you’ll know the number before work starts — a fixed price against a clear plan, not open-ended hourly billing. A tight marketing site is usually a matter of weeks; a booking platform, a clinic patient portal or a Xero integration takes longer because there’s real logic to build and test. We scope the actual problem first, agree the price, then build — so there are no surprises on the invoice and you’re never paying for features you don’t need. Everything is quoted in NZD, GST included.
Reviewed July 2026 · written by Isaac Vicliph, Tally Digital
Who it’s for
Built for the businesses that run Dunedin.
Tourism, wildlife & heritage attractions
Larnach Castle, the Royal Albatross Centre, Penguin Place, Monarch Wildlife Cruises and Dunedin Railways all hand 20-30% to Viator or GetYourGuide on every sale. We build your own booking system — availability calendars, payments and multilingual SEO — so the visitor books with you and stays your customer.
Health, life-sciences & private clinics
The $2.1b New Dunedin Hospital and Otago's research base — ADInstruments, university spinouts, allied-health and specialist practices near the precinct — need patient portals, secure compliant forms, HL7/API integrations and AI intake tooling. That work has real privacy and safety rules, and a theme won't get it right.
Software, SaaS & game studios
Dunedin's Warehouse Precinct cluster — PocketSmith, Education Perfect, Scott Technology, CODE and studios from the Petridish ecosystem — hits stretches where it needs an extra senior pair of hands: overflow engineering, internal tools, a marketing-site rebuild, or an API or AI feature shipped to spec.
Food, beverage & craft exporters
Post-Cadbury, Dunedin makes premium food and drink — Ocho craft chocolate, Emerson's Brewing, the 150-year Harraways mill and Otago wineries — sold direct and exported. We build the Shopify stores, subscriptions, wholesale portals and ERP/inventory links most producers are still doing by hand.
Brewery & attraction experiences
Ticketed venues like the Speight's Brewery tour and Emerson's mix hospitality, retail and events, but run each on a separate tool. We put timed-entry booking, EFTPOS and merchandise e-commerce on one system, with the calendar, payments and email that come with it.
Property, trades & professional services
Otago construction firms growing on the hospital pipeline, plus local accounting, law and property-management practices, run dated sites with no online booking, quoting or CRM. We build fast sites that fit how the business runs, wire up Xero and job-management, and add AI where it earns its place.
What we solve
The problems that cost you the most are the ones a template can’t reach.
Template sites that never move
Most Dunedin SMEs sit on dated WordPress, Wix or Rocketspark builds — slow, not mobile-first and rarely touched. We replace them with fast sites you can actually update, written for how your business works rather than dropped onto a theme.
Bookings bleeding to the OTAs
Peninsula tour and attraction operators run on Viator, GetYourGuide and Bookeasy, giving up 20-30% commission and never seeing their customer data. We build your own booking flow — availability, payments and calendar sync — so the margin and the customer stay with you.
Nothing talks to anything
Bookings, payments, Xero, CRM and email each run on their own, with someone re-typing between them, and food producers sit on basic stores with no subscription, wholesale portal or inventory link. We connect the systems so the data moves once and moves itself.
No AI, no secure clinic tooling
Almost no one here uses AI — no intake or triage assistants, no content or internal tooling — and health and allied clinics still lack secure booking, patient portals and compliant forms. We build AI that keeps your data safe and the patient-facing software those clinics actually need.
The difference
You talk to the person who writes the code.
Plenty of shops will build you a page and move on. Fewer can build the software behind it — the booking flow, the integration, the internal tool a growing Dunedin business runs on.
Tally Digital is Isaac Vicliph — a senior software engineer with a decade shipping software in financial services. Every project is hand-coded on a modern stack, every integration is real, and the code is yours to keep. No junior hand-off, no page-builder lock-in, no “who supports this now?”.
- Custom software, not templates
- Real API & booking integrations
- Modern stack — Next.js, Sanity, Supabase, Shopify
- You own the code and the accounts
What we build
Websites that do a job — plus the software behind them.
Proof
Real software, shipped for New Zealand businesses.
Inventory platforms, member portals and custom builds for NZ clients — the same senior engineering that goes into every Dunedin project.
How it works
A clear path from brief to launch.
Brief
We map the real problem and how your systems work today — not just a page count.
Architect
A plan you can read: what gets built, which integrations, what you own at the end.
Build
Hand-coded on a modern stack (Next.js, Sanity, Supabase, Shopify) — no page-builder debt.
Launch & support
Shipped, documented and handed over. You talk to the person who wrote the code.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
- Do you work with Dunedin and wider Otago businesses?
- Yes. Tally Digital is a New Zealand software studio and works with Dunedin and Otago businesses remotely and on-site as needed — from the Warehouse Precinct to the peninsula. Wherever you are, it's the same deal: clear scope, you talk straight to the engineer building it, and you own the code.
- Can you build a direct-booking system so I stop paying Viator commission?
- Yes — it's a lot of what I do for Otago tourism and attraction operators. I build your own booking flow with real-time availability, calendar sync, secure payments and multilingual SEO, so international visitors book direct. You keep the 20-30% an OTA would take and you keep the customer data.
- Can you integrate my website with Xero and the tools I already run?
- Yes. API and system integration is the core of what I do — connecting your site to Xero, booking platforms, CRM, inventory or ERP so bookings, invoices and customer data move automatically instead of being re-typed by hand. This is the plumbing behind the site, and it's exactly the part most web shops skip.
- What's the difference between you and a Dunedin web-design agency?
- Most local shops are designers or marketers who assemble Webflow, WordPress or Rocketspark themes. I'm an engineer who writes custom software: web apps, integrations, booking systems and AI. If a simple brochure site is all you need, one of those shops will do it. If you need the working systems underneath, that's my end.
- What’s the difference between a web developer and a web designer?
- A web designer handles how a site looks — layout, colours, typography, the visual feel. A web developer builds how it works — the code, logic and integrations underneath. Plenty of Dunedin projects need both, but the hard part is usually the build: a peninsula operator’s direct-booking engine, or a compliant patient portal for a clinic near the New Dunedin Hospital, is a developer’s job — not something you can style your way to.
- Can you build a Shopify store with wholesale and subscription ordering for a food or drink producer?
- Yes. It’s common work for Dunedin’s post-Cadbury food and drink makers — an Ocho, an Emerson’s or a Harraways-style producer selling direct and exporting. I build the storefront, then the parts most producers still do by hand: repeat-order subscriptions, a password-protected wholesale portal with trade pricing, and a link into inventory or ERP so stock and orders stay in sync instead of living in a spreadsheet.
- How much does a custom website or app cost in Dunedin?
- It comes down to scope — a marketing site is a different job from a booking platform or a clinic patient portal. Once we've scoped the actual problem, you get a fixed price against a clear plan. No open-ended hourly billing, and no paying for features you don't need.
Explore
What we build for Dunedin businesses
Tell me what your business has outgrown.
Tell me the Dunedin or Otago bottleneck — bookings leaking to Viator, systems that don't talk, the clinic portal you're missing. Send it and I'll come back with a clear plan and a fixed price.