Your FileMaker system runs the business. I keep it running — and moving.
Building in FileMaker since 1990. I take over systems when a developer retires, extend them with modern web front ends, and when it makes sense, move businesses off FileMaker in stages — without stopping operations.
You're probably here because one of these just happened
- Your FileMaker developer retired, or told you they're winding down.
- An OS, hosting, or Claris licensing change broke something and nobody knows the system well enough to fix it.
- The renewal quote went up again, and nothing about the product did.
- The business needs something FileMaker alone can't easily deliver — a customer portal, mobile field access, Stripe — and you're being told to replace everything.
You don't need to replace everything. You have six or seven figures of working business logic in that system. What it needs is someone to look after it.
Three ways I work
Stewardship
I take over responsibility for your FileMaker system — maintenance, fixes, hosting and OS transitions, small changes — on a monthly retainer. Your system stops being one person's memory and starts being documented. You get a developer who answers.
Extensions
Keep the FileMaker backend your business already trusts. Add a modern, fast web application on top of it: fleet management, customer portals, field data entry, purchasing, loss-and-damage tracking, payment processing. Your staff keeps the tool they know; your customers and field crews get something built this decade. Not sure it'll work for your system? I build a working prototype against your real FileMaker data before you commit to the full project.
Staged migration
When it makes sense to own your stack outright — your data, your logic, no per-seat renewals deciding your budget — I move the system in stages. The business keeps running on FileMaker while each piece proves itself on the new platform. No shutdown, no "we'll be down for a week." You stay on FileMaker if it serves the business, and you have a way out if that changes.
Why my advice reads differently
Most FileMaker consultancies work only in FileMaker. Their whole business depends on clients staying on the platform, so "stay" is the answer they can afford to give. That doesn't make them wrong — it just means the answer is the same regardless of your situation.
I work both in and out of FileMaker. When I tell you your system is fine and here's the five-year plan, it isn't the only answer I could have given. That's what makes it worth taking.
Start with a free triage call
Thirty minutes. You describe the situation; I tell you what I'd look at, what the realistic options are, and whether a full assessment is warranted. If the honest answer is "you don't need me yet," you'll hear that too.
When it goes deeper: the System Assessment — a fixed-price, one-week review of your solution ending in a written findings-and-roadmap document you own outright. Use it with me or with anyone else.
Thirty minutes, and you'll know exactly where you stand.
No deck. No follow-up sequence. Just a straight answer about where things are and what's realistic.
or call 760-889-9299
What clients say
René was able to take my business from running on scraps of paper to having a central and complete custom database that was exactly what I needed to move my business forward. My employees and I are thrilled with the outcome, and we are enjoying the huge time savings.
Gary K. · Owner, Presentations One
René and I have been working together with FileMaker for over ten years and I have always enjoyed the innovative approach and attention to detail that he includes in his work. I also appreciate his timely delivery and attentive style.
Robert D. · Managing Partner, P5 Marketing
René was able to quickly build a client portal for my FileMaker solution that met my exact specifications. Throughout the job, he continuously provided updates and checked with me to make sure we were on the right track.
John R. · Owner, Presentations One
Rene is incredibly knowledgeable about FileMaker and is wonderful about making suggestions that would make the project even more successful for me. I will use him again.
S. Nellson · Director and Executive Producer, NE♥PS
Recent work
Industrial manufacturing
80 years of index cards, now on iPads.
An industrial electric-motor shop had tracked every job on 4×5 cards since the 1940s. The card system worked because the discipline around it was absolute — but it couldn't hold measurement histories or photograph what a bearing looked like at disassembly. We built an iPad system that followed the card logic exactly, added the measurement and image data the cards couldn't carry, and gave the foreman a view of the whole floor for the first time. Six months after launch, capacity had tripled.
Read the full story
Legal services
Stabilizing a system nobody fully understood.
A legal staffing agency's developer of twenty years fell ill and left suddenly — no passwords, no documentation. The FileMaker core was solid, but a PHP portal on AWS had been bolted on by different hands, and data was moving between systems with nothing verifying it arrived. We simplified back to what was reliable, stabilized the emails, and started folding the PHP steps back into FileMaker. Before the rebuild finished the owner sold the business. Everything exported intact.
Read the full story
Why me
- Building and rescuing FileMaker systems since 1990 — vertical-market products, single-company CRMs, industrial and creative-industry operations.
- I also build outside FileMaker — Python/FastAPI web services, PostgreSQL, API integrations — which is exactly what "extend, don't replace" requires.
- Based in Oklahoma. Remote work anywhere FileMaker runs.
Straight answers
Is FileMaker dead?
Claris is still shipping releases, but the developer pool is smaller than it was five years ago and job postings have thinned out. That's not a reason to panic-replace a working system — it's a reason to have a plan and a developer who'll still be here in five years.
Longer answer here.
My developer retired and left no documentation. Can you take over cold?
Yes — that's the most common way engagements start. The assessment exists to turn an undocumented system into a documented one before anything gets changed.
More on how takeovers work here.
Can a web app really run on a FileMaker backend?
Yes. FileMaker's Data API (or OData, or a synced SQL layer where volume demands it) serves a modern web front end fine for SMB-scale workloads. Your data stays where it is; your staff keeps using FileMaker; the web app is an addition, not a replacement.
Walkthrough with a fleet-manager example.
What does this cost?
The triage call is free. The System Assessment is $2,500 fixed. Stewardship retainers start at $1,500/month. Extension and migration projects are quoted from the assessment roadmap, so you're never buying an open-ended estimate. If you engage me for a project within 60 days, the full assessment fee credits toward it.
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