A new client came to me with something most clients don't have: a clear plan. His church, Church of Crown, meets online on Sundays and recently became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Using Perplexity, he had written a detailed specification, roughly 20 pages, describing exactly how the platform should be set up and run.
The process
- Read the spec and confirm it described what the church actually needed.
- Use ChatGPT to write a focused build prompt to accompany the spec.
- Give both to Lovable, an AI app builder, and let it build.
- Hand the working version to the client to test with real use.
The first complete version took about 30 minutes to generate and used around 100 credits, roughly $50 worth. I had originally quoted $5,000 for the project, based on how long this kind of work used to take. That's about 1/100 of the traditional cost: the same order of magnitude AI builders keep describing when they compare old timelines to new ones.
What made it work
The speed came from the clarity, not magic. A well-thought-out spec is the most valuable thing a client can bring. AI builders are very good at turning a precise description into working software. They're much weaker at guessing what you meant. My job shifted from writing every line of code to making sure the plan was right, guiding the build, testing it, and supporting the client afterward.
Pricing when the work gets faster
When a build takes 30 minutes instead of weeks, what's fair? We settled on a mix of barter and a modest monthly support plan for updates, hosting and fixes. Ongoing support is where most of the long-term value is anyway: a website only helps a community if someone keeps it current.
Reusable infrastructure
There's a bonus. The project now gives us a complete church and community platform (gatherings, members, giving, communication) that can be adapted for other churches and nonprofits much faster than starting from scratch.
You can see the result at Church of Crown. If you have a plan for your organization, or just an idea you want to turn into one, book an AI & app building session or see what I've built for others.
