Custom HRIS & Payroll System
Development Proposal
Proposal & Discovery Discussion Framework
Introduction
Welcome and thank you for taking the time to meet today! The goal of this discussion is to map out a clear blueprint for building a high-performance, custom HRIS & Payroll System.
Unlike off-the-shelf software with rigid subscription tiers or limited layout flexibility, our approach delivers a fully custom platform tailored to your company's operational structure, statutory tax rules, and workflows—with zero long-term developer platform lock-in.
Discovery Questions (Pre-Discussion Checklist)
Before diving into the technical architecture and budget models, let's align on three foundational parameters:
Preferred Timeline
Parameter 01What is your target launch window or deadline for Phase 1 (MVP) rollout?
Expected Project Budget
Parameter 02What budget range have you allocated for the overall design, development, and deployment of the payroll system?
Preferred Tools or Platform Ecosystem
Parameter 03Do you have existing cloud infrastructure, databases, or productivity software (e.g., Supabase, Google Workspace, AWS, Vercel) that you would like us to integrate with?
Why Choose Vibe Coding (AI-First Development)?
To build a custom HRIS that captures the sleek, modern aesthetic of Salarium while maintaining backend engine performance, we evaluated three development approaches:
| Criterion | Vibe Coding (AI-First) | Low-Code (Retool / Appsmith) | Traditional Custom Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salarium UI / UX Quality | Pixel-Perfect (Unlimited styling freedom using Next.js, Tailwind CSS, & Shadcn UI) | Rigid & Blocky (Standard administrative tables; cannot match Salarium visual polish) | Pixel-Perfect (Full manual design control) |
| Speed to Launch | Rapid (2 to 6 weeks for Phase 1 MVP) | Fast (2 to 5 weeks for basic workflows) | Slow (8 to 12+ weeks of manual labor) |
| Code & Data Ownership | 100% Full Ownership (Clean, custom repository code; zero lock-in) | Vendor Lock-in (Dependent on platform fees & user seat limits) | 100% Full Ownership (Custom repository code) |
| Recommendation Rank | #1 Recommended | #2 Second Choice | #3 Least Recommended |
Why Vibe Coding is the Top Recommendation:
Salarium-Level Aesthetic:
Low-code platforms like Retool force you into rigid, blocky UI containers. Vibe coding lets us build custom slide-over drawers, attendance timelines, and employee leave cards matching the polished Salarium user experience.
True Source Ownership:
Unlike SaaS or low-code options that charge per-user monthly fees forever, you retain 100% ownership of your source code and database.
Speed Without Sacrificing Quality:
It provides the rapid delivery of low-code combined with the enterprise capability of traditional custom software.
AI Tooling Benchmark for HRIS & Payroll Development
To build a reliable enterprise system, we analyzed the pricing models, monthly usable capacity, and credit mechanics of leading AI development platforms:
| Tool / Platform | Monthly Pricing | How Credits & Limits Work | Usable Monthly Capacity | Best Fit for HRIS & Payroll Build |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lovable Pro | $25 / mo (₱1,500) | Fixed Credit Burn: • 100 base credits/mo • 5 bonus daily build credits • 1 prompt = 1 credit burn | ~100 to 250 prompts / mo Depletes in 4–7 days of active multi-page development; requires paid top-ups. | Rapid UI Mockups Only: Excellent for non-technical wireframe previews. Poor for backend payroll logic and tax algorithms. |
| Antigravity Pro (Google AI Pro) | $19.99 / mo (₱1,100) | 5-Hour Rolling Refill: • Quota auto-resets every 5 hours • Unlimited passive tab autocomplete • 4x–5x token volume of Free tier | Thousands of iterations / mo Refills 4–5 times daily; zero credit-exhaustion anxiety during heavy coding. | Full-Stack IDE Pair Programmer: Works directly inside VS Code with Git, tests terminal scripts, and builds full-stack PostgreSQL + tax math with zero throwaway code. |
| Antigravity Ultra (5x to 20x Tiers) | ₱5,999 per month | Multi-Agent High Throughput: • 5x to 20x rate limit of Pro • 5-hour rolling refresh cycle • Deep Think reasoning models | Massive Continuous Volume Sustains multiple automated parallel subagents running continuously all day. | Agencies & Multi-Agent Swarms: Exceptional power, but unnecessary overhead for building a single company's custom HRIS MVP. |
| Claude Code PRO (Anthropic CLI Agent - Pro) | $22.40 / mo (₱1,400+) | Token Context Quota: • Shared pool with Claude.ai web • 5-hour rolling windows & weekly cap • Reads large repository context | Moderate on Pro (~40–80 deep tasks/wk) Consumes tokens quickly on full codebases; best for targeted terminal refactoring. | Terminal Power Developers: Superb architectural refactoring and algorithm design in CLI. Requires senior developer execution oversight. |
|
Claude Code MAX
Fable Agent Level
|
$100 / mo (₱5,900) (High-Capacity Max Tier) | 5x+ Frontier Agent Quota: • 5x higher prompt limits vs standard Pro • Extended multi-file autonomous reasoning • Full repository architecture reasoning | Massive Agentic Capacity Sustains complete autonomous refactoring of complex statutory tax formulas, payroll engines, and test suites with zero throttling. | ★ Top Pick for High-Quality Agentic Build: Industry-leading autonomous reasoning in terminal CLI. Solves intricate tax reconciliation algorithms and multi-file Next.js + PostgreSQL schema logic with unmatched agent precision. |
Realistic Infrastructure & Commercial Cost Model
Transparent commercial breakdown separating the 3-month development testing phase from ongoing post-launch production cloud infrastructure and backend automation maintenance:
| Component | Provider / Tool |
Dev Phase (Months 1–3)
|
Production (Post-Launch) | Annual Cost | Scope & Value Provided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developer IDE & Tooling | VS Code + Antigravity IDE | ₱0 Free | ₱0 Free | ₱0 | Industry-standard development environment, terminal automation, Git version control, and native AI pair programming with zero seat-license markups. |
| Engineering & Build Labor | In-House / Dedicated Team | ₱0 Free of Charge (3-Month Sweat Equity) |
Milestone-Based (Warranty / Retainer) |
₱0 during testing | 100% Risk-Free Guarantee: 3 full months of architectural design, payroll formula calculation testing, MVP deployment, and system verification without upfront labor fees. If unapproved or unsuccessful, client pays zero labor fee. |
| Custom Domain & DNS Security | Cloudflare Registrar | ₱0 (Staging subdomains) | ~₱700+ / yearly (.com) or ~₱1,450/yr for .ph | ~₱700+ / yearly | Wholesale at-cost domain pricing with zero markup fees, enterprise global edge DNS, automated SSL certificates, and enterprise DDoS protection. |
| Database & Cloud Storage (Supabase) | Supabase Self-Hosted on Cloud VPS KVM 2: (2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe, 8 TB bandwidth) | ₱0 Free (Free Tier) | ₱634.03 / month Renews at ₱1,867.68 / month | ₱7,608.38 (1st Year) Renews at ₱22,412.18 / yr | Dedicated PostgreSQL & Cloud Storage: Self-hosted Supabase instance running in Docker on high-performance KVM 2 VPS (2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe, 8 TB bandwidth). Includes dedicated PostgreSQL engine for employee 201 records, Row-Level Security (RLS), encrypted object storage for contracts & tax files, with automated daily backups. |
| Backend Automation & Task Engine | n8n Self-Hosted on Cloud VPS KVM 2: (2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe, 8 TB bandwidth) | ₱0 Free (Local/Staging Docker) | ₱634.03 / month Renews at ₱1,867.68 / month | ₱7,608.38 (1st Year) Renews at ₱22,412.18 / yr | Dedicated Asynchronous Backend Flow: High-performance KVM 2 VPS (2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe, 8 TB bandwidth) running n8n Community Edition in Docker. Handles CPU-heavy background tasks without slowing down the web app: automated PDF payslip generation and email distribution, scheduled payroll reminders (15th/30th cutoffs), biometric attendance sync cron jobs, and employee leave approval notifications. |
|
AI Tolls - Friendly Budget
|
Two - Agent
Level
Google Antigravity Pro + Claude
Code
(₱1,100/mo + ₱1,400/mo)
|
₱2,500 / month
₱7,500 Total (Months 1–3)
|
₱0 Free (Build phase completed) | ₱7,500 (Dev phase only) | Quality of Agent Level: Leverages dual frontier coding agents throughout the 3 months of Test, Build, and Deploy. Combines Google Antigravity Pro (5-hour quota resets, full-stack VS Code IDE file edits, PostgreSQL schema migrations) with Claude Code (deep terminal-level refactoring and statutory Philippine payroll formula verification). |
| Project Financial Summary | ₱2,500 / month ₱7,500 Total (DevPhase - 3 Months) | ~₱1,325 / month (Renews Year 2+ at ~₱3,795 / mo) | ~₱15,915 / yr (Year 1 incl. Dev AI: ~₱23,415) (Renews Year 2+ at ~₱45,525 / yr) | 100% Code & Data Ownership with self-hosted VPS cloud infrastructure and ZERO recurring per-employee monthly subscription markup fees. | |
Official Platform Pricing & Verification Proofs
Click through the verification slides or select any image to view in full resolution:
Additional Key Discussion Topics (Philippine Statutory & System Features)
To ensure full compliance and operational efficiency, the payroll system architecture accounts for the following specialized logic:
Philippine Statutory Contribution Engine
Flexible Attendance & Shift Scheduling
13th-Month & Annual Tax Reconciliation (BIR Form 2316)
Audit Trail & Role-Based Access
Summary & Final Financial Recap
A high-level synthesis of the discovery framework, technical architecture, and transparent cost breakdown across all proposal phases:
Technical & Development Strategy (Sec. 1–4)
- • Salarium-Grade Experience: Custom Next.js & Tailwind interface offering responsive desktop and mobile dashboards without low-code layout restrictions.
- • AI-First Build Velocity: Leveraging Google Antigravity Pro and Claude Code to deliver Phase 1 MVP in 2–6 weeks with continuous Philippine tax syntax testing.
- • Zero Vendor Lock-in: Full handover of GitHub repository, PostgreSQL database schemas, and self-hosted automation workflows.
Production & Statutory Compliance (Sec. 5–6)
- • Enterprise VPS Power: Hostinger KVM 2 Cloud VPS running isolated Docker instances of Supabase (PostgreSQL 201 records) and n8n background schedulers.
- • Philippine Statutory Precision: Automated gross-to-net calculations for SSS/WISP, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, and graduated TRAIN Law withholding tax tables.
- • DOLE & Year-End Rules: Automated holiday/night-diff multipliers, 13th-month & BIR Form 2316 tax reconciliation, and immutable audit logs.
Next Steps for Today's Call
Action items to finalize during our discovery and alignment discussion:
Clarify Timeline & MVP Priorities
Confirm target go-live window (2 to 6 weeks) and define mandatory Phase 1 deliverables (e.g., Attendance & Timesheet cutoffs vs. full Statutory Payroll).
Approve Cloud Hosting Architecture
Review and validate Hostinger KVM 2 Cloud VPS checkout (₱7,608.38/yr) for staging and dedicated Supabase/n8n Docker instances.
Gather Sample Payroll & Shift Rules
Identify current payroll cutoff frequency (semi-monthly or monthly), grace-period tolerances, and active employee salary brackets for formula configuration.
Schedule Phase 1 Prototype Walkthrough
Lock in initial UI and live calculation demo within 7–10 days of project kickoff.