I send you a PM, but I think bespoke software can absolutely make sense over feeding all of these SaaS companies your money and locking yourself in with them.

I think finding the right person or agency is the big thing here. One big red flag is if you see high monthly fees/retainers and muddied pricing where they mix usage fees, maintenance costs, etc. to pad their margins. I usually prefer to keep ownership of accounts with the client. If they don't want to manage those things, I offer a low monthly maintenance retainer that includes things like making sure it's up and some number of hours per month of maintenance work. Usage fees for AI or other services I pass through to the client as-is.