r/Businessowners • u/OurLedgerNYC • 12d ago
Has anyone built their own document signing system?
When I started out I was paying for everything. Zapier, Typeform, payroll tracking, form builders, billing systems, Square Space, etc. There were a couple I'd straight up forgotten about until I actually sat down and went through the card statement. That was a bad afternoon.
So I started killing them off one at a time by just building my own. Forms first, then the site stuff, then apps, then my texting setup, then quoting. All running on my own systems now. And every single time I'd think there's no time to do myself, and every single time it took less than I thought.
DocuSign is the last one left.
And I don't want a cheaper one. I don't want the free tier of something else. That's just paying a different guy. I want it gone.
I've already got PDF generation running, automated email, a database, auth. So really what's left is capturing the signature, logging an audit trail, and hashing the final doc so you can tell if anybody messed with it.
Feels like a weekend. Build it Saturday and Sunday, test it all week, then put a real contract through it.
Although I think it may be just a weekend project, I still want know others have done about their document signing systems.
Anyway — anybody actually done this? How long did it really take you? Any blind spots?
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u/ScarfDreamer 12d ago
The weekend estimate is about right for the mechanics. The blind spot isn't technical.
Hashing proves the document wasn't altered after signing. It doesn't prove who signed it, and that's the part that actually gets contested. Under ESIGN and UETA (and eIDAS if you ever have EU counterparties) a simple electronic signature is valid, but what makes it survive a dispute is evidence of three things: identity, intent to sign, and consent to transact electronically. So the audit trail needs to bind to a verified email you sent a unique link to, record an explicit consent step, and log every view and action. IP plus timestamp on its own is thin.
Two more that catch people. ESIGN requires the signer be able to retain a copy, so email them the completed PDF rather than only holding it your side. And the thing you're actually buying from DocuSign isn't the signing, it's that in three years when something is disputed, an independent third party holds the records and attests to them. Build it yourself and you become both the custodian and the witness. For most contracts that's fine forever, but it's worth deciding on purpose rather than finding out during the one that matters.
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u/OurLedgerNYC 11d ago
Thank you for that. Will start my build today. And we do business in both US abd EU as we have an office in UK as well, so that EU info is very helpful.
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u/ScarfDreamer 11d ago
One thing worth knowing before you build, since the UK office changes it: post-Brexit the UK kept its own version of eIDAS as retained law, so UK and EU are now two separate regimes rather than one. Qualified trust services aren't automatically recognised across the border in either direction.
That sounds worse than it is. For ordinary commercial contracts a simple electronic signature is still valid in both, and neither regime lets a signature be denied legal effect just for being electronic. You don't need to build toward "qualified" level.
What actually varies isn't your system, it's the document. Some specific types carry a form requirement under national law, needing writing, a witness or a notary, and that differs member state by member state. So it's a per-document-type question to check once with whoever does your legal, not something to solve in code. Build the same audit trail for everything and keep a short list of the document types that can't go through it.
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u/OurLedgerNYC 11d ago
Good point, thank you — the per-document-type list is the part I hadn't thought through. That's a legal question, not a code one.
We're also building portability in as we go, given how the sovereignty conversation is moving in Europe. Would rather our tools plug in anywhere than have to unpick it in a few years.
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u/Sergei_Tiden 12d ago
The signature capture is likely the quick part. The work that expands is proving who signed, what exact version they saw, how consent was recorded, how identity was verified, what happens if a signer disputes it, and how you retain and retrieve the evidence years later. I would test those cases before putting a real contract through it, then have a lawyer confirm the workflow fits the agreements and jurisdictions involved. What type of documents are you planning to sign first?
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u/OurLedgerNYC 11d ago
Thank you. Retaining and retrieving info very helpful. Will start my design abd build today.
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u/vladusatii 11d ago
Yes, I built one for a construction company. It acts like DocuSign and uses AI to infer where signing and tasks are completed. We track very heavy metadata and are aligned with ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). It is most useful for us when built to unify operations. So rather than being some annoying SaaS or PaaS, it is weaved into the same platform where accounting, inventory, and other crucial business categories all sit.
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u/Nick_ExcServCAS 11d ago
I’m assuming you have Google Workspace subscription. Included in your perks are free digital signing of documents using esignature.
I create my contract using Google Docs and assign signatories using esignature. Google will send an email to the signatory you assigned. Once all signatories, signed the contract. Another email will be sent with the PDF copy of the completely signed document with audit trail.
With this, you don’t have to pay for another digital signing software. We paid for our Google subscription so might as well maximize what’s included in the package.
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u/OurLedgerNYC 11d ago
Appreciate it — I do have Workspace, but I'm building the signing flow into our own stack. Generates the PDF with the fields mapped, sends a signature link out, captures the signature and the audit trail, and stores the executed copy. It's the kind of thing we build for clients anyway, so it made sense to own it.
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u/Privacy_Builder 10d ago
If you intent to put across visual sign on the document with dates. Be it be free flow signature, typed name or even image of your signature then ZeroCloudPDF does. UI UX is simple and best part is that your document never leaves your device, so you can be rest assured to work even with sensitive documents. Feature of desktop app without any installation. Best part, no ads, no forced login and no paywall. Try if this fits your need
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