Bring us the project nobody wants to touch any more
Somebody else's codebase stopped working, and the people who wrote it have gone quiet. That is a common position to be in and it is usually fixable — the question is whether it is a contained fix or a codebase that has drifted beyond economical repair. We will tell you which within a day, before you have committed to anything. Small, well-defined work starts at £1,000; anything larger is quoted once we understand the problem.
Engagement
Contained work starts at £1,000 - a basic setup, a single contained bug fix, a build repair, or a short diagnostic. That floor is there so a small job is still done properly rather than rushed, and we would rather not take work below it. Larger rescues are quoted after a paid diagnostic, which is credited against the work if you go ahead. You get a written diagnosis and a fixed price before anything else starts, and you are free to take that diagnosis and go elsewhere.
What you get
Deliverables, not adjectives
This is what lands in your hands at the end. If something is missing from this list, it was not in scope — and we will say so before we start rather than after.
A written diagnosis within one working day: what broke, why, and whether it is worth repairing or replacing
An honest recommendation, including 'rebuild this' or 'you need a different supplier' when that is the truthful answer
The fix, with a test that fails before it and passes after so the same bug cannot come back silently
A review of what else is likely to break next, so you are not paying to fix the same class of problem twice
Security patching where the problem is a known vulnerability in an abandoned dependency, with the affected versions named
A clean, documented handover: how it is built, how to run it, how to change it, and what to avoid
Build and deployment repaired if it is broken — working local setup, working CI, working production deploy
A single point of contact for the duration, and no lock-in: the code stays yours and stays in your accounts
When to call us
The situations where this is the right conversation
If you recognise one of these, that is probably enough to justify a 30-minute call.
01
Your developer or agency has gone quiet
The most common version of this, and usually the most recoverable. Nothing is wrong with the code — it just has nobody who remembers why. We read it, get it running again, and document what we find so you are not dependent on anyone's memory again.
02
The build is broken and nobody can fix it
Usually dependency rot: a version moved on, a registry changed, a Node upgrade broke an assumption. Often an afternoon of work. We reproduce it first rather than guessing, because 'the build is broken' has a dozen causes and only one of them is what you think it is.
03
You are paying for a site that is not secure
An unmaintained project runs known-vulnerable dependencies, which insurers, enterprise customers and auditors all check for. We patch, tell you what was exposed and for how long, and give you the evidence to show whoever is asking.
04
It works but nobody dares change it
The most expensive category and the hardest to price, because the risk is what you do not know about. We do a scoped review of the parts that matter, write down what we find, and give you a prioritised list — fix now, fix soon, ignore. Then you choose, with facts rather than dread.
05
You were sold something and it never worked
A feature that was paid for and never delivered, a checkout that always failed on real cards, an integration that only worked in a demo. We assess what is salvageable, tell you plainly what the previous work is worth, and quote only for the part that actually needs doing.
How we build it
The tools we would reach for
Not a shopping list. These are what we would actually pick for this kind of work, and we will tell you if a different tool fits your constraints better.
- Git
- Node.js
- TypeScript
- Python
- Laravel
- PHP
- Docker
- GitHub Actions
- Dependabot
- Renovate
- Snyk
- Trivy
- Playwright
- Jest
Examples
The shape of work this usually turns into
Illustrative scenarios, kept anonymous. Specific case studies with client names and evidenced metrics appear on our work page as clients approve them.
Build repair after an unattended upgrade
A Node major upgrade three versions ahead had broken a native module and the project would not install for anyone. Reproduced on a clean machine, pinned what had to be pinned, replaced the one dependency that could not be, and restored a working CI.
- Build repair
- Dependencies
- CI
Inherited an agency codebase with no documentation
Took over a project where the previous supplier had stopped responding and nothing was written down. Got it running locally, documented the architecture and the deployment, fixed three latent bugs found in the process, and handed it over so the client's own team could maintain it.
- Takeover
- Documentation
- Handover
Emergency security patch on an abandoned site
An enterprise customer had flagged a critical vulnerability in a framework version nobody had touched in three years. Patched, added dependency monitoring so it could not silently rot again, and produced the remediation evidence the client needed to close their finding.
- Security
- CVE
- Evidence
Told a client not to spend the money
Reviewed a codebase where the requested feature would have required rebuilding the data layer. Said so in writing with the reasoning, scoped the smaller change that actually met the requirement, and quoted only for that.
- Honest scoping
- Root cause
- No upsell
Questions
Bug fixes: what buyers ask
Straight answers, including where the answer is that you probably do not need this.
Contained, well-defined work starts at £1,000. That covers a basic setup, a single contained bug, a build that will not run, or a short diagnostic with a written answer. Anything larger depends entirely on what is wrong, so we look first and quote once — never a number before we have seen the problem.
That is the normal case for this service, so yes. What changes is the honesty about timing: with no access to the original developer and no documentation, diagnosis takes longer than it would on code we wrote. We will tell you that up front rather than discovering it in week two.
Repository access, the error message or the exact behaviour that is wrong, the steps to reproduce it, and access to the environment it is failing in — staging at minimum. If you have notes from the previous supplier, those save time. If you have none of it, say so; it does not disqualify you, it just changes the estimate.
Then we tell you, in writing, within a day — that is a deliverable, not an awkward outcome. Sometimes the honest answer is that a rebuild is cheaper than continuing to patch, or that you need a different kind of supplier. You keep the written diagnosis either way and you are free to act on it elsewhere.
No, and that is the point of the handover. You get working local setup, documentation, tests around what we fixed, and a written explanation of how the system is put together. The code stays in your accounts. If you would rather take it in-house afterwards, that is a normal outcome and we will not try to prevent it.
A contained fix is usually a few days, provided we can reproduce it. Anything involving a broken build or an inherited system can take longer to diagnose, and we will say so after the first day rather than quoting a date we cannot stand behind.
Related
Often needed alongside this
Got a bug fixes project in mind?
Send us the problem and the constraint. You will get a written responsewithin one uk business day, uk hours, 9:00-18:00, monday to friday, and an honest view on whether we are the right fit.