A project ends; the system does not. Six months after launch the agency has moved on, the developer has changed jobs, and nobody is sure which server the cron job runs on. That is the point where most of our engagements start.
We take the system over as it is. No rewrite, no lecture about the choices someone made under deadline — an inventory, then stabilisation, then a maintenance rhythm you can budget for.
Taking over a system
- Inventory: hosting, domains, certificates, repositories, credentials, third-party accounts.
- Stabilise: backups, updates, monitoring, and the two or three fixes that stop the recurring incidents.
- Document: how it runs, how it deploys, and what to do at three in the morning.
- Maintain: a fixed monthly window for updates, plus an agreed budget for small changes.
Undocumented systems and a developer who has already left are our normal starting point, not a reason to decline.