Takeover & Maintenance
Your developer shipped fast with AI — then disappeared. We take it over.
A fixed-price assessment first, then a written verdict and a plan. We never quote maintenance work we haven't read.
Which situation are you in?
Projects usually end up stranded in one of four ways — each has a recovery path.
My freelancer disappeared
Stop chasing replies. Recover your accounts in 72 hours, then get a written takeover assessment.
Read the guideMy app was vibe-coded
Built fast with AI tools and now nobody can change it safely. We stabilize AI-generated systems.
Read the guideThere's no documentation
No handover, no notes, no developer. We reverse-engineer the system and write the Handover Pack.
Read the guideI need the emergency checklist
The 12-step, 72-hour checklist to secure your domain, hosting, code and payments — free PDF.
Read the guideFree resources
Templates, samples, and tools — free to use whether or not you ever hire through us.
Handover Pack template
The eight-section handover standard we enforce on every project. Copy it and use it with any developer.
OpenSample assessment report
A complete anonymized takeover report — see exactly what a fixed-price assessment delivers.
OpenTakeover readiness check
Ten questions, two minutes. Find out whether your project can be handed over today.
OpenWhy nobody wants to take this over
Fast AI delivery isn't a scam — it's a trade-off. Speed usually comes at the cost of ownership, documentation, and maintainability, and that cost only becomes visible when you need the next change.
You don't hold the keys
The repo, hosting, and third-party accounts were created under the original developer's name. You may not even have admin access to your own system.
No documentation at all
AI-built projects especially tend to ship without setup notes, architecture records, or environment variable lists — nothing for the next person to start from.
Uneven code, hidden risk
Generated code varies in quality, and the risks — hardcoded secrets, missing validation, no backups — stay invisible until something breaks.
Even the author can't explain it
Prompting code into existence is not the same as reading it. When the logic is a black box to its own author, handover questions have no answers.
Nobody will quote it
Unknown code means unknown risk. Most developers decline rather than estimate a system they can't assess — so you're stuck.
The business can't stop
The system is live and customers depend on it. Every change feels dangerous, but standing still isn't an option either.
How we take over: three phases
Each phase has its own scope and price, decided in order. You can stop after any phase and keep everything produced so far.
Phase 1 · Fixed price
Takeover assessment
3–5 business days
A vetted engineer reads the codebase, infrastructure, and third-party dependencies, then delivers a written verdict: maintainable as-is, stabilize first, or recommend a rewrite. The assessment does not include changing any code.
| System complexity | USD | HKD |
|---|---|---|
| Simple website | US$400–1,000 | HK$3,000–8,000 |
| Login, admin panel, or database | US$1,000–2,300 | HK$8,000–18,000 |
| Payments, memberships, or live users | US$1,900–4,500 and up | HK$15,000–35,000 |
Quoting maintenance before reading the code would be irresponsible. The assessment exists so every later quote can be honest.
Phase 2 · Fixed quote from the assessment
Rescue to a changeable state
We restore your ownership and make the system safe to modify, so you're never dependent on one person's goodwill again.
- Repository, hosting, and deployments transferred to accounts you own
- Deployment and setup documentation written from scratch
- API keys and secrets rotated out of the codebase
- Automated backups configured and verified
- Known security holes found in the assessment are patched
Priced as a fixed quote based on the Phase 1 findings — no hourly ambiguity.
Phase 3 · Ongoing
Changes and maintenance
Request changes one at a time, each with its own written quote, or subscribe to monthly maintenance with a defined cap.
To keep pricing honest: monthly maintenance does not cover pre-existing bugs, security incidents that predate the takeover, or breaking changes introduced by third-party APIs. Those are quoted separately when they arise.
How the platform makes sure you're not left stranded again
We can't promise every system is maintainable. What we can promise is complete handover material, clearly divided responsibility, and payment that only moves on delivery.
Mandatory Handover Pack
Deployment steps, environment variable list, third-party account list, and known limitations — delivered before final payment, so any future developer can pick up where we left off.
Escrow-protected payments
Funds are held by the platform and released on accepted milestones — never on promises.
7-day warranty
Defects in delivered work are fixed free within 7 days of acceptance.
1% fee on maintenance plans
Ongoing maintenance subscriptions carry only a 1% platform fee, so long-term care stays affordable.
Vetted experts only
Takeover work goes to experts who pass our review process — not whoever answered first.
Common questions
Why do I have to pay for an assessment first?
Because quoting a system nobody has read is how budgets blow up. A fixed-price assessment is the normal, expected cost of this kind of project — and it's what makes every quote that follows it honest.
What if the assessment says the system should be rewritten?
Then we'll tell you plainly, with the reasoning in writing. Half-keeping and half-patching unstable code is the most expensive path of all — we'd rather lose the job than put you on it.
I still don't control the accounts. Can you start anyway?
Yes. Phase 1 includes mapping what exists and helping you recover access where possible. Anything that genuinely can't be recovered is scoped explicitly as a reduction and quoted separately.
Get a written verdict before you spend on fixes
Post a takeover assessment and receive a fixed-price evaluation within 3–5 business days. No obligation to continue past Phase 1.