Handover rescue
Your developer disappeared. We'll pick it up.
Sometimes a freelancer moves on. Sometimes an agency folds, or the one technical person at the company leaves. What's left is software your business depends on, no documentation, and often no idea which accounts it lives in. It feels like a crisis. In practice it's a well-worn problem with a well-worn process.
$495 fixed price · written report within 3 business days · no obligation to continue
In short
PixelApps takes over software after the developer who built it has gone. We recover access to your domain, hosting and code, work out how the system actually fits together, document it, fix what's urgent, and then either maintain it or hand it to your next developer. A $495 handover audit maps it in three business days.
Sound familiar?
If you recognise two or three of these, an audit will pay for itself.
Nobody can deploy a change
The site works. Changing anything requires knowledge that left with the last developer.
You don't know where it's hosted
The bills go somewhere, the domain renews somehow, and no one on your team can name the provider.
There's no documentation
No README, no notes, no diagram. Whatever was in that person's head is the only copy that ever existed.
Accounts are in someone else's name
Domain, hosting, analytics, payment gateway — all registered to a personal address that no longer replies.
Something broke and nobody can fix it
A form, a feed, an integration. The business works around it because there's no other option.
New developers keep declining
You've asked around and been quoted a rewrite, because nobody wants to inherit an unknown.
What we actually do
We recover your access first
Trace the domain registrar and hosting from public records, work through the ownership transfer processes, and get everything into accounts your business controls. This is nearly always solvable.
We map what exists
Every piece: code, database, hosting, third-party services, scheduled jobs and integrations. You get a written picture of your own system, often for the first time.
We assess the risk honestly
Security holes, out-of-date dependencies, things quietly failing, and anything one outage away from taking the business offline. Rated, not just listed.
We fix what's urgent and document the rest
Immediate problems dealt with, and a README plus setup notes written so the next person — us or anyone else — can be productive on day one.
We keep it running, or hand it over cleanly
Ongoing support on a retainer from $750 a month, or a clean handover pack to whoever you choose. Either way you're never in this position again.
What it costs
Everything is quoted at a fixed price before it starts. No hourly surprises.
Rescue audit
$495
fixed price
A senior developer reviews your codebase, database and deployment, and sends a written report within 3 business days.
Rescue sprint
$2,500 – $8,000
typical range
We fix what the audit found: security holes closed, the app stabilised, deployment sorted, and the parts that stopped you shipping actually finished.
Ongoing care
$750
from, per month
A monthly retainer: hosting, updates, security patches, backups, monitoring, an agreed block of development time, and a human who answers when something breaks. We also work ad-hoc — just ask.
What the $495 audit includes
- A plain-English summary of what you have and what state it is in
- Security review — database access rules, exposed keys, login and permissions
- A prioritised list of what is broken, what is risky and what is merely untidy
- A fixed-price quote for the work, and an honest view on rebuild vs repair
- The report is yours to keep and take to any developer
When you don't need us
If the software is barely used and could be replaced by something off the shelf, say so and we'll help you compare rather than talk you into maintaining it. Sometimes the right answer to an inherited system is a considered retirement, and that's a cheaper conversation than a rescue.
Send us your app
$495 fixed price. Written report within 3 business days.
Common questions
Yes — it's a regular part of what we do. Give us access to whatever exists and we'll work out the rest. We're comfortable with unfamiliar and undocumented systems; that's what the handover audit is for.
In most cases, yes. Domain registrars and hosts have dispute and recovery processes for exactly this, especially where the business name and payment records are yours. It takes patience and paperwork rather than luck.
We'll tell you plainly, with the cost of maintaining it set against the cost of replacing it. Plenty of unloved code is perfectly serviceable once someone has read it, so we'd rather assess it than assume.
$495 fixed, with a written report in three business days covering what you have, what's at risk and what it will cost to put right. Access recovery is included where it's straightforward; if it turns into a lengthy dispute we'll tell you before spending your money on it.