Finishing a stalled build: Someone who reads
the documentation.
Your platform, your design system, your half-finished build. I work inside what already exists rather than arguing for a rewrite.
Theming·Integrations·Migration
The job
Most stalled projects are not stalled because the work is hard. They are stalled because the person who understood it left, nothing was written down, and nobody wants to be the one who touches it first.
I am comfortable being that person. Reading an unfamiliar codebase cold and getting it moving again is a specific skill, and it is mostly a matter of being willing to look slow for a fortnight.
What a stalled build includes: The whole list,
nothing extra.
Every one of these is in the price. If a job needs something that is not here, it is in the written scope before you say yes, not on the invoice after.
6things, all in the price
Book a scope call- 01 Codebase pickup Reading what exists, getting it running locally, and writing down what I find as I go.
- 02 Theming Building inside an existing design system rather than around it.
- 03 Integrations CRMs, payment, booking, analytics, whatever the business already runs on.
- 04 Data and content migration Moving content between systems without losing formatting, media or URLs.
- 05 The last ten percent Edge cases, error states, empty states, the admin experience, the parts that get cut and then block launch.
- 06 Documentation What I found, what I changed, and what the next person needs to know.
How a stalled build runs: From hello to handover.
Step 1
12 hours max
I reply
Working hours, unless I am on holiday and have said so.
Step 2
Day 0
Scope call
What exists, what broke, and who has touched it.
Step 3
+2 days
Written scope
After I have actually looked at the code, not before.
Step 4
Every week
Something live
Progress you can open, and a running log of decisions.
Step 5
End
Handover
Documented properly, so this does not happen again.
This is for you
A stalled build is for you
if any of these sound familiar.
- The build started and then stopped
- The developer left and took the context with them
- It works, but nobody knows how
- Work inside your design system, not redo it
It is not, if
- You want it rebuilt from scratch
- The platform is genuinely end of life
Not sure which side you are on? Say so on the call. If I am not the right person, you get the name of someone who is.
What a stalled build costs
Below the market median,
without the agency margin.
You should not have to sit through a call to find out whether you can afford me.
Reading on a stalled build
Guides, if you would rather read first.
Questions about a stalled build: Questions I get every time.
The honest answers. If yours is not here, it is the first thing we cover.
Ask me yours01 How do you price work on a codebase you have not seen?
I do not, at first. The scope call and an hour or two in the code come before any number. If it turns out to be worse than it looked, you hear that before you commit, not after.
02 What if the existing code is bad?
It usually is, a bit. That is normal and mostly fine. I will tell you what is genuinely risky and what is just ugly, and we will only fix the second kind if you want to pay for it.
03 Will you work with our existing agency or team?
Yes. Most of my work has been alongside other people, often as the one brought in to unblock something. I can front client calls under your brand or stay entirely behind the scenes.
04 Will you want to rewrite it?
Not unless it genuinely needs it, and then only once you have seen why. Most stalled builds need finishing, not replacing.
05 How is it priced?
By the day to begin with, because the job only becomes clear once I am in the code. When it is clear, the rest can become a fixed price.
06 How much does a WordPress website cost?
WordPress itself is free, so the cost is the work, the hosting and the domain. Work on a site that already exists is £400 a day, because what it needs only becomes clear once I am in the code. A new build is a fixed price instead, published on the WordPress package page.
07 What does WordPress cost to run each year?
The software is nothing. A year is the hosting, the domain and any paid plugin or theme licences, and hosted on my account with the updates, a backup every day and monitoring, that is £50 a month. Renewing the domain stays with you and in your name.
08 What do we have at the end?
A working build, and what I found, what I changed and what the next person needs to know, written down. The context does not leave with me the way it left last time.
09 How soon can you start?
For new work I usually have something free within a few weeks. You get a reply within 12 hours, and a written scope within 2 working days of the call.
Usually goes with: Website implementation
and project delivery.
A stalled build usually has a stalled plan behind it. Getting the code moving is half the job. The other half is dates, decisions and chasing the people who have gone quiet.
See project deliveryOr one of the other two
Sound like
your problem?
Tell me where it is. Thirty minutes, no pitch, and you leave knowing whether I am the right person.
- Within 12 hoursA reply
- Within 2 working daysA written scope and a price
- OrThe name of someone who fits better