Google
Amazingly efficient, professional, and excellent work. I recently worked with Kevin and his team on a large project. I plan on using him again and highly recommend his services.
Software Takeover
Take Over Software Built by Someone Else
Keep developing a product after its original team has moved on. We start with a paid assessment, establish access and ownership, and prioritize the fixes needed to build, release and maintain it with confidence. A rewrite needs a business case.
Cancel any week. Last week refunded if we didn’t blow you away. No hours tracked.
- 100+ products shipped
- 10+ years experience
- No-Bullshit Guarantee
DIRECT ANSWER
Choose Software Takeover when a vendor or team handover needs access recovery, documentation, release stabilization, and a safe path for continued maintenance.
BEST FOR
- A product changing software service provider, agency, freelancer, or internal engineering ownership.
- A live codebase that needs risk assessed before maintenance or new development begins.
NOT BEST FOR
- A blind rewrite before the current system has been inspected.
- A handover without repository, infrastructure, and stakeholder access.
What you actually inherit
A handover is rarely clean. The people who made the decisions are gone, the documentation is thin or wrong, and nobody is sure what breaks if you touch the wrong file. The real cost of a takeover is not writing code, it is decoding choices someone else never wrote down. We price that risk honestly before we commit to a timeline.
- ✓Undocumented decisions. Architecture and business rules that live only in the previous team’s heads.
- ✓No clean access. Repos, CI, cloud accounts, DNS, and secrets scattered across personal accounts.
- ✓Security and dependency debt. Leaked keys, unpatched libraries, and versions that stopped getting fixes.
- ✓Release fear. No tests, no rollback, so nobody wants to ship and the backlog freezes.
What the paid takeover assessment covers
One to two weeks, fixed scope. You get a written report you own, whether or not you continue with us.
Existing codebase assessment
Architecture, code quality, hidden coupling, and the quick wins versus the structural risks, mapped in plain language.
Repository and infrastructure access
We inventory and transfer repos, CI/CD, cloud accounts, domains, and secrets into accounts you control. No more single points of failure.
Documentation gaps
We write down what only lived in someone’s head: setup, deploy, environment config, and the decisions behind them.
Security and dependency review
Exposed secrets, outdated and vulnerable dependencies, broken access control, and the patch order that actually matters.
How the handover runs
A staged transition, so production stays up while ownership moves to us.
01
Paid assessment
Access, audit, and a written plan with a fixed-price offer before we change significant code.
02
Knowledge transfer
We debrief the previous provider or team where possible, and capture what they know before the window closes.
03
Stabilisation
We fix what is actively bleeding first: security holes, data risks, and the bugs reaching users.
04
Release-risk management
Tests, CI, preview deploys, and one-command rollback, so shipping stops being scary.
05
Maintenance and further development
Then we keep it running and build the roadmap again, on a retainer or a signed scope.
What the assessment tells you to do next
Sometimes a full takeover is the wrong call. The assessment points you to the honest option, even when it earns us less.
Just keep it safe and stable
If you mainly need someone to catch regressions and keep a live product healthy, that is a QA partnership, not a full takeover.
See Software Quality AssuranceIt was built with AI tools
If the codebase came out of Lovable, Cursor, Bolt, or similar, the failure modes are different and so is the fix.
See Vibe Coding Production ReadinessFinish it and keep building
If the goal is new features and a moving roadmap, we take it over and develop it end to end.
See Software DevelopmentWhat it costs
The assessment is the only paid step you commit to up front. Everything after it is quoted from what we actually find.
Takeover assessment
Fixed scope
One to two weeks, fixed price agreed after a short intro call, credited toward the engagement if you continue. You keep the written report either way.
Takeover and further development
Monthly or fixed
Ongoing maintenance and new features on a monthly retainer, or a signed fixed-scope Werkvertrag for a defined piece of work. Quoted after the assessment, never before.
We do not quote a takeover blind. Anyone who gives you a fixed number before reading the code is guessing, and you pay for the guess later.
Switch agencies, or keep your current team?
Sometimes, keep your team.We have told clients not to switch when the math did not work. Ramp time, reverse-engineering, and lost context can cost more than the original problem. When keeping your team and having us coach them to the finish is the cheaper, faster call, we say so.
Talk to an expert
A handover you can build on
Example outputs for a takeover assessment. We establish what the team needs to maintain and release the existing product.
Code, access and ownership
Map repositories, environments, deployments, dependencies and the people who own each system.
A transition backlog
Prioritize continuity risks and missing documentation. Define the first maintenance tasks and the scope of the takeover.
A verified handover
Check the build and deployment path, key user flows and monitoring. Assign support ownership and rollback responsibilities.
Download the sample handover acceptance report (Markdown)
// proofProof, not promises
FTW Ventures: we took over a stalled project, led the existing team to delivery and handed over a CMS the client could run. Twinsoft AI: we rebuilt fragile prototype foundations. Bond Analytics: we made financial data ingestion reproducible and ratings traceable. See the decisions, code contributions and handover in each case.
NFT mint
Shipped
Rescued a stalled NFT mint, finished it, and handed back a CMS so non-technical staff could ship without us.
Typescript
React
Solidity
2 months
0 to Enterprise
Institutional bond analytics platform, zero to enterprise-ready in 2 months; raised multiple rounds.
NestJS
React
Typescript
2 weeks
To Sellable MVP
Took a vibe-coded prototype to enterprise pilot-ready, no shortcuts.
Python
Flask
LLMs
These are selected projects, not our full portfolio. We have shipped 100+ products since 2018.
What clients say
LinkedIn
Working with Kevin is a real pleasure. He is curious in understanding challenges and at the same time very intrinsically ambitioned in finding the best solution. On top of his undisputed IT-competence his honest and disarming open mind leads to very inspiring relationships. What I value very much is his personal humility towards people. Kevin is a highly recommendable Software-Engineer and a good person who makes an impact.
Trustpilot
Delivered all work on time, even under tight deadlines. The perfect balance between professional standards and a collaborative working relationship.
Independently rated 5.0/5 on Clutch Read the reviews
Older systems: assess before choosing the change
We work with legacy systems. Bring repository and infrastructure access, the business-critical workflows, known incidents, dependency versions and the people who know the rules. The assessment separates stabilization, maintenance, extensions, integration and staged modernization. Age alone does not require a rewrite. When the assessment points to structural change in a system you already control, such as a framework replacement or splitting a monolith, that work is Legacy Modernization; routine updates and fixes after the handover are Software Maintenance. Specialist platform fit still needs review. Use QA for release-quality work and API integration for connections; support hours and ongoing commitments are agreed separately. For budgeting, use the software maintenance cost guide; its model does not establish a support commitment.
Make releases and recovery someone’s responsibility
Illustrative release-readiness checklist: reproducible build, tests, environment configuration, data-migration plan, rollout check, monitoring owner and recovery instructions. A previous application version may not undo database or external-system changes. Record restore prerequisites and the person who can approve recovery. Hyperstate AI provides adjacent infrastructure experience, not a promise of managed operations. Cloud spend, monitoring and on-call duties require an explicit agreement.
Less chasing. Clearer decisions.
Send the documents, rough notes or a screen recording you already have. We draft the brief and acceptance checks, keep product context in your repository, and send a short decision digest: recommendation, alternatives, cost, evidence, owner and latest useful decision date. You approve material choices. Complex coordination is scoped separately.
We prepare. You decide.
On eligible done-for-you work, we target at most 45 minutes of routine sponsor review per week, counting reading, meetings, messages and ordinary feedback across your nominated reviewers. Setup, operator trials and decisions requiring business authority have separate time allowances agreed in advance. We also record total client time. If our preparation causes the routine target to be missed for 2 consecutive eligible weeks, we change the format and take over the extra preparation without an added fee. Fractional Co-Founder remains an active collaboration.
Make ownership something another person can demonstrate
Make ownership practical: another competent person follows your instructions and performs the agreed operating tasks. Classify the three most likely changes as self-service, supported work or a new quote. A proportionate handover remains part of an eligible build; the package below adds a fuller rehearsal for a known system.
See the illustrative decision, release and handover evidence
One-off package: the acceptance and fee-protection milestones below apply. Weekly-retainer and Fast Lane terms belong to their own engagements.
Operational independence exercise
Another competent operator proves they can run the agreed tasks.
Within 5 business days of the booked ready start and operator slot.
€1,250
net, one-off
- One skilled receiving operator; one service, environment and existing data source.
- Clean setup, staging deployment, existing restore/export and one routine configuration/content change.
- Up to 1 GB disposable sample; session up to 90 minutes; one correction/retest.
Before booking: A known system with working setup, deploy and recovery procedures, authorized access and an operator with the agreed baseline skills.
Payment milestones: €1,000 for accepted preparation and corrected instructions; €250 earned on the successful agreed rehearsal.
Related delivery: IKB. Handed the platform over to the in-house team and remained available as external support.
Scope, acceptance and fee protection
What earns the fee: The agreed tasks pass using corrected, client-owned instructions without hidden author knowledge. We record hints, permissions, remaining gaps and whether the receiver is a Wavect substitute or external operator.
Scope limits: New backup infrastructure, broken deployment repair, novice training and complex recovery investigation are separate. Baseline handover already owed under a build is not charged again.
Your agreed milestone is corrected once within 5 business days. If it still fails, its unearned fee is waived or prepaid unearned amounts refunded within 10 business days. If Wavect’s failure makes the whole package unusable, we refund the whole package within the same 10 business days after that correction opportunity. Scope, acceptance and any client/vendor waiting are recorded before booking; we show the reason and revised date when a dependency pauses the affected clock. These package terms are written into your scope and preserve your existing rights. For these packages, business days are Monday to Friday excluding Austrian public holidays; dates use Europe/Vienna. Separately, our satisfaction guarantee covers the agreed fixed-price milestone: its fee is refunded if you are not satisfied, without requiring an explanation.
Know what happens when the normal route fails
For an agreed critical failure, scope a safe stop, queue, manual path or export, an authorized operator, retained state and an alert owner. Rehearse continuation, reconciliation and recovery in a representative environment; record observed duration, lost or duplicate transactions and remaining limits. Implementation and any repeated exercises require funded scope. This does not add 24/7 coverage or an uptime SLA.
One-off package: the acceptance and fee-protection milestones below apply. Weekly-retainer and Fast Lane terms belong to their own engagements.
Verify one recovery exercise
Know whether the existing recovery route works for the stated scenario.
Within 5 business days of the booked ready start.
€1,500
net, one-off
- One documented restore or safe-stop/recovery scenario; one service and data store in isolated staging.
- Up to 1 GB representative data and 5 integrity checks.
- Observed duration, data results, corrected runbook and one correction/retest.
Before booking: A known JavaScript/TypeScript application, existing supported recovery procedure, disposable data and authorized operator.
Payment milestones: €1,200 for accepted preparation/runbook; €300 on the evidenced recovery result.
Scope, acceptance and fee protection
What earns the fee: The named scenario and integrity checks pass in staging; limitations, observed duration and next owner are recorded. This verifies recovery in more depth than the short operator rehearsal.
Scope limits: New recovery architecture, production failure injection, forensic restoration, cross-system reconciliation, ongoing coverage and uptime/RTO guarantees are separate.
Your agreed milestone is corrected once within 5 business days. If it still fails, its unearned fee is waived or prepaid unearned amounts refunded within 10 business days. If Wavect’s failure makes the whole package unusable, we refund the whole package within the same 10 business days after that correction opportunity. Scope, acceptance and any client/vendor waiting are recorded before booking; we show the reason and revised date when a dependency pauses the affected clock. These package terms are written into your scope and preserve your existing rights. For these packages, business days are Monday to Friday excluding Austrian public holidays; dates use Europe/Vienna. Separately, our satisfaction guarantee covers the agreed fixed-price milestone: its fee is refunded if you are not satisfied, without requiring an explanation.
A prepared response when a dependency changes
For a qualifying care agreement, assess supportability and stabilization first. Agree a limited register of APIs, versions, certificates, renewals, usage budgets and access dependencies. Each material trigger has impact, options, recommendation, cost, owner and next update; record whether action was executed, declined or blocked. Major upgrades, new spending, production changes and cancellations require agreed authority. Care keeps the system healthy; adoption improvement is a separate funded decision. Coverage follows the signed agreement.
A tested dependency change, with a bounded version path
One-off package: the acceptance and fee-protection milestones below apply. Weekly-retainer and Fast Lane terms belong to their own engagements.
One eligible dependency family
A tested, reversible patch/minor upgrade on a confirmed supported path.
Fixed quote after readiness; eligible scope completes within 5 business days of the booked start.
- One direct npm dependency family, at most 5 related first-party packages, one repository.
- Specified patch/minor path within the same major; current working tests.
- Lockfile, compatibility notes, 3 agreed staging journeys and rollback commit.
Before booking: An existing JavaScript/TypeScript web application we maintain. Preflight must confirm the exact version path, bounded behavior and repeatable staging.
Payment milestones: The qualifying fixed quote uses accepted preparation and evidenced-result milestones; one correction/retest and the package remedy apply.
Scope, acceptance and fee protection
What earns the fee: The named checks pass on the agreed version path and you receive the accepted change, evidence, compatibility notes and rollback.
Scope limits: Major upgrades, schema/data migration, runtime/platform changes, native builds, unsupported versions and unbounded undocumented behavior need separate scope. A patch label alone is not compatibility evidence.
Your agreed milestone is corrected once within 5 business days. If it still fails, its unearned fee is waived or prepaid unearned amounts refunded within 10 business days. If Wavect’s failure makes the whole package unusable, we refund the whole package within the same 10 business days after that correction opportunity. Scope, acceptance and any client/vendor waiting are recorded before booking; we show the reason and revised date when a dependency pauses the affected clock. These package terms are written into your scope and preserve your existing rights. For these packages, business days are Monday to Friday excluding Austrian public holidays; dates use Europe/Vienna. Separately, our satisfaction guarantee covers the agreed fixed-price milestone: its fee is refunded if you are not satisfied, without requiring an explanation.
After ownership is clear, scope the controls
A handover can reveal a separate need for DevSecOps delivery controls or cloud and infrastructure hardening. If you need an independent risk report before buying or investing, rather than taking over the code, that is Technical Due Diligence. Moving the infrastructure to another provider or to self-hosting is scoped as Cloud Migration. The operational-independence, recovery and dependency offers on this page retain their existing scope, eligibility and terms; they are not included automatically in a wider security engagement.
FAQs
Taking over software from another provider
End any week, with one message. No notice period, no exit interview, no fine print. We invoice weekly, so the most you’re ever committed to is the current week.
It’s in your contract: tell us, and we refund that week. No questions, no invoices to dispute, no calls to escalate. The only rule: refunds apply to the most recent week.
Because hours are the wrong metric. If we optimize for hours billed, we do not optimize for your outcome. The deal is simpler: every week has a defined result, and we earn the next week by delivering it. You pay for progress against that result, not for a timesheet.
We work with operators, not lottery winners. If a request would require breaking physics, the law, or a third party’s systems, we say so, and if we can’t align, we walk. The guarantee is mutual: you can fire us any week; we can also fire ourselves.
Yes, that is exactly what this is. We inherit codebases from agencies, freelancers, and internal teams that have moved on. The first one to two weeks are an audit: we document the architecture, find the quick wins and the structural risks, and hand you a written plan before we change significant code. We have taken over .NET, PHP/Symfony, Python, and Node projects and modernised them without a big-bang rewrite.
Staged, not overnight. We take read access and run the assessment while your current setup keeps running, transfer repos, CI, cloud, and secrets into accounts you own (our software handover checklist covers what you should receive), then take over releases once tests and rollback are in place. The previous provider is debriefed where possible so knowledge does not walk out the door.
Yes. If the code is sound enough to build on, we go straight from the assessment to new features and a moving roadmap. Most inherited software needs stabilising first, hardening rather than a teardown, and then it is a normal software development engagement from there.
Then a full takeover is overkill. If the system can already be built and released and needs routine updates, patches and fixes, see Software Maintenance. Catching regressions before users do is our Software Quality Assurance partnership. We will point you there instead of selling you more than you need.
The failure modes are different, so the fix is different. If your app came out of Lovable, Bolt, Cursor, or Replit, see Vibe Coding Production Readiness, which is built specifically for AI-generated code.
For the assessment: read access to the repository, the CI/CD setup, and any docs. For a full takeover: ownership of the repos, cloud accounts, domains, and secrets, moved into accounts you control. Part of the job is making sure everything lives in your name, not a departed contractor’s personal account.
Fixed scope, priced after a short intro call once we know the size of the codebase, and credited toward the engagement if you continue. You keep the written report regardless. We do not quote the takeover itself before reading the code, because a number given blind is a number you overpay for later.
Optional Fast Lane
Need it sooner?
More agreed work in the same week, or the same scope sooner, with extra reserved capacity and unchanged quality checks. Miss the booked earlier date and 100% of the Fast Lane surcharge comes back.
Optional per milestone, quoted after a readiness check.
// More in
More in Modernization & Support
Legacy Modernization
Modernize a system you already run in stages: upgrades, incremental replacement and data migration, with rehearsed cutovers.
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Updates, security patches, bug fixes and small changes for production software, with scope and response times agreed per contract.
Explore the scope
