Application Support & Maintenance
Ongoing care for the custom software your organization runs on, including apps someone else built: security updates, bug fixes, monitoring and small enhancements under a monthly plan, plus code audits and rescues when a project has gone wrong.
Overview
Software that nobody maintains does not stay still. It decays.
Custom software is usually funded as a project and then left alone. The developer moves on, the framework falls versions behind, dependencies collect security advisories, the hosting account sits on someone's personal card, and a change that should take an hour takes a week because nobody remembers how the pieces fit together.
We take over the care of custom applications, the ones we built and the ones we did not. It starts with an audit: the code goes into a repository you own, we document how it is built and deployed, list the security and upgrade risks, and fix anything urgent. After that a monthly plan covers dependency and framework updates, bug fixes, monitoring, backups and an agreed amount of enhancement work, with every change tested and recorded.
Capabilities
What's included
- Code audit and handoverCode, hosting, credentials and deployment documented and moved into accounts you own, with a written list of security and upgrade risks.
- Security and dependency updatesFramework, library and runtime updates applied on a schedule and tested, with critical security advisories handled out of cycle.
- Bug fixes and small enhancementsIssues triaged by severity and fixed, plus an agreed block of time each month for the changes the business asks for.
- Monitoring and uptimeErrors, performance and availability watched, with alerts reaching a developer before users start reporting problems.
- Backups and recovery testsDatabases and files backed up and test-restored, so a bad deploy or a failed server is an inconvenience rather than a crisis.
- Project rescueStalled or failing projects taken over: what exists assessed honestly, a plan to finish or reset, and delivery from there.
How We Work
Our approach
- 01
Audit
Code, infrastructure, access and risks reviewed and written up for a fixed fee.
- 02
Stabilize
Code in your repository, backups and monitoring in place, urgent security issues fixed.
- 03
Maintain
Scheduled updates, fixes and monitoring under a monthly plan, every change tested before release.
- 04
Improve
Enhancements and upgrades planned from a backlog you prioritize, reported each month.
Outcomes
What teams see
Code, hosting and credentials held in your name.
Changes verified before they reach production.
What was updated, fixed and improved, in writing.
Common Questions
Questions we get asked
Will you support an application another company built?
Yes; most of the applications we support were built by someone else. The first step is an audit: we review the code, hosting and deployment, document how it works and tell you plainly what condition it is in. If something is risky, such as an unsupported framework or credentials held by a former contractor, we fix that first, then agree what ongoing support looks like.
Which languages and frameworks do you support?
The common web and business stacks: PHP and Laravel, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript and TypeScript with Node.js, React and Next.js, and WordPress where an application is built on it, along with the databases underneath them. If an application uses something less common, the audit tells us whether we are the right team, and we will say so plainly if we are not.
Our project is behind schedule and over budget. Can you take it over?
Often, yes. We start with an honest assessment of what exists: what works, what does not, how good the code is, and what it would really take to finish. Sometimes the right move is to complete it, sometimes to keep the good parts and reset the rest, and occasionally to stop. You get the assessment in writing before committing to anything further.
How is application support priced?
As a monthly plan scoped to the application: its size, how often it changes, how critical it is, and how much enhancement time you want each month. The audit at the start is a fixed fee, and it is what lets us quote the monthly plan accurately. Larger new features are scoped and quoted as separate projects so the plan stays predictable.
Is the developer who built
your app still around?
From scoping to deployment — get a consolidated quote and a clear path through the right contract vehicle.