# We take over software someone else built. Source: https://bluecoastwater.com/services/software-takeovers The developer moved on, the agency stopped answering, or the one person who knew the system is gone. We adopt what you have, make it safe, and keep it running, without starting over. ## Who it is for - A business that runs on a website, store, portal or app it can no longer change with confidence. - A team whose builder left: no access list, no notes, deploys nobody dares to run. - An owner who was told the only fix is a rewrite, and wants a second opinion first. ## What we do ### Get the keys back Hosting, domains, code repositories, cloud accounts, app stores, email senders, third-party services: we list every one, move them into accounts you own, and close the doors nobody needs. ### Read it before we touch it We read the code and the data the way an auditor would: what it does, what it depends on, what is out of date, what is exposed. You get the findings in plain words, ranked by risk. ### Make it safe Backups first, checked by restoring them. Then security patches, dependency and platform upgrades, and the fixes that stop data from leaking or breaking. Each change is tested and written down. ### Make deploys boring A repeatable way to ship a change, with tests where the risk is, so a fix on Tuesday does not become an outage on Wednesday. ### Run it from then on Hosting, monitoring, platform admin, users and their questions, the roadmap and the bills: the same work we do for the systems we built ourselves. That is the Run pillar, and it is how most of our clients work with us. ## How it starts 1. A conversation: What the system does, who uses it, what worries you. No access needed yet. 2. Access and a read: You grant access; we map the system and send the findings and a plan, in writing. 3. The first month: Backups, keys, the urgent fixes. Then the monthly run, on a retainer sized to the system. ## Proof - The Global Compliance Portal: Clinical-trial disclosure rules for 195 countries, kept current. Built in 2020 and still in service: years of running a system after launch, not just shipping it. (https://disclosure.global/) - A wholesaler's twenty-year-old system: An ASP.NET system last updated in 2012, running a national apparel wholesaler. We took it over, kept the business running on it, and replaced it with the platform the business runs on today. (https://bluecoastwater.com/work/apparel-wholesale-platform) - The Run pillar: Hosting, upgrades, product management, platform admin and cost control, the same for a system we inherited as for one we built. (https://bluecoastwater.com/services#run) ## What we do not do - We do not promise a rewrite. Most systems are worth keeping; when one is not, we say so and show why. - We do not hold your system hostage. Accounts, code and keys stay in your name. - We do not quote a price before we have read the system. You get the scope and the price in writing before any work starts. ## Questions ### Our developer left and we have no documentation. Can you still take it over? Yes. That is the usual starting point. We work out what runs where from the code, the hosting and the accounts, and we write the documentation as we go. ### Do you only take over systems built with certain technologies? We work across web stacks, databases and clouds that businesses commonly run on. If something is outside what our team knows well, we tell you in the first conversation rather than learn on your system. ### Will you rewrite it? Not by default. We stabilize and run what you have, and modernize it in steps where that pays. A rewrite is a choice we make with you, with reasons, never a condition of taking over. ### What if the previous developer still controls the accounts? We help you get them back: we list what needs transferring and how, and we work with the provider's own recovery process where the old owner does not respond. ### How is it priced? After we have read the system. The first month usually carries the catch-up work, then a monthly retainer sized to the system. There is no price list on this site; the founder quotes in writing. ### Can we leave later? Yes. Give notice and you keep everything, with a clean handover to whoever comes next. ## Related - https://bluecoastwater.com/services/software-support-after-launch - https://bluecoastwater.com/services/fractional-cto - https://bluecoastwater.com/work/apparel-wholesale-platform ## Contact - Email: hello@bluecoastwater.com (read by the founder) - Write or book 30 minutes: https://bluecoastwater.com/contact - No prices are published: the founder quotes in writing after the first conversation.