Developer replacement
Your Developer Left. The Code is Still There. We Pick Up From Here.
Ghosted contractor. Departing CTO. Agency that stopped performing. However you got here, you have a codebase, a product that needs to ship, and no one holding the wheel.
Kingbird inherits the repo, reads what's there, and resumes delivery. A senior US operator runs every engagement. We're not a staffing pool or a bench of contractors. One named person is responsible for your project.
How people find us
The developer ghosted
Last message was two weeks ago. The repo hasn't been touched. They're not returning emails. You're about to miss a deadline.
The contractor didn't deliver
The project was supposed to take 3 months. It's been 6. What was delivered doesn't work, doesn't match the spec, or both.
The in-house engineer left
Your technical co-founder or first engineer resigned. The transition was minimal. Most of the context left with them.
The agency relationship broke down
The agency is billing but not producing. Communication is slow. You've lost trust in their ability to finish what they started.
What taking over looks like
We start with the Stabilization Review: a 10-business-day paid engagement where a senior operator reads the codebase, backlog, and delivery history. At the end of 10 days you have a written 30/60/90 action plan. $4,500 flat, no retainer required.
The plan covers the top risks, what to fix first, what to defer, and the recommended resourcing path. If continuing with Kingbird is the right call, we'll say so and give you a proposal. If the right answer is a different kind of engagement, we'll say that too.
Roughly half of Stabilization Reviews convert to a Kingbird retainer or fixed-scope project. Most of those ship their first meaningful release inside 30 days of kickoff. The runbook gets written throughout the engagement so the project doesn't die with us when we're done.
Common questions
- Do you need documentation or is the code enough?
- The code is enough. Most takeovers come with minimal documentation. We read what's in the repo and fill in the gaps with context from whoever is available. If the previous developer is cooperative, we'll do a knowledge transfer call. If not, we work cold.
- How quickly can you start?
- The Stabilization Review can typically kick off within a week of payment. The review itself takes 10 business days. Most takeovers have their first meaningful release inside 30 days from the kickoff call.
- What if the code is in terrible shape?
- The Stabilization Review will tell you exactly how bad it is and what it costs to recover versus rewrite. We've seen codebases that looked unrecoverable but weren't, and codebases that looked fine but had fundamental architectural problems. We'll give you the honest read.
- Can you work with my existing team while they're short-staffed?
- Yes. We can operate as an embedded senior partner alongside your remaining team, or as the lead technical resource. We'll define the structure at the kickoff call.
- What does the transition look like after you're done?
- We write the runbook as we go. Every engagement ends with documentation that lets a new hire, a different agency, or your internal team pick up without starting over.
10 days. Written plan. Honest read on what it costs to finish.
The Stabilization Review is where every takeover starts. $4,500 flat. If we slip the 10-day commitment, $500 comes back.