Your build broke. We take it over.
A bad vendor, a departed developer or an architecture that cannot hold the load leaves you with code nobody will touch. A senior operator reads it, tells you what recovery costs and hands you a written plan you keep.
BEST FOR Builds that work in staging and break in production, Vendor deliveries that do not work or do not match the spec, Codebases nobody on the current team understands, Projects that stalled after a thin handoff, Founders who want an outside read before signing a retainer
Your developer left. The agency dropped you mid-build. The last team delivered something that does not work. You have a codebase, a deadline and no one behind the wheel.
What you get
About 10 pages: situation summary, top risks, quick wins, a prioritized plan with effort estimates and a recommended resourcing path.
The plan says whether rescue makes more sense than a rebuild.
The written plan arrives 24 hours before a live walkthrough you keep.
No clawback and no pressure to continue. Run it yourself, hand it to another team or continue with us.
Sent with the kickoff confirmation. Two-year term, Arizona governing law.
How it works
Kickoff call, repo access, deploy pipeline traced, backlog and roadmap collected, interviews scheduled.
Code read focused on delivery risk, backlog review, and 30-minute interviews with the two or three people closest to the work.
Written plan sent 24 hours ahead, then the live debrief and a next-steps conversation.
A proposal for a retainer or a fixed-scope sprint. If Kingbird is not the right answer, we say so and point you to the right help.
Plans and pricing
Questions
What does a rescue look like from day one?
It starts with the Stabilization Review. One senior operator reads the codebase, reviews the backlog and delivery history, and interviews whoever is available. After 10 business days you have a written 30/60/90 plan.
What if the documentation is missing?
We read the code directly. If anyone from the original team is reachable, we hold a knowledge transfer call. If not, the code is the documentation.
What if the codebase is beyond rescue?
The review will tell you, including whether a rebuild makes more sense than a rescue.
Do I need to commit to a retainer first?
No. The Stabilization Review is a standalone fixed-fee engagement, and the plan is yours whatever comes next.
What is not included in the review?
A full security audit, new production code, refactors or rewrites, and legal or compliance certification. If you need those, we point you to a specialist.
Is a takeover a good fit for my project?
It fits when you have an existing codebase (even a broken one), the product is live or was live at some point, you have a clear feature set that still needs to ship, and you want the plan to be yours regardless of who finishes it. It is not the right fit when no code exists yet (we scope a new build instead), when you need a full security or compliance audit, when you are looking for the cheapest option available, or when the previous developer is actively hostile and may create legal complications.
Can you take over a project that was built by an offshore team?
Yes. Most of the takeovers we run were built offshore or by an agency. We read whatever is in the repo and triage from there. The language of the code does not matter. What matters is that the code runs.
Do you take over projects built in any stack?
Broadly, yes. Our delivery partner covers React, Next.js, Node, Python, Rails and most cloud environments. If something unusual comes up, we tell you up front whether we can take it on.
Related
Talk it through with AJ.
Tell AJ what you need, whether it's one of our products, a partner platform or something custom.
Rated ★ 5.0 on Clutch and Google, 4.0 on Trustpilot.