Shimira ITSoftware project rescue
Your developer left. Your agency went quiet. We'll take it from here.
Most rescue calls start the same way. The freelancer stopped answering, the agency missed its third deadline, or the one developer who understood the system moved on. The product is half-built or half-broken, customers are waiting, and every new quote starts with “we'd have to rewrite it.”
Usually you don't. We start with a fixed-price audit that tells you what you actually have, then stabilize what's live, finish what's missing, and hand back a system any competent team can maintain, including one that isn't us. Built your prototype with Lovable, Bolt, or Replit? That has its own playbook: see AI-built app rescue.
What you get
What a rescue covers
Take-over audit
Architecture map, code-quality review, dependency and security scan, a restore test of your backups, and a written state-of-the-system report with a fix-or-rewrite call for each part of the system.
Access & ownership recovery
Repos, cloud accounts, domains, app-store listings, and third-party API keys moved into accounts you control. It's the step most abandoned projects are missing, and nothing else is safe until it's done.
Stabilization first
Crash fixes, failing payments, broken deployments, and data-integrity problems handled before any new feature work. You stop losing customers before you start adding scope.
Finishing the build
The remaining scope, re-estimated honestly against the real codebase rather than the original plan, delivered in two-week sprints with a working demo at the end of each.
Handover or ongoing care
Documentation, automated tests on the critical paths, and a deployment pipeline, then either a clean handover to your team or a maintenance plan with us.
- React
- Next.js
- Node.js
- TypeScript
- React Native
- PostgreSQL
- Firebase
- AWS
What we take over
Rescues go fastest on the stack we build with every day, and we're upfront about the rest.
- Fastest. React, Next.js, Node.js, React Native, and PostgreSQL codebases in TypeScript or JavaScript: the same stack we build on, so there's no learning curve on your budget.
- Also common. Firebase and Supabase backends, Express and NestJS APIs, and apps hosted on AWS, GCP, Vercel, or a plain VPS.
- Honest limits. If your product runs on a stack we don't work in daily, we'll say so on the first call rather than learn it at your expense.
Proof
We've shipped this.
A live platform with 48 data models, real-time chat, and moderation that we keep running day to day: the maintenance discipline every rescued codebase moves into.
Worth knowing
Signs you need a rescue, not more patience
- The deadline has slipped three or more times, and each new date arrives without new information.
- You can't get a straight answer about what's finished and what isn't.
- Only one person knows how to deploy, and they're slow to reply.
- You don't hold the keys: the repo, cloud account, or app-store listing is in someone else's name.
- Every fix breaks something else, and bug reports outnumber features shipped.
- The quote to finish keeps growing, but you haven't seen working software in weeks.
Three or more of these usually means the problem is structural. More time from the same team rarely fixes it.
How it runs
How a rescue runs
Diagnosis before prescription. You get a written answer about what you have before anyone asks you to commit to a rebuild.
- 01
Take-over audit
1–2 weeksRead-only access under NDA. We map the architecture, review the code, scan dependencies for known vulnerabilities, restore-test your backups, and deliver a written report with a costed plan and a fix-or-rewrite recommendation for each part of the system.
- 02
Secure & stabilize
1–3 weeksOwnership moved into your accounts, critical bugs fixed, a reliable deployment pipeline in place, and monitoring switched on so problems surface before users report them.
- 03
Finish the build
varies by scopeThe remaining work in two-week sprints with demos, estimated against the real codebase. You see progress every sprint, not a promise every month.
- 04
Hand over or maintain
ongoingDocumentation, tests on the critical paths, and a walkthrough for your team, or a maintenance retainer with engineers who already know the system.
Timelines & pricing
Honest ranges, not a lump sum.
| Engagement | Timeline | Typical investment |
|---|---|---|
| Take-over audit | 1–2 weeks | $2K – $5K fixed |
| Stabilization | 1–3 weeks | Fixed quote from the audit |
| Finishing the build | varies by scope | Fixed quote from the audit |
| Ongoing maintenance | monthly | $1.5K – $10K/mo |
The audit price is fixed before we start, and the report is yours to keep, even if you take it to another vendor. Everything after it is quoted against what the audit found, not against a guess. Maintenance plans are detailed on our support & maintenance page; for how rescue work fits a wider budget, see the software maintenance cost guide.
A low-risk start
Start with the audit, not a commitment
We sign an NDA before looking at anything, and we only need read-only access to start.
How you work with us
Three ways to engage.
Fixed price
MVPs from $7,500
Full products $18,000–$55,000+
You know what you need built. We scope it, quote one price, and deliver against it, no meter running.
- One agreed price, agreed before we start
- Milestone-based payments tied to what you can see
- Change requests priced openly, never assumed
Time & materials
from $28 / hour
Blended ~$32; senior specialists to ~$45
For work that changes as you learn. You pay for the hours spent, see exactly where they go, and can steer week to week.
- Billed on real, logged hours, reviewed with you
- Reprioritise or change direction any sprint
- Start small, scale the team as it proves out
Dedicated team
from $2,800 / month
Per developer, full-time, see the rate card
Developers who work only on your product, full-time, as an extension of your team, the offshore model most of our long-term clients settle into.
- The same people, month after month
- Your tools, your standups, your roadmap
- Roughly half the loaded cost of a local hire
Full rate card and what's included on the pricing page.
Why Shimira IT
What the last team didn't give you.
A straight answer first
A written diagnosis before any big commitment, including when the answer is that you need less help than you feared.
Your keys, your accounts
Everything moves into accounts you own. You won't be locked out of your own product again.
Stabilize before features
We stop the bleeding before adding scope, because new features on an unstable base just create new outages.
Leave-able by design
Documented, tested, and deployable by any competent team. We keep clients by being good, not by being the only ones who understand the system.
Questions
Before you get in touch.
It starts with a fixed-price take-over audit, $2,000–$5,000 depending on the size of the system. Stabilization and finishing work are then quoted as fixed prices against what the audit found. If you stay with us afterwards, maintenance plans run $1,500–$10,000/month.
No. A rewrite is the most expensive answer and rarely the right one. The audit gives a fix-or-rewrite call for each part of the system, with the reasoning. A full rewrite only makes sense when the foundations (data model, architecture, or security) can't support what you need, and we'll show you the evidence if that's the case.
Read-only access to the code repository and, ideally, the hosting or cloud console. We sign an NDA first. If you don't have access yourself, recovering it is the first thing we help with.
We help you work out what you can recover: repositories, the domain registrar, cloud and app-store accounts, and third-party services all have account-recovery routes when you're the paying customer. Contract and IP disputes are a question for your lawyer; we handle the technical recovery.
It helps but isn't required. A one-hour handover call can save days, so we'll ask for one, but a take-over can start without it.
AI-built apps fail in recognizable ways, and we have a dedicated process for them. See AI-built app rescue.
Not sure what you need yet? That's the usual starting point.
Tell us the problem in your own words. We'll scope it with you and put the plan in writing, free, and yours to keep either way.