When your developer disappears, do four things in order: ask for a handover in writing, take control of every account, gather your contract, and have someone independent read the code before you hire anyone. The first three cost almost nothing. The fourth decides how much you spend afterward.
Make sure the developer is really gone
Silence is not always abandonment. Send one clear email and one text message. Say what you need: access to the code repository, the hosting account and the domain, plus a short handover. Give a date. Keep copies.
If the developer answers, you get the handover while it is still easy. If not, dated messages show that you tried, which helps if a hosting company later has to change an account owner.
Take control of the accounts this week
A domain that lapses or a hosting card that fails takes the site down, and the developer may have been the one paying. List each item below and check whose name and whose payment card is on it:
- the domain name
- the hosting account
- the database, where your customer data lives
- the code repository, which holds the code and the history of every change
- outside services such as payments, email and maps
Then make a copy of the code and the data before anyone changes anything. Where an account is in the developer's name, most providers have a process for moving it to you. It takes time, so start now. Our post on what to gather when a previous developer leaves walks through each transfer.
Gather your contract and invoices
Whether you own the code you paid for depends on what your contract says. That is a legal question, and I can't answer it. A lawyer can.
What you can do now is collect the paper. Find the signed contract or statement of work, every invoice and proof of payment, and the emails where you agreed on the work. If the developer worked through an agency, find that agreement too. A lawyer who sees these on the first day can answer faster and bill less.
Don't hire the next developer yet
The pull is to find a replacement and keep going. A new developer inherits the existing code, learns it on your bill and builds on top of it. If the base is weak, the second contract pays for the same problem as the first. Our post on what to check in the code you already paid for lists four questions that take a day or two to answer, including whether a stranger can run the software at all.
A short independent review of the code gives you a plain report on five things: what works, what is broken, what was planned but never built, whether the code is fragile, and what your options are. You don't need to follow every technical detail. You need to know what each option means for your money, your time and your risk.
If the code is missing
Sometimes the developer leaves and the source code goes with them. That is the hardest case, and it can still be fixed. One founder came to me with an animation plugins project whose source code was missing. I recovered the code, built a team and delivered in three months. I describe it, with four other rescues, in freelancer, agency or consultancy: which one fits.
Finish it or start over
Developers who take over often say the work needs a full rewrite. Sometimes that is true, and sometimes it is the larger bill. The answer depends on the code, and nobody can give it before reading the code. Often the answer is in between: keep the sound parts and rebuild the weak ones. Two real cases, one repair and one rebuild show how that call gets made.
What it will cost and how long it will take
I can't give you a number before I have seen the code, and anyone who does is guessing. After a review, a range and a plan become possible.
When you interview people to take over, ask each one the same questions. Can I speak to a past client? Who will do the work? Will the code and the accounts stay in my company's name? What will I receive at the end of the review?
At Moosara I review the code and the architecture first. I then interview and hire the developers the work needs, train your team, and leave you with a system that cheaper developers can maintain and that costs little to host. The aim is a product that launches, or a smaller team that can keep it running.
If your developer has left and you aren't sure what you have, book a free 15-minute call with me. Tell me what the software is meant to do and where it stands. I will tell you what I can and can't say without seeing it, and what I would do first.