You paid once and it still doesn't work
We hear some version of this on many first calls. You put in money and months of attention, and the project did not land. It usually ends in one of four ways.
- Half built. The app was never finished and never launched.
- Launched broken. It went live, but it is slow, full of bugs, or nobody uses it.
- Nothing usable. Months of invoices and demos, and no working product.
- Held hostage. The developer still controls the code, the servers or the accounts, and you cannot move without them.
Your developer disappeared: what to do first
Software projects fail for ordinary reasons: a scope that kept growing, one developer who took a full-time job, a studio that ran out of runway. Blame does not help you ship; control does. First make sure they have really gone. Write by email and one other channel, say plainly what you need (a status update, access to the accounts and the source code), set a date a week away, and save every message, invoice and receipt. If the developer worked for a company, contact the company, not just the person.
Do not wait for that date before you secure your accounts. It costs nothing and cannot hurt the relationship. Work through them from the most urgent to the least.
- 1Make an inventory
List the domain, hosting or cloud account, Apple and Google developer accounts, the code repository, the database and backups, email and push services, the payment processor and any third-party keys. Old invoices usually show where each one lives.
- 2Take back the domain
Look it up in a public WHOIS tool. If it is in your name, reset the password. If it is in theirs, contact the registrar with proof that you run the business. The domain controls your email and website.
- 3Secure hosting and cloud accounts
If you are the owner or billing contact you can usually reset access or add yourself as an admin. If it is their personal account, you need their cooperation or a migration plan.
- 4Check the app store listings
If the app was published under the developer's own account, you cannot simply log in. Ask Apple and Google about transferring it to your account. It takes paperwork, so start early.
- 5Locate the source code
It usually sits in GitHub or GitLab. Check whether you were ever invited. Code that exists only on their laptop is the biggest risk on the list.
- 6Change every password and key
Once you have access to anything, rotate passwords, API keys and payment credentials and remove the developer's access. Do it calmly: a clean handover beats a fight.
If the developer answers but holds the code until a dispute is settled, ownership follows what you signed. Without a written assignment the author may own the code, so get legal advice before you threaten or pay anyone. Many cases end with a settlement: what is owed, in exchange for a signed assignment of the code and credentials. Never log in to accounts that are not yours.
Take over the app or rebuild it: we tell you which
Patching someone else's unfinished work is slower than most owners expect, because every fix starts with reading code nobody documented. Sometimes a clean rebuild is faster and cheaper than a repair, and that is what we recommend. Sometimes the foundation is sound and a few weeks of repair is the right call. We tell you which one it is, even when the other answer would pay us more.
- We repair it when the data model makes sense, the code is readable, and the problems are specific bugs or missing features.
- We rebuild when the structure fights every change, nobody can explain how it works, or you would pay more to understand it than to start again. If no usable code exists, the live app, your data and your notes become the specification.
- Either way, we keep what has real value: your data, your screens and flows that already work, and the written requirements. You are not paying twice for the thinking.
How a software rescue runs
- 1Call
Thirty minutes. You tell us what happened and what you need. If it is not a fit, or not worth saving, we say so.
- 2Kickoff meeting
We review what you have, map how the software is supposed to make or save you money, and agree what to fix first. Nothing is charged until the kickoff is done.
- 3First delivery in week 1
The first working piece arrives in the first week after the kickoff. A rebuild is staged so you see the app improving, not a long silence.
- 4Visible every week, in your name
Every task, bug and token appears in the platform, on the web and in the app, with a weekly update and a monthly meeting with the senior lead. Repositories, hosting, domains, app store accounts and keys are set up under your name from day one. If you leave, you take it all with you.
What a software rescue costs
A rescue runs on the same monthly plans as any other Vesk project: Starter at $1,270, Growth at $2,290 or Scale at $3,980 CAD a month, plus GST/HST. Growth, at 20 tokens a month, is a sensible place to start. A bug costs 3 tokens, a new simple screen 5, a complete feature 10 and an integration with payments or QuickBooks 12.
As an example, a customer app that launched but keeps crashing might use a first Growth month like this: three bugs fixed (9 tokens), one broken feature rebuilt properly (10 tokens) and a small change (1 token). Each task is quoted before it starts, and a bug is free to fix again if it breaks within 30 days.
For context, a Toronto agency typically bills $130 to $190 an hour for this work, plus 20 to 40 percent for project management, and a replacement build quoted as a new project commonly starts around $50,000 CAD. The monthly plan lets you stop at any point. See what custom software costs in Canada.
Who does the work and where
You sign a Canadian contract with APRed, our Canadian company, and pay in CAD. The senior team is in Mexico City, one to two hours behind Toronto depending on the season, so calls fit your business day. Read how a Mexico City team works for Canadian businesses, or compare freelancer, agency or team if you are still deciding who should build it.