Service

Software support and maintenance

A development team on retainer — fixes, patches, improvements and a roadmap, without the payroll.

Developer reviewing and fixing code late in the evening

Software is not finished at launch. Browsers change, dependencies get advisories, payment providers deprecate endpoints, and your business finds things it wants next. Without ongoing care, a system that was excellent in year one is a liability by year three.

A retainer gives you a known amount of development time each month, a named route to report problems, and someone actively watching the security of what you run.

We also take over other people’s work. If your original developer has disappeared, we will audit what exists, document it, stabilise it and then improve it — rather than reflexively insisting on a rewrite.

What you get

What support & maintenance includes

Every engagement covers the same ground. Nothing here is an optional extra we spring on you halfway through.

Defined response times

Agreed targets by severity, so a checkout outage is not sitting in the same queue as a wording change.

Security patching

Dependency and framework updates applied on a schedule, with advisories handled promptly and tested first.

Included development hours

A block of time each month for enhancements, rolling forward within the quarter if you do not use it.

Health and performance reporting

A monthly summary of uptime, performance, errors and what was changed — in plain English.

Roadmap sessions

A regular conversation about what is next, so improvement is deliberate instead of reactive.

Handover and rescue

Audit, documentation and stabilisation of an inherited codebase before we change anything material.

Is this you?

This service is a good fit if…

Your system is live and nobody is currently responsible for it
The developer who built it is no longer available
You keep deferring improvements because there is no capacity
You need to demonstrate patching and backups for compliance
You want steady progress rather than occasional big projects

Under the bonnet

Technology we use

Mainstream, well-supported technology chosen so your software is maintainable by anybody competent — not just by us.

Version control
CI pipelines
Automated tests
Error tracking
Dependency scanning

Questions

Support & maintenance FAQs

Including what it costs and how long it takes.

What does a support retainer cost?

Retainers start around £250 a month for a maintained website and £600 to £2,000 a month for an application with included development hours. Larger platforms are scoped individually. There is no minimum term beyond a month’s notice.

Will you support software you did not build?

Yes, after an audit. We review the code, dependencies, infrastructure and data model, then give you a written assessment of risk and effort before either of us commits.

What counts as a bug versus a new feature?

A bug is the system not doing what was agreed; that is covered. A change to what was agreed is a feature, and it comes out of your included hours or is quoted separately. We are pragmatic about the grey area rather than legalistic.

Can we start with support and add development later?

That is the usual path. Most clients begin with maintenance and hosting, then increase their monthly hours once there is a backlog worth working through.