Shipped is the start.Keeping it safe is the job.
I’m DC. Once a SaaS product is live, most of what keeps it healthy is unglamorous: security patches, dependencies that go stale, backups nobody has tested, a framework version with a support end date. I look after that for Laravel and PHP products every month, with the code and the accounts staying in your name.
Patch
Check
Report
Live
Every month
The same work every month, in the same order, so nothing depends on someone remembering. Each part is written up in a short note at the end of the month.
MonthlyMaintenance
Six parts
Done on staging first, then released, with a note of what changed and what is coming.
Laravel releases a major version roughly every first quarter. Each one gets 18 months of bug fixes and two years of security fixes, then nothing. PHP versions get two years of active support and two more of security fixes only. So every Laravel product has a clock on it, whether anyone is watching it or not.
On the retainer, the yearly upgrade is scoped and priced ahead, from what the monthly audits have already shown, and done on staging before release. It becomes a line in the budget rather than an emergency when a version runs out.
The repository, hosting, domain and payment accounts stay in your company’s name throughout; I work in them with access you grant and can remove. Copyright in work done under the retainer is AssignmentA written, signed transfer of ownershipIn UK law, whoever writes code owns it unless they’re an employee or there’s a written assignment signed by them. Paying for it isn’t enough on its own, so the retainer assigns it to you in writing. in writing, not just licensed.
If you stop, everything is handed over unconditionally: the code, the documentation, the access and a written note of the product’s state for whoever picks it up. Where the retainer involves your customers’ data, a Data processing agreementThe contract UK GDPR requires with a processorAnyone who handles personal data on your behalf, such as a developer with access to your production database, needs a written contract under UK GDPR Article 28 setting out what they may do with it. is signed before I get access to it.
Tap a dotted term for its meaning.
Per product, on what it takes to keep that product healthy: the size of the codebase, how much runs in the background, how quickly something needs a response, and how much change you expect each month. You get a monthly figure after a first read of the code and hosting, before anything starts. There’s no rate card, because two products on the same framework can need very different care.
A free call about the product, the stack and what worries you. Then a first read of the code, hosting and accounts, so the retainer is priced on what is actually there. If the product has just lost its developer or agency, that first read is the takeover described on the stalled build rescue page.
It’s agreed for each product and written into the agreement, so an outage and a cosmetic bug aren’t treated the same way.
Yes. Most of them were. The first read finds out what the last team left behind: versions, dependencies, backups, background jobs and anything only they knew.
Laravel and PHP are the core. Python and Django products too. Ask about anything else.
No. Hosting stays in your account and your name; I work in it.
New features beyond the time agreed for the month, which are quoted separately; design and copy; running your support desk; and your hosting company’s own service.
UK based · PHP · Python · JS · TS. Every first call is free.