For the point where no plugin fits any more. Custom functions, interfaces to your ERP and code that someone after us can still read.
A requirement comes up, someone finds a plugin, it does eighty percent. A second one covers the rest, then a third connects the two. After two years nobody knows which does what.
Annual licences, three possible ways in for an attacker and an update that eventually breaks one of the three. Fixing that quickly costs more than building it properly once.
When a requirement belongs to your business rather than to technology. A configurator, reseller pricing, a sync with your inventory system. No plugin does that because it only looks like this at your company.
PHP // SAUBER
Built as its own plugin rather than dropped into a theme file. That way it survives the next theme change and can be switched off without the site going blank.
API // ANBINDUNG
To inventory, accounting, CRM or a shipping provider. Usually the point is that data is entered once instead of three times, which saves more time than any redesign.
BESTAND // PRÜFUNG
We look at an existing installation and say what can be repaired and what cannot. Sometimes the answer is unwelcome. You get it anyway, before you spend money.
Edits to the source of purchased plugins. That works exactly until the vendor’s next update, after which the change is gone or the site is broken. If it is the only route we say so and look for another.
Repairs on installations that have had no updates for years, without an assessment first. There the first question is not what is broken but whether someone has already been inside.
And maintenance promises for code we did not write and are not allowed to read. If a predecessor withholds the source we can offer plenty, but no guarantee.
Reference values from our takeover projects, not a guarantee
If two of these four apply to you, it is worth looking inside the installation before anything new is added.
We bill by effort and state a range before we start that we keep to. A self contained function usually lands in the low four figures, an interface to an inventory system above that. For a whole website our usual 2.500€ to 8.000€ applies.
Yes, after an assessment. We look at what runs, how it is built and whether updates have happened. Then we say what we can take on and what we cannot. Sometimes the answer is that a rebuild costs less than the repair.
Yes, in full and at no extra cost. What we write belongs to you and sits in your repository. That is not a given in this industry and it is why many businesses eventually end up locked in with a provider.
If it has an interface, yes. If not we check whether the vendor offers one or whether an export file provides a workaround. What we advise against is scraping screens, because that breaks with every update.
A self contained function usually one to three weeks, most of which is coordination and testing rather than writing. If a requirement is not clearly described yet, the first week is there to make it clear.