Custom Software · Project Rescue

Off track. Over budget. Still fixable.

Frogslayer made its name rescuing software projects nobody else would touch — the “oh no” call that turns into “oh wow.” That’s still the job. Lately it includes a new kind of patient: the AI-generated codebase that hit the ceiling. Either way it starts with a System Evaluation, and you get a straight answer.

Sound familiar?

If you’ve said any of these out loud lately.

  • Release dates keep moving and nobody can tell me why.
  • The same bugs come back after every “fix.”
  • The vendor went quiet the moment the invoice cleared.
  • We’re a year in, well over budget, and have nothing a customer can touch.
  • We vibe-coded an MVP and it worked — right up until real customers showed up.
  • The AI built it fast. Now nobody — including the AI — can change it safely.
  • Our freelancer’s app can’t pass the security questionnaire our biggest customer just sent.
What we do

Four moves. In this order.

01
Stabilize first
Stop the bleeding: source control, environments, backups, and the handful of fixes that stop the pager. Days, not weeks.
02
Evaluate everything
Architecture, code quality, security, the delivery pipeline, and the team dynamics that got you here. You get the unvarnished picture.
03
Decide with you — with numbers
Salvage, rework, or restart. Each option with a cost, a timeline, and what you keep. You choose; we don’t sell you the biggest one.
04
Rebuild what must be rebuilt, ship what can ship
Most rescues keep more than people expect. We get something real in front of users fast, then work the list.
The new wave

You built it with AI, or a freelancer, or both. Good.

You proved the idea for a fraction of what a “proper” build would have cost. That was the right call. The ceiling you just hit — it can’t scale, it can’t pass a security review, nobody can change it without breaking something else — isn’t a moral failing. It’s the normal point where a prototype needs a professional.

That’s what we do. We’ll read what you have, tell you which parts survive into production, and give you a fixed price for getting there. No lecture about how you should have done it differently. You got further, faster, and cheaper than most. Now let’s make it hold weight.

What it costs to start

One priced first step. Then a real proposal.

The entry offer

System Evaluation

Fixed fee · from $3,500

Before anyone touches code: an independent read on what you have, what’s salvageable, and what it will take. You get findings, a prioritized plan, and a fixed proposal for the rescue.

  • Architecture, code, infrastructure, and security review
  • Where the risk actually is — technical and organizational
  • Salvage / rework / restart, each with a number
  • A fixed proposal for the next step

Before you call: Why Frogslayer — professionals, not amateurs · What to ask the next partner before you sign · What it costs · How we work

What clients say

Partner, not vendor.

I’ve worked with other software development firms in the past, but no one could ever get the job done. When we’re in a crunch, Frogslayer is my secret, go-to team.
Dave Meier, Sr. Director of Product Development, NCR
We had an impossible deadline with new technology. Frogslayer turned around the project in a week and made it look easy. Well done!
Christian Thilmany, Principal Technology Evangelist, Microsoft
Pre-project consulting

Five steps, every time.

For project rescue, “Engage” means the System Evaluation first — then the project, on the engagement model we recommend after it.

  1. 01
    Discovery Call
    30–60 min

    You tell us the problem in your words. We tell you straight whether — and where — we can help. No slides.

  2. 02
    Deep Dive
    60–90 min

    The people closest to the problem, in one room (or one call). We get to the real constraint and the number that matters.

  3. 03
    Proposal & Paperwork
    days, not weeks

    Scope, price, and timeline in writing. A standard MSA and a short SOW — no 50-page lock-up.

  4. 04
    Prep & Kickoff
    week 1

    Access, environments, and a kickoff with everyone who touches the work. You know who’s on it and what ships first.

  5. 05
    Engage
    ongoing

    The work itself — visible every week, in your environment, with your people in the loop.

The full picture on how we work →

Questions about project rescue

Straight answers.

Can every project be saved?

Nearly always, something can. Sometimes the honest answer is “restart — and here’s the fastest, cheapest way to do it with what you learned.” You’ll get the answer, with numbers, not a pitch for the biggest option.

We built it with ChatGPT / Cursor / a no-code tool. Is it garbage?

No. It’s a prototype, and prototypes are supposed to get replaced by production systems — that’s what they’re for. The question is which parts survive: the data model, the workflows, the UI. The System Evaluation answers exactly that.

Will you work with our existing developers or vendor?

If you want us to, yes. Sometimes the fix is a senior architect and a delivery lead the team was missing. Sometimes it’s a clean handover. We’ll tell you which we see, and we won’t badmouth anyone to win the work.

How fast can you move?

Stabilization starts within days of the evaluation. The full plan comes out of the evaluation itself. We move at the speed of the problem — a deadline with money on it gets a team on it now.

What does a rescue cost?

The System Evaluation is a fixed fee. The rescue is a fixed proposal from there — scoped to what has to happen, not to a target hourly count. We’ve structured rescues with our own fee at risk on the deadline when the stakes justified it.

Get started

Make the “oh no” call. We’ll take it from there.

Book a 30-minute intro. Tell us where it stands — honestly — and we’ll tell you honestly whether it can be saved and what the first week looks like.