Not every app project starts with an idea. Some start with an app that already exists and an agency that no longer answers. The app has users, the contract has ended or the agency has changed hands, and the business owner discovers that the store account, the server and the source code were never in the company's own name.
Taking over after an agency change
The order matters. First the access: repository, App Store and Google Play accounts, cloud console, domain and any paid third-party services, all transferred to you. Then a read of the code and a test build, to see whether what is in the repository is really what runs in the stores. The App Check report sorts the findings into three columns: keep, fix first, replace. The full process is on the page about taking over an existing app. If the project stalled before launch, the rescue route applies instead.
Where the code is worth keeping, the next step is a takeover from $10,500 rather than a new build: accounts in your name, a build that runs with current tools, one store update shipped and a written emergency handbook.
Professional services: law, accounting and insurance
Birmingham has a large professional and financial services sector: law firms, accountants, insurers and brokers. Firms like these tend to need modest apps with strict rules: a client portal for document upload and case status, a claims intake app for a broker, an internal approvals tool with a record of who signed what. The screens are simple. The care goes into access rights, retention and a data flow your compliance partner can read. When one of your own clients sends you a security questionnaire, the vendor security review prepares the answers.
Property, construction and regeneration
Developers, contractors and managing agents work on sites where the paper form is still the default. Snagging lists, handover inspections, defect photos with their position on a floor plan, sign-off by the resident or the client: these belong in an app that works without signal in a concrete stairwell and syncs once it reaches the street. Examples are on the page about apps for property management.
Agreeing access and retention
We agree who can access client documents, how long records are kept and how deletion works before development. The UK overview explains the wider context of UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and services with both UK and EU users.
If you have an internal IT team, we record architecture decisions for its review and agree who approves each release. Changes go through your team's repository and release process.
Where to begin
- An app without a developer: App Check, then a fixed-price takeover or rescue
- A paper process: First Version (MVP) from $27,800 in two to four weeks
- A product for clients or residents: market-ready app from $83,300
- Your own developers on board: a single app or a review for your team