Craft CMS support, maintenance and site takeover
I look after Craft CMS sites that other people built. Updates, upgrades, urgent fixes and a monthly retainer. Twenty-five years on sites like yours.
Nobody is looking after your Craft site
Most Craft CMS sites I take on arrive the same way. The agency that built the site has moved on, gone quiet or closed. Updates stopped a year or two ago. Nobody is quite sure who holds the hosting login. Then something breaks and there is no one to call.
This is normal and it is fixable. Craft is a solid platform. A site left alone for two years is rarely broken beyond repair. It is usually behind on updates, running on old PHP and missing a few security patches.
I take over Craft sites from previous developers and keep them running. You get one person who knows your site, answers your emails and tells you the truth about what it needs.
What goes wrong, and what I do
What you are dealing with
- Your Craft site is still on version 3 or 4 and updates have stopped
- The agency that built it has closed or stopped replying
- Something broke after an update and nobody knows why
- The site has slowed down and pages take too long to load
- You have no idea who holds the hosting, domain or licence keys
- A security scan flagged problems and you cannot read the report
How I fix it
- Plan and run the upgrade to Craft 5 in staging, tested before it goes live
- Take over the site properly, document what exists and become your point of contact
- Trace the fault to its cause, fix it and tell you in plain words what happened
- Profile the site, cut the slow queries and get load times back down
- Track down every account, move them into your name and write it all down
- Read the report for you, fix what is real and ignore what is noise
What Craft CMS support covers
Six things I do for Craft sites. Most clients need two or three of them.
Health check and audit
A full look at your Craft site before anything changes. Version, plugins, hosting, security, speed. You get a written report you can actually read, and a price for the work it needs.
Craft 3, 4 and 5 upgrades
Version upgrades planned and run in staging first. Plugin compatibility checked, content tested, then released. Craft 4 stopped getting security patches in April 2026, so anything below Craft 5 is now unpatched.
Urgent fixes
The site is down, the forms stopped sending or an update broke something. I find the cause rather than patching the symptom, then tell you what happened and why.
Monthly maintenance retainer
Core and plugin updates, backups checked, uptime watched and a set number of hours for small changes. A short monthly note telling you what I did.
Speed and security
Slow Craft sites are usually slow for two or three findable reasons. I profile the site, fix the real causes and harden it against the common attacks.
Developer handover
Taking a site off a developer who has gone quiet. I collect the code, the database, the licences and the logins, then document the lot so you are never stuck again.
How taking over your Craft site works
You tell me what you have
A short email is enough. The site address, roughly when it was built and what is worrying you. I reply within one working day.
I audit the site
I look at the code, the Craft version, the plugins and the hosting. You get a written report showing what is fine, what is urgent and what can wait.
You get a fixed price
A price for the urgent work and a monthly figure for keeping it healthy. Both in writing before I start. No hourly surprises.
I keep it running
Updates, backups and monitoring handled. You have one person to call when something goes wrong, and I already know your site.
Craft CMS adoption: moving your site to a new developer
Adoption is the word for handing an existing Craft site to a new developer. Agencies also call it a takeover or a transfer. It is the most common way my Craft work starts, and it is simpler than most people expect.
You do not need the old developer to cooperate. If you can reach the hosting and the code, I can take it from there. If you cannot, tracking those down is part of the job.
Plenty of people worry that changing their Craft agency is rude. It is not. Sites move between developers all the time. The bigger risk is leaving a site with nobody looking after it, because that is when small problems turn into expensive ones.
Common questions
My agency built the site and has gone quiet. Can you still take it over?
Yes, and this is the most common way clients come to me. I do not need their cooperation. I need access to the hosting and the code. If you cannot get those, finding them is part of what I do.
What does a Craft CMS maintenance retainer cost?
It depends on the size of the site and how much monthly change you need. Small brochure sites cost less than large Craft Commerce stores. I audit first, then quote a fixed monthly figure in writing. You will not get an unexpected bill.
My site is still on Craft 3. Is that a problem?
Craft 3 stopped getting security patches in April 2024, and Craft 4 stopped in April 2026. Both are now unpatched, so this is worth sorting sooner rather than later. I plan the route to Craft 5, run it in staging and only release once it is tested.
Do I have to move hosting to work with you?
No. I work with whatever hosting you already have. If your current host is genuinely holding the site back I will say so and explain why, but moving is your decision and never a condition.
How quickly do you respond when something breaks?
I reply to enquiries within one working day. Retainer clients get priority. For a site that is fully down I move straight away, though I will always be honest about timescales rather than promise something I cannot hold to.
Can you just fix one thing rather than take on a retainer?
Yes. Plenty of work is a single fixed-price job with no ongoing commitment. I will not push a retainer that the site does not need.
Do you handle Craft Commerce sites as well?
Yes. Commerce sites need more care because payments, shipping rules and the catalogue all interact. The approach is the same, but the audit takes longer.
Will you explain things without the jargon?
Yes. You should not need a technical background to understand what your own site needs. Every report I send is written to be read by the person paying for it.
Related pages
For Craft builds, rescues and one-off projects see Craft CMS developer UK. For what a takeover actually involves see Craft CMS rescue: what a takeover includes. For upgrade costs see Craft 4 to Craft 5 migration costs. For white-label Craft work through your agency see for agencies.
Want someone looking after your Craft site?
Send me the site address and what is worrying you. I will reply within one working day and tell you honestly whether it needs work.