Turnkey outdated system modernization — from audit to handoff to your team
Your code has survived three CTOs, twelve development teams, and just as many "temporary" solutions? We know this story. Code that "works, don't touch" — until it stops working at the worst possible moment. Architecture that nobody dares to change. Regressions that are only caught in production. New features that take weeks instead of days.
This is not your fault. This is the consequence of decades of business decisions made under limited time and resources.
We take the entire outdated system — code, infrastructure, processes — and bring it to a state where a team of 2–3 developers can confidently develop it further.
Rewriting means risking losing business logic, getting stuck for half a year, and ending up with a new pile of problems. We work iteratively: refactor critical parts, cover with tests, extract services, update dependencies — and at each step the system remains operational.
| Criteria | The usual way | Turnkey with Demlabs |
|---|---|---|
| Payment | Hourly — final cost is unpredictable | Fixed price per stage — you know the budget upfront |
| Responsibility | Split between contractors — each handles their own piece | One contractor — from day one to launch |
| Result | "We did our part, the rest is on you" | A working system + your team knows how to maintain it |
| Risks | If something goes wrong — you pay for rework | We fix the scope and take responsibility for the result |
| Communication | Reports that say little | Clear metrics: what changed and how much better it got |
| Stage | What happens | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Audit | 2–3 weeks. We study the codebase, infrastructure, deployment processes, and team pain points | Detailed report with a prioritized work plan and risk assessment |
| Stabilization | We cover critical paths with tests, fix vulnerabilities, update critical dependencies | The system stops breaking from every sneeze |
| Core refactoring | We extract domains, remove circular dependencies, introduce clean architecture | The code becomes predictable and readable |
| Modernization | We update the language and frameworks, migrate to modern infrastructure, CI/CD | The system runs on a current stack |
| Handoff | We document, train your team, transition to support | Your team develops the product independently |
We know the typical anti-patterns that accumulate in code over years: god objects, circular dependencies, spaghetti logic, lack of tests, outdated dependencies. We don't waste time on the obvious.
Every iteration is deployable code. No "branches that can't be merged for three months".
Before and after: deployment time, failure rate, feature delivery time, test coverage. You see progress in numbers.
We don't create dependency on ourselves. The goal is for your team to be able to work further without us.
Releases turn into a ritual of fear, and rollbacks become the norm
A new developer spends a month figuring out where things are
Updating the language or framework seems like an impossible task
Business asks for a feature "yesterday," and you know it will take a month — because of technical debt
The team is growing, but productivity is falling
We dive in for 2–4 months, working alongside your team or autonomously. The result — an updated system + a trained team.
2–3 weeks. You get an independent expertise and a step-by-step plan with estimates. Then you work on your own or invite us for key stages.
The system is down, the team is panicking, the deadline was yesterday. We step in within 48 hours, stop the bleeding, and provide a plan for further actions.
Tell us about your system — we'll find the best approach together.
Demlabs — we make outdated code maintainable and teams independent.
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