Published 10 August 2026 · Rich Hickson
The claim everyone makes
"You own the code" appears on practically every development agency's website, including ours. But ownership is only meaningful if it survives contact with reality — and the reality test is simple: what happens when you want to leave? If the answer involves negotiation, exit fees, or discovering the database lives in the agency's account, you never really owned anything.
What ownership means here, concretely
- The code is yours. The repository is transferred to accounts you control, or lives there from day one. Not a zip file on request — the actual repository, with its history.
- The database is yours. Hosted in accounts registered to your business, with credentials you hold. If we vanished tomorrow, your data wouldn't.
- The data is yours. Obvious in principle, tested in practice: you can export everything, in a usable format, without asking.
- The accounts are yours. Domains, hosting, DNS, third-party services — registered to you, paid by you where practical. The bill lands with the owner, and the owner is you.
- No per-user licence fees. Bespoke software you own doesn't charge you rent for growing. Ten staff or two hundred — the software doesn't care.
The bus test and the divorce test
Two questions worth asking any developer, including us. First: if you got hit by a bus, what happens to my system? The answer should be that everything runs in your accounts, documented well enough for a competent successor to pick up. Second: if we fall out, what do you keep? The correct answer is nothing you need.
We build to pass both tests, because we've been on the other side of the table — inside operating businesses, inheriting systems from suppliers who'd made themselves indispensable. Indispensability is a business model; it just isn't ours.
Why we work this way
Partly principle, partly self-interest. Clients who stay because leaving is painful are hostages, and hostages write bad reviews. Clients who stay because the software works and the service is good are the ones who bring the next project — and every project we've won by referral came from a client who knew they could leave.
It's the same reason we publish real price ranges and tell people when a £30/month off-the-shelf tool would serve them better. Trust compounds; lock-in doesn't.
Questions to ask before you commission anything
- Whose name is on the hosting, the domain, and the database?
- Do I get the repository, or "access to" the repository?
- Are there per-user or per-seat fees hiding in the support contract?
- What exactly happens, step by step, if I move to another developer?
Any developer worth hiring will answer those in writing without flinching. Ours are in every specification we produce.
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