Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons people contact me. Builds stall for predictable reasons: the developer left, the agency overcommitted, the scope grew, or the technical decisions early on made everything after them slow. Taking over someone else's half-finished work is a skill in itself, and after working on more than 200 Umbraco sites I have inherited every flavour of codebase there is. The process starts with a short review of what actually exists, because the honest answer to "how long to finish it" depends on whether the foundations are sound. Then you get a straight assessment: what to keep, what to redo, and what it will cost to ship.
A surprising amount of freelance Umbraco work is not greenfield at all. It is builds that stopped moving: an in-house developer resigned mid-project, an agency ran out of capacity or interest, or a fixed budget met a growing scope and the project quietly starved. Whatever the cause, someone is now paying for a website that does not exist yet, and every week adds pressure.
Before promising anything I look at the code, the content model and the infrastructure. Sometimes the previous team did good work and the project just needs hands; finishing it is quick. Sometimes the foundations are wrong in ways that would make every future change expensive, and the kindest thing I can do is say so before you spend more. That review is a small, fixed piece of consultancy, and you get the findings in plain English whether or not you hire me for the rest.
Once we agree what "done" means, the remaining development is planned in visible chunks so you can see progress weekly rather than trusting a distant launch date. I work at a flat £500 a day, so the economics are transparent: no premium for rescue work, no penalty for someone else's decisions. Where the remaining scope is clear enough, I will quote it as a fixed piece instead.
Access to the repository, the database or a backup, and whatever passes for documentation. Silence from a previous supplier is common and survivable; I have rebuilt understanding of many sites from the code alone. The sooner I can see what exists, the sooner you get a real answer instead of another estimate built on hope.
Tell me what you're working on and I'll come back within one working day.
A specialist Umbraco developer offering freelance / contract services to a wide variety of clients across the UK
Maesgwyn, 3 Claremont rd,
Llandudno, North Wales, LL30 2UF