§ FAQ / aggregated
Frequently asked questions
Aggregated questions founders ask before booking an Afterbuild Labs rescue. Each section also links to a detailed page — /pricing for the fee menu, /about/methodology for our measurement rules, and /legal/privacy for data handling.
What Afterbuild Labs does
Afterbuild Labs rescues, hardens, and ships to production apps built with AI coding tools. Every engagement is a senior engineer on a fixed fee.
What does Afterbuild Labs do?+
We rescue, harden, and productionize apps built with AI code tools — Lovable, Bolt.new, Replit, Cursor, Base44, Windsurf, v0, Claude Code, and Bubble. Broken auth, flaky deploys, burning credits, unreadable code — we fix, ship, and hand back. 48-hour audit, fixed-price engagements, no hourly surprises.
Which AI tools do you cover?+
Lovable, Bolt.new, Replit Agent, Cursor, Base44, Windsurf (Cascade), v0, Claude Code, Bubble, and Tempo. If your app is JavaScript, TypeScript, or Python we can work with it — regardless of which AI tool wrote the first draft. We also work with hand-written code that's drifted.
Will you throw away our AI-generated code?+
Almost never. We preserve what works and refactor incrementally — full rewrites are a last resort. Most of the codebase is usually salvageable with a cleanup pass. We'll tell you in the 48-hour audit if a rewrite is actually cheaper.
Do you work alongside our in-house engineers?+
Yes. We pair with in-house teams, review PRs, and coach on directing AI tools for production work. Many clients keep their team prompting in Lovable or Cursor while we handle the production concerns — RLS, Stripe edges, deploys, tests. Clean handoff is built into every engagement.
Pricing and engagement
Fixed-fee only. Price menu published at /pricing; no hourly billing; no scope creep.
How do you price rescue and production work?+
Start with the free Rescue Diagnostic. Then choose the smallest fixed scope that solves the problem: $299 Emergency Triage, $499 Security Audit, $799 Integration Fix, $3,999 Break-the-Fix-Loop Refactor, $7,499 Finish My MVP, or $3,499/mo Retainer Support. No mystery hourly meter.
Are your prices negotiable?+
No. Fixed fees are how we guarantee scope and protect your budget. The price you see is the price you pay — no scope creep, no hourly overruns.
Do you offer payment plans?+
For engagements above $3,999 we split into two payments: 50% to start, 50% on delivery. Arrange this before booking.
How fast can you start?+
The free Rescue Diagnostic usually starts within one business day and returns a written rescue-vs-rewrite recommendation in 24 to 48 hours. Emergency Triage is a paid $299 option for one broken production issue with a 48-hour turnaround.
Is there a refund policy?+
Emergency Triage: full refund if we can't fix the bug within 48 hours. Other tiers: we don't offer refunds once work starts, but we always show a clear deliverable scope before you pay.
Scope and tooling
What if my AI tool isn't on your list?+
Send us the repo anyway. We've rescued apps from at least a dozen tools and the underlying patterns — broken auth, missing RLS, deploys that won't go live, burning credits in regression loops — are the same. If it's JavaScript, TypeScript, or Python, we can work with it.
How are you different from Upwork or Toptal?+
We specialise in one problem: AI-built apps that need to reach production. Fixed-fee audit and engagement, written fix plan before you commit, senior engineers only (no juniors ghosted behind a PM), and proven rescues across Lovable, Bolt, Replit, Cursor, and Base44. No bidding wars, no mystery hourly meters.
What if I need more than one integration fixed?+
Book an Integration Fix for the most urgent one. If the scope is larger — multiple broken integrations plus architecture debt — we'll likely recommend the Break-the-Fix-Loop tier at $3,999.
Privacy and compliance
Client code and engagement details are treated as confidential. We sign mutual NDAs on request.
How do you handle our code and data?+
All repositories and engagement data stay confidential. We sign mutual NDAs on request. Case studies on /case-studies are published only as illustrative composites with user-visible disclosure — we never publish real client identities or numbers without written consent.
Do you work with regulated apps (HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR, PCI)?+
Yes. See /compliance for the audits we offer across HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR, and PCI DSS. We build the technical control environment your auditor inspects — we do not replace a compliance officer or a QSA.
Next step
Still have a question?
Book the free 48-hour diagnostic or email direct. Either path gets you to a written rescue-vs-rewrite call within two business days.