Hostage Taking by My Wordpress Developer

[Kingalan1]

Since 2013 a Wordpress developer has coded my real estate website.

Their hourly rate is $24 but the programmers take too long to perform tasks and the service has become prohibitively expensive. Examples of unreasonable time estimates below:

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1. Change theme settings so posts/pages do not display a date. -> 7 hrs
2.Google search results are displaying the breadcrumb on the top of each page rather than the URL. Please correct so this does not display. -> 3 hrs
3. Install SSL certificate to www.metro-manhattan.com domain -> 8 hrs

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The above does not include 5-6 hours for testing.

I am considering changing vendors. Potential programmers have asked how the site was developed and to what extent is it is customized. Ends up several plugins were built from scratch.

My question is whether a new developer is going to be able to pick up a custom coded site. That without understanding how the site was built, any change will break the site. My concern is that current developer has made themselves indispensable, and created a situation where there is no alternative to using them and they can therefore charge any price they want.Any thoughts?

Also below are questions I asked my developer about how the site was built and their answers:

| 1. Was everything coded using a child theme?
No, is a custom theme.

2. Did you use any ready made theme or just plugins
We used the theme and and we've used plugins. Third party plugins and plugins builded from scratch

3. Can Wordpress and every one of the plugin be updated? 
Wordpress can be updated, core files was never modified. If after an update something start to work wrong is due to some radical wordpress change or similar

Can't be updated:

• FireStorm Professional Real Estate Plugin

Created at xxx:

• Form Submissions Report
• Miscellaneous Hooks and Filters
• NYC Check memory usage
• NYC SEO listings
• NYC Slider
• Sitemap Updater

4. Were any of the plugins customized and if so, which ones?
Yes, this plugin "FireStorm Professional Real Estate Plugin" |

[seoman10]

It can be very difficult to get a new developer to take on a site that has been designed by someone else even if it is on a standard platform like WordPress.

The core files should never be edited and you should only accept updates from the platform provider e.g. WordPress.

Always make sure the domain is in your own name and you have access to the hosting.  And make sure you have your own off-line backup of the entire site including content and databases.

[Kingalan1]

Fortunately, I do have full control of the server and backups.

But I should have never agreed to allowing the modification of plugins. At the time I did not understand the implications.

Would it help a new coder if the previous developer  provided a detailed description of the modified plugins? What if I agreed to pay the old developer to act a consultant to a new developer?

My developer believes he is in the drivers seat and is charging me 3-5x what is reasonable and fair.  Result is that I can't afford to make any meaningful improvements to the site.