Do you work with clients outside Doncaster?

Yes. I am based in Doncaster and happy to meet locally or across South Yorkshire, but most Laravel projects run remotely with clients around the UK. Weekly demos happen over a video call and a staging link.

Can you take over a Laravel project another developer started?

Regularly. I start with a short, fixed-price audit: what state the code is in, what version it runs on, what the risks are, and what it would take to make it safe to work on. You get that in writing before committing to anything.

Can you upgrade our old Laravel application?

Yes. Upgrades from Laravel 5, 6, 7 or 8 to the current release, and from PHP 7 to 8.3, are some of the most common work I do. The approach is tests first, then one version at a time with the suite green at each step, so the upgrade is verified rather than hoped for.

Can you migrate a raw PHP or CodeIgniter application to Laravel?

Yes. Legacy applications are moved into Laravel module by module, with the old system kept running until each part of the new one is proven. That avoids the big-bang rewrite that so often fails.

Do you do fixed price or day rate?

Both. Well-defined projects work best at a fixed price so you carry no risk on estimates. Ongoing or exploratory work runs on a day rate with an agreed monthly cap.

Which front-end technologies do you work with?

Livewire and Filament for internal tools and admin panels, React on Inertia when an interface needs to feel like an app, and Vue where a project already uses it. NativePHP when the application needs to run on desktop or mobile. The right one depends on the job, and I will explain why.

Do you handle hosting and deployment?

Yes. I set up hosting in your own accounts, typically Laravel Forge on a UK server or AWS for larger workloads, with staging and production environments, zero-downtime deployment, backups and monitoring. Everything stays in your name.

Will you work as part of our team?

Yes. I contract with agencies and in-house teams, join your stand-ups, work in your repository and use your ticketing and review process. I can be visible to your client as your Laravel specialist or stay in the background, whichever suits.

What happens if I want to move to another developer?

You own the code and the infrastructure from day one. Everything lives in your repository and your hosting accounts, with tests and documentation good enough for someone else to continue. I build with well-supported tools precisely so you are never dependent on me.

Do you sign NDAs and who owns the intellectual property?

I sign an NDA before seeing anything confidential, and everything I build for you is yours: the code, the design and the data. For agencies, I never approach your clients directly.

How quickly can you start?

Usually within a couple of weeks, sometimes sooner for smaller pieces or an audit. Ask and I will tell you honestly what my calendar looks like.

Laravel development · Doncaster and remote UK

Freelance Laravel developer for builds, rescues and overflow work.

I'm Jason. I've spent two decades writing PHP and the last ten of them in Laravel, building the web applications small businesses and agencies depend on daily. Laravel on the back end, React where an interface needs to feel like an app, and NativePHP when it needs to leave the browser. One developer, senior level, no account manager in the middle.

Discuss a Laravel project What I build

20+

Years writing PHP for production

10+

Years working in Laravel

Developer on your project, start to finish

24h

Typical reply time to an enquiry

What I build

The Laravel work that comes up most

Eight kinds of project account for nearly everything I am hired for. If yours is not here, ask anyway.

Bespoke web applications

Booking systems, customer portals, quoting tools, compliance logs. The software a business runs on rather than markets with.

Admin panels with Filament

A back office your team can use without training, built on your existing models in a fraction of the time of a custom UI.

Legacy upgrades and rescues

Unsupported Laravel or raw PHP, no tests, nervous deploys. I get it onto a current version and make releases uneventful.

APIs and integrations

Stripe, Xero, HubSpot, courier and supplier feeds. Idempotent, logged, and monitored so silent failures do not pile up.

React front ends on Laravel

When an interface needs to feel like an app: React over an Inertia or API layer, typed end to end and sharing one codebase with the back end.

Desktop and mobile with NativePHP

Ship the same Laravel application as a native desktop or mobile app. Offline-capable tools for field staff without a second codebase to maintain.

Performance work

N+1 queries, missing indexes, cache strategy, queued jobs. Measured before and after, not guessed at.

White-label for agencies

I work to your standards and your process, hand over clean code with documentation, and stay invisible to your client if that suits you.

How to hire me

Five ways to bring in a Laravel developer

Hiring a freelance Laravel developer should not mean choosing between a rigid fixed quote and an open-ended hourly bill. Different work suits different arrangements, and I am happy to switch between them as a project matures.

Every arrangement starts the same way: a proper conversation, then a written plan with the price and the working model spelled out.

Fixed-price build

A defined scope, a written plan and one number. Best for new applications, MVPs and clearly bounded features.

Day-rate contracting

For evolving or exploratory work, with an agreed monthly cap. Join your sprint, your stand-ups and your review process.

Agency white-label

Overflow capacity or a Laravel specialist for a build you have sold. Your standards, your tools, invisible to your client if you prefer.

Audit and rescue

A short, fixed-price review of an application in trouble, with a written report and a plan before any commitment to the fix.

Support retainer

A monthly arrangement for businesses that want someone on call for updates, patches and small improvements. No lock-in.

Laravel upgrades and legacy rescue

When the application nobody wants to touch is the one the business runs on

Most of my rescue work starts with one of these. If two or three sound familiar, the audit is the place to begin.

An unsupported Laravel or PHP version

No security patches, packages that will not install, and hosting that is about to drop the runtime.

No tests

Every change is a gamble and every release is done with fingers crossed. Nobody dares touch the important parts.

The developer who built it has gone

No documentation, passwords in a spreadsheet, and a codebase only one person ever understood.

Deploys by FTP or by hand

Changes go straight to production, sometimes on a Friday. There is no staging site and no way back.

Pages that get slower every month

Queries that were fine with a hundred rows are timing out with a hundred thousand. Reports are run overnight.

Raw PHP, CodeIgniter or an old framework

It works, but every new feature costs more than the last, and hiring anyone to help is getting harder.

The upgrade path

How a rescue actually runs

A legacy PHP or Laravel upgrade fails when it is attempted as a single heroic rewrite. It succeeds when it is done in small, verified steps with the business kept running throughout.

Whether it is Laravel 5 to the current release, PHP 7 to 8.3, or a raw PHP application moving into Laravel for the first time, the shape of the work is the same.

Audit first, always

A fixed-price review: what version it is on, what it depends on, what the risks are, and what it would take to make it safe to work on. In writing, before anything else.

Characterisation tests

Tests that capture how the application behaves today, so the upgrade can be verified rather than hoped for.

Version by version

Laravel 5, 6, 7 or 8 to the current release, and PHP 7 to 8.3, one step at a time with the suite green at each stage.

Framework migrations

Raw PHP, CodeIgniter, CakePHP or Symfony 1 applications moved into Laravel module by module, with the old system running until the new one is proven.

A proper pipeline

Git, CI, a staging environment and zero-downtime deployment, so the next upgrade is a routine job rather than a project.

Handover you can use

Documentation, a README that explains how everything runs, and a session with whoever looks after it next.

For agencies

A Laravel contractor who fits your team

A good share of my work is white-label Laravel development for digital and marketing agencies: the back end behind a site you have designed, a client application you have sold, or overflow when the team is full.

You get senior-level estimates you can quote from, code that hands over cleanly, and a developer who understands that the client relationship is yours.

Talk about agency work

Your standards, your process

I work in your repository, follow your coding standards, and use your ticketing, review and deployment process.

Estimates you can quote from

Senior-level scoping means the number I give you is one you can put in front of a client with confidence.

Invisible if you want

Happy to stay off client calls and out of the credits. Or join them as your Laravel specialist. Your call.

NDA as standard

Your clients, your relationships. I sign before I see anything and I never approach a client directly.

Capacity when you need it

Overflow for a busy quarter, cover for a developer on leave, or a specialist for the Laravel part of a wider build.

Same time zone, same working day

Based in Doncaster, working UK hours. Questions get answered the same morning, not the next day.

What properly means

The standards every project ships with

Senior Laravel development is less about clever code and more about the unglamorous things that make an application safe to change for years.

Tests with Pest

Feature tests on every important path, run on every push. The important parts are covered, not just the easy ones.

Continuous integration

GitHub Actions runs the suite, static analysis and formatting on every pull request. Nothing merges red.

Zero-downtime deployment

Laravel Forge or your own pipeline, deploying to staging first and to production without anyone noticing.

Queues and background jobs

Slow work moves off the request into Horizon-monitored queues, with retries and alerts when something fails.

Monitoring and error tracking

Exceptions, uptime and performance tracked from launch, so you hear about problems from me rather than from a customer.

Security by default

Authentication, authorisation policies, validation, rate limiting and dependency updates handled as part of the build, not as an afterthought.

Documentation and handover

A README that explains how to run, deploy and extend the application, written for the next developer.

Boring, well-supported tools

Every dependency is something with a long support window and a wide hiring pool, so you are never dependent on me.

The stack

Boring tools, chosen on purpose

Nothing here is exotic. Every choice is something a future developer can pick up, and something with a support window longer than a fashion cycle.

Laravel
PHP 8
React
NativePHP
Livewire
Filament
Inertia
Vue
Tailwind CSS
TypeScript
MySQL
PostgreSQL
Redis
Horizon
Pest
GitHub Actions
Laravel Forge
AWS
Stripe

Laravel for the foundations

Authentication, billing, queues, mail, storage and scheduling are solved problems. Your budget goes on the parts that are unique to your business.

Filament and Livewire for internal tools

Admin panels and back-office screens in days rather than weeks, built directly on your data.

React and Inertia for app-like interfaces

When the front end needs to feel like a product, React on Inertia keeps one codebase and one deploy.

NativePHP for desktop and mobile

The same Laravel application shipped to Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. One developer, one repository.

A Laravel build, phase by phase

What a typical project looks like

Whether it is a six-week MVP or a six-month business system, the phases are the same. Only the length of each one changes.

You see working software on a staging URL from the third phase onwards, and every phase ends with something you can use or decide on.

Discovery, or audit for an existing app

The problem, the people it affects, the systems it touches. For an existing application, a written review of its state and risks.
Architecture and data model

The database, the boundaries and the integrations designed around where the business is going, not just where it is.
Build in the open

Weekly demos on a staging URL. The core workflow first, then the features around it, with tests written as we go.
Hardening

Performance profiling, security review, edge cases, monitoring and the queue and cache work that keeps it fast under real load.
Launch and handover

Zero-downtime deployment, documentation, a handover session, and support if you want it with no lock-in if you do not.

How an engagement runs

Four steps, no surprises

A proper conversation

Twenty minutes on the phone about the problem, who it affects and what success looks like. No pitch deck.
A written plan and a price

Scope, milestones and a fixed price or a clear day rate, before any code is written.
Build in the open

Weekly demos on a staging URL, so you can change your mind while it is still cheap to do so.
Launch and support

Deployment, monitoring and handover docs. Ongoing support if you want it, no lock-in if you do not.

Laravel development cost

How pricing works, and what moves it

No rate card, because a two-week integration and a year-long platform are not the same job. Here is what actually drives the number.

How much is genuinely bespoke

Accounts, billing and admin are largely solved in Laravel. The unique workflow of your business is where the real time goes.

User roles and permissions

One kind of user is simple. Staff, managers, customers and suppliers, each seeing different things, multiplies the screens and the rules.

Integrations

Each external system is a small project: authentication, mapping, error handling and what happens when it is down.

The state of an existing codebase

Working inside an application with no tests and an old version costs more than a clean build, which is why an audit comes first.

Deadline pressure

A realistic timeline keeps the price down. A hard launch date that cannot move is possible, but it is priced as the risk it is.

Fixed price for defined work

A written scope and one number before any code. If I misjudge the effort, that is my problem, not yours.

Day rate with a cap for evolving work

Ongoing or exploratory work runs on a day rate with an agreed monthly ceiling, so the bill never surprises you.

No retainer required

After launch you can keep me on, bring in your own team, or pause. You own the code and the accounts either way.

Get a written quote

Your options

Freelance Laravel developer, agency or offshore team?

Each can be right for the right project. This is an honest view of the trade-offs from someone who has worked alongside all three.

Comparison of Laravel development options
Consideration	Freelance Laravel developer	Development agency	Offshore team
Who writes the code	One senior developer, start to finish	A team, with juniors doing much of the work	Whoever is assigned this month
Communication	Direct, same day, UK hours	Through an account or project manager	Time-zone gaps and a coordinator
Pricing	Fixed price or capped day rate	Higher day rates and management overhead	Low hourly rate, high rework
Code quality and handover	Tests, CI, docs as standard	Usually good, depends on the team	Varies widely, often no tests
Ownership	Your repository, your hosting, your data	Usually yours, check the contract	Often unclear until you try to leave
Best for	Businesses and agencies that want one accountable expert	Very large builds with big budgets	Well-specified, low-risk tasks

Who I work with

If one of these is you, we'll get on

Small and mid-sized businesses

You have a process that needs a system, or a system that needs rescuing, and you want one accountable person to do it.

Digital and marketing agencies

You have sold a Laravel build or need overflow capacity, and you need someone who works to your standards.

In-house teams

You need a senior Laravel specialist for a project, an upgrade or to raise the bar on how the team works.

Founders and startups

You need an MVP built properly enough to become version one, by someone who will explain the trade-offs.

Owners of legacy applications

Something critical is held together with tape. You need it stabilised before it takes the business down.

Doncaster, South Yorkshire and remote UK

A senior Laravel developer without the London rate

I work from Doncaster, which means senior-level Laravel development without city overheads, and a developer who will come and sit with your team for a kick-off or a workshop if you are anywhere in South Yorkshire. Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Leeds are all an easy trip.

For everyone else, it makes no difference to the project. Agencies and businesses across the UK get the same weekly demos, the same staging link and the same straight answers over a video call, all in UK working hours.

Not sure whether you need a Laravel developer or something else? Describe the problem rather than the solution and I will tell you honestly what it needs.

Jason just gets it. No technical waffle, no over-promising. He listened to what we needed, suggested a simpler approach that saved us money, and delivered exactly what he said he would. Refreshing to work with someone so straightforward.

James Berry, Fire Log Book

Laravel development questions

What clients and agencies ask before starting

Do you work with clients outside Doncaster?: Yes. I am based in Doncaster and happy to meet locally or across South Yorkshire, but most Laravel projects run remotely with clients around the UK. Weekly demos happen over a video call and a staging link.
Can you take over a Laravel project another developer started?: Regularly. I start with a short, fixed-price audit: what state the code is in, what version it runs on, what the risks are, and what it would take to make it safe to work on. You get that in writing before committing to anything.
Can you upgrade our old Laravel application?: Yes. Upgrades from Laravel 5, 6, 7 or 8 to the current release, and from PHP 7 to 8.3, are some of the most common work I do. The approach is tests first, then one version at a time with the suite green at each step, so the upgrade is verified rather than hoped for.
Can you migrate a raw PHP or CodeIgniter application to Laravel?: Yes. Legacy applications are moved into Laravel module by module, with the old system kept running until each part of the new one is proven. That avoids the big-bang rewrite that so often fails.
Do you do fixed price or day rate?: Both. Well-defined projects work best at a fixed price so you carry no risk on estimates. Ongoing or exploratory work runs on a day rate with an agreed monthly cap.
Which front-end technologies do you work with?: Livewire and Filament for internal tools and admin panels, React on Inertia when an interface needs to feel like an app, and Vue where a project already uses it. NativePHP when the application needs to run on desktop or mobile. The right one depends on the job, and I will explain why.
Do you handle hosting and deployment?: Yes. I set up hosting in your own accounts, typically Laravel Forge on a UK server or AWS for larger workloads, with staging and production environments, zero-downtime deployment, backups and monitoring. Everything stays in your name.
Will you work as part of our team?: Yes. I contract with agencies and in-house teams, join your stand-ups, work in your repository and use your ticketing and review process. I can be visible to your client as your Laravel specialist or stay in the background, whichever suits.
What happens if I want to move to another developer?: You own the code and the infrastructure from day one. Everything lives in your repository and your hosting accounts, with tests and documentation good enough for someone else to continue. I build with well-supported tools precisely so you are never dependent on me.
Do you sign NDAs and who owns the intellectual property?: I sign an NDA before seeing anything confidential, and everything I build for you is yours: the code, the design and the data. For agencies, I never approach your clients directly.
How quickly can you start?: Usually within a couple of weeks, sometimes sooner for smaller pieces or an audit. Ask and I will tell you honestly what my calendar looks like.

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