My Drupal site has a problem: why does project recovery often fail?

Have you inherited a Drupal site developed by a former team or service provider that no longer exists? Has the software from your previous web agency become a technical burden?

Taking over a Drupal site is a delicate operation. Often, these projects fail not because of the CMS itself, but because of the accumulation of past negligence. As experts in custom development and data migration, at Habeuk, we identify five major pitfalls that turn project takeover into an operational nightmare.

I. Pitfall #1: technical debt (outdated code)

The most common problem is ‘technical debt’: poorly written, undocumented code, or worse, an obsolete version of Drupal (often Drupal 7 when Drupal 10 is available).

• The symptom: Your site is slow, fragile, and developers refuse to touch it for fear of breaking everything.
• The technical cause: lack of security updates and use of unmaintained modules. Without regular updates, even a simple technical request (apcu_fetch ou lazy builder) can cause unexpected errors.
• The Habeuk solution: our existing website redesign service begins with an in-depth technical and functional audit. We assess the feasibility of a migration (Drupal to a newer version of Drupal) or a complete redesign to a healthy and secure base.

II. Pitfall #2: Performance gap (Incus and Cache)

Slow performance is the most obvious warning sign. A business owner isn't concerned with server architecture, but they are concerned with users abandoning their shopping carts.

• The symptom: Your e-commerce site slows down during traffic peaks, and administrators take forever to publish content.
• The technical cause: Poor hosting, but above all, the lack of high-performance caching tools. Effective system administrators use modern containerisation solutions such as Incus and sophisticated caching systems such as APCu to offload the database.
• The Habeuk Solution: We provide maintenance and support for your platforms. This includes query optimisation, the implementation of advanced caches, and advice on migrating to cloud solutions (such as managed Microsoft Azure) that can guarantee the speed and fluidity of your site.

III. Pitfall #3: Broken communications (sending emails)

What happens when your contact forms or order confirmations never arrive? Panic ensues.

• The symptom: Customers do not receive confirmation after a purchase, or your customer service department does not receive requests.
• The Technical Cause: Most often, an incorrect SMTP configuration (Drupal SMTP mail or default server configuration). Emails are then considered spam by ISPs (Internet Service Providers).
• The Habeuk Solution: Our Consulting & Support teams quickly resolve these configuration issues to ensure the delivery of your critical communications. This is an essential step in restoring your customers' trust after the Drupal site takeover.

IV. Pitfall #4: Legal and security risks

n old project that has not been properly updated is an open door for hackers.

• The symptom: Spam messages on your blog, compromised data, or your site being blocked by Google.
• The technical cause: Unpatched CMS versions, weak passwords, or unsecured access.
• The Habeuk solution: We treat security not as a luxury, but as a basic requirement. We offer security audits and VPN and firewall security solutions to protect your entire infrastructure, not just your website.

V. Pitfall #5: Lack of documentation (the human factor)

Undocumented code makes the task impossible for any new web agency. The time spent decoding the work of others costs more than rebuilding.

• The Habeuk solution: We work with an agile and transparent process. For all data migration or custom development projects, we guarantee clean, documented and modular code. Our goal is to deliver a sustainable tool whose technical evolution does not depend on a single person.

Entrust the takeover of your project to Habeuk

Don't let old technical debt slow down your growth. Taking over a Drupal site requires cutting-edge expertise in migration, security and performance.

At Habeuk, we transform abandoned projects into stable, fast and secure platforms.