[DeathRay2K]

This has happened many times to me. I work at an agency that very often gets clients who already have a codebase but don't have anyone to maintain them - the original developers have moved on or fired them as a client. Sometimes the codebases aren't complete, and very often have major bugs and issues. Very often they were written by an individual many years ago, they do not follow any modern best practices, and more often than not have no documentation. Sometimes even variable names are in languages that no one on the team speaks (I've taken on quite a few codebases where variables were anglicised versions of russian or chinese words).

Most often, these clients initially just want us to maintain the codebase, making minor changes and updates. In this case, we will simply familiarise ourselves with the code, working within its limitations to do the required work. Over time we might refactor parts of the code as we do this maintenance work because it makes maintenance easier for us.

Eventually it gets to the point where the client wants major changes (And sometimes it starts here). If we are comfortable with making these changes within the codebase, typically if we have been maintaining it for some time, we will refactor what makes sense to achieve the changes, and continue to work within it. If we don't have that familiarity with the codebase and the project is at a scale where it makes sense, we will rewrite the code at this point.

In very few cases, the project is too large and we are too unfamiliar with the code, and we have to tell the client we're not able to do the work within their time/budget requirements. At this point the client will either leave us, or have us continue maintenance. About half the clients that leave shop around, try out another agency or two, and come back in the end with a greater understanding of the scope of the project.