When a client says 'we need a rebuild,' they usually mean 'the current system hurts.' Those aren't the same thing, and the difference is months of budget.
Most systems don't need a rewrite. They need the three slow queries fixed, the deploy path documented, and the one workflow everyone hates redesigned. A rebuild throws away years of embedded knowledge along with the pain.
The honest first step is a diagnosis: what's broken versus what's old. Rebuilds are sometimes right, but they're the last resort, not the opening bid.
