Senior full-stack developer, 20+ years building software businesses run on.
I'm Christopher McGrath, a senior full-stack developer and Laravel developer. I have spent the last 20+ years building custom software, web applications, and internal tools for businesses — and just as often being called in to rescue the projects that broke or stalled after someone else walked away.
Hire me and you get me. I plan the work, write the code, and I'm still here after it ships. No account managers, no juniors doing the real work, no surprise invoices. Available as a freelance developer worldwide — remote, fixed-price, no jargon.
Small businesses were getting the worst of my industry. I wanted to do it differently.
For 20 years I built software inside big companies and agencies, and I kept watching the same thing happen to smaller businesses. They'd get handed to a junior while the senior name stayed on the invoice. A developer would vanish halfway through a project. A simple quote would quietly turn into a surprise bill. And everything got explained in jargon that seemed designed to keep them from asking questions. Good businesses were paying real money for software that buckled the first week they got busy.
I started Load Bearing Code to do the opposite, on my own terms. I wanted to work directly with the people who actually live with the software — one senior developer, a fixed price agreed up front, and real craft on every line. No account managers, no hand-offs, no meter running while you ask a question. Just someone who does the work, explains it plainly, and is still here after launch.
The name is the promise. Load-bearing code is the part of a structure everything else rests on — it has to hold. That's what I set out to build: software your business can stand on, and keep standing on as it grows.
Working with me.
One point of contact
We plan it together, I build it and show you progress along the way, and I answer the phone after launch. Nothing falls through a handoff.
Big-company engineering
I've built platforms for national companies. You get that same engineering, sized to your business and your budget.
Built to last
Whether I'm building fresh or rescuing what you've got, I leave you with clean, organized code that holds up as you get busier instead of buckling under the load.
Plain English
You'll always know what I'm building, what it costs, and why. No jargon, from the first call to launch day.
The right tools, chosen well.
Twenty years as a senior Laravel developer and full-stack generalist means I reach for the right tool, not the trendy one. As a freelance developer available worldwide, I build things that are easy to maintain and don't fall over the week you get busy.
Let's build something that works.
Tell me what you're trying to build. I'll get back to you within a business day. No jargon, no obligation.
Book a Call