But if the system you’ve built is of any complexity, you’ll inevitably pay for the learning curve that actually matters: absorbing the system’s architecture.

You will always have that cost... why pay for both?

It seems your points are predicated on the assumption that you must... but, the truth is that developers aren't actually that scarce these days (though we may wish we were.)

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";