Once you know you need a new website or web app, the next decision is who should build it. Freelancers, agencies and in-house developers can all do excellent work. The best choice depends on the size of the project, how much ongoing work there is, and how much risk you can accept.

Hiring a freelancer

Good for: well-defined projects, smaller budgets and specialist tasks.

  • Pros: lower cost, direct contact with the person doing the work, flexible and quick to start.
  • Cons: limited capacity, one person’s skill set, and a real risk if they get busy, ill or move on.

Hiring a web development agency

Good for: larger projects that need design, development and strategy together.

  • Pros: a team with complementary skills, established processes, and continuity if someone is away.
  • Cons: higher cost, and at larger agencies you may deal with account managers rather than the people building your site.

Hiring an in-house developer

Good for: companies with a constant stream of development work.

  • Pros: deep knowledge of your business, always available, and full control over priorities.
  • Cons: salary, benefits and recruitment cost, plus the challenge of one person covering design, front end, back end, security and hosting.

The option in between: a small studio

A small, senior studio sits between a freelancer and a large agency. You work directly with experienced developers, but you also get a defined process, backup capacity and ongoing support. Many businesses also use a studio as an extension of their in-house team, buying a block of hours each month instead of hiring.

Questions to ask before you hire anyone

  1. Can I see similar work? Ask for live examples, not only screenshots.
  2. Who will actually do the work? Make sure you can talk to them.
  3. What exactly is included in the price? Get the scope, number of revisions and launch support in writing.
  4. Who owns the code, design and accounts? You should own your domain, hosting, content and code.
  5. How will we communicate, and how often? Agree on a channel, update frequency and response time.
  6. What happens after launch? Ask about bug fixes, maintenance plans and hourly rates for future changes.
  7. How do you handle speed, security and SEO? These should be part of the build, not optional extras.

Red flags to watch for

  • No written proposal or a vague scope.
  • Full payment required up front for a large project.
  • Your domain or hosting registered in their name.
  • No mention of backups, updates or testing.
  • Promises of “guaranteed number one ranking on Google”. Nobody can guarantee that.

Making the decision

For a one-off website with a clear scope, a strong freelancer or small studio is usually the best value. For a large, multi-disciplinary project, an agency makes sense. Once you have enough development work to keep someone busy every week, consider hiring in-house, and keep an outside partner for overflow and specialist work.

If you would like to talk it through, get in touch. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.