What if the freelancer gets sick or disappears?

Then you wanted keys, a deploy you can run, and a note. An agency that leaves a zip in Slack has the same hole. I don't start if nobody will own Tuesday. I use fewer moving parts if that's the case.

Can I hire a freelancer for the build and an agency for brand?

Yes, if the brand is done before I start. Inventing the look during the build is how both come out late. I implement a path. I don't run a brand studio in the same weeks.

Do you hire other people and still call it freelance?

No. If I need a second person, you need a different hire. I won't hide them on this invoice.

I already have an agency. Can you work with them?

If they own brand and I own the build, sometimes. If they own the repo and I get tickets through an account manager, that's a staff job with extra email. I work from a brief and a person who can say yes.

Is an agency always more expensive than a freelancer?

For the same five pages, usually yes. You're paying for the room. For a brand and a product in the same quarter, the cheap freelancer quote is a lie. That job is a room. Price it as one.

Should you hire a freelance developer or an agency?

Same week, two emails. A 14-page proposal with a kickoff date. A number, and "when can you start." Should you hire a freelance developer or an agency? If one person can ship it, hire one person. If the work has to happen in parallel, hire a room. I send the number. I'll still tell you when the deck is the right buy.

I write a brief before I quote. I take website work and product work. If you haven't named whether it is a website or a web product, I can't pick a hire either. What one person owns is the other half of this. What to ask before you hireis the list on your side. This page is which hire you're actually making.

What people mean by a freelance developer or an agency

Last year someone forwarded an agency proposal and asked if I could beat it. Five pages. A discovery month. Four people on the kickoff. I asked who would change a line in October. Nobody had a name.

They wanted a team because the last person stalled. Or they wanted a bargain, because the last agency billed a quarter for a brochure. The email rarely says which. A freelance developer is one inbox. You write to the person who types. An agency is a room. Someone forwards Slack. You pay for that even if only one of them opens the repo. I've watched that invoice go out. It isn't theft. It's what a room costs.

How to tell a freelancer from an agency hire

Ignore the word on the proposal. I have seen an "agency" that was one person with a nicer PDF. I have seen freelancers who staff three people and still call it freelance. Look at the job. What a full-stack developer owns is the line of work. This is whether that line fits in one person.

Freelance developer

The work fits in one head

You email the person who types
The person who quoted is the person who ships
A site, a first version, or a takeover one person can hold

Agency

The work has to run in parallel

Brand from nothing in the same sprint as the product
A rota at 2am because a contract says someone has to pick up
Legal and marketing both have to sign every screen

The cut

If the work needs two people in the meeting to move, hire the room. If one person can put a URL in your hand, don't.

The consulting site in selected work was one person. It had to rank. It did not start as a kickoff with four workstreams. A first versionthat still fits is the same hire. A platform with four audiences is not. Don't put that on one freelancer and hope.

What an agency quote is actually buying

The number is bigger. People assume that means more software. Usually it means more meetings. Kickoff. Weekly status. A deck that restates the Slack. Four people who can describe the homepage. Sometimes one of them can deploy it. You might still not have anyone who owns it after launch.

I quote weeks when the job fits. An agency quotes a quarter for the same five pages. The extra money is the room. That's why a custom website price and a first-version pricelook small next to a twelve-page proposal. They're a different buy. If the agency spent an hour in the repo and said start over, they priced a blank page. They know how to sell that. A takeover starts from the live URL.

A room is the right buy when the work is actually parallel. You need a brand from nothing and a product in the same quarter. Or a rota at 2am. I am not those people. I also won't sit in their stand-up on a deposit. The brief I write before I quoteis where that shows up. One person who can say yes, one job: hire me. A committee and two workstreams: hire the room, or cut until it's one job.

When a freelancer or an agency is the wrong hire

Don't hire anyone yet if the job isn't written down. The cheap number is a guess. The agency's discovery month is a paid guess.

Nobody has written the job down

I write the brief first. If that takes a day, it's in the quote as a day. If figuring out the pages takes a week, you pay for the week. I don't bury it inside a build that doesn't exist yet.

Four people have to agree on every page

If legal, marketing, and the founder all have to sign the same label, a freelancer drowns in the thread. An agency bills it as collaboration. Pick who decides. Then pick the hire. Staffing doesn't fix a missing yes.

The product already exists

People already pay you inside it. An agency looked for an hour and priced a rewrite. Don't hire a room to start over next to a live checkout. Don't hire me to build a sixth version beside it either. Start from the live URL. Name who owns Tuesday. Then the hire is a repair.

I take the work I can hold. If I can't, I'll say hire a room. I won't staff one behind this invoice.

Send the proposal. Or the number. Tell me what you're building. I'll tell you if one person is enough.