Freelancer, agency or in-house?
A freelancer is usually the cheapest option and works well for defined, self-contained projects. The risks are availability, the bus factor, and the fact that one person rarely covers design, development and search equally well.
An agency costs more but gives you a team, cover when someone is away, and a wider spread of skills. Worth it when the project spans disciplines or needs to be maintained for years.
In-house makes sense once you have continuous development work — generally when you would otherwise be paying an agency for more than two or three days a week.
What it should cost
UK rates for competent freelance developers typically run £250 to £500 a day. Agencies charge more because you are buying a team and continuity. Fixed-price projects are usually better for both sides on defined work, because the risk of scope drift sits with the supplier.
As a rough guide: a small brochure site from around £1,450, a corporate site with custom templates £4,000 to £12,000, ecommerce from about £5,000, and custom applications from £7,500 upward. Anyone quoting a corporate site at £500 is either using a template or will not finish it.
Questions worth asking
- Who owns the code and the accounts? The answer should be you, unambiguously.
- What happens after launch? Find out what support is included and what maintenance costs.
- Can our team edit content without you? If not, every text change becomes an invoice.
- How do you handle performance and accessibility? Vague answers usually mean neither is being planned for.
- Can we see something live that you built? Then run it through a speed test yourself.
- What is not included? The most useful question on this list.
Warning signs
Guaranteed first-page rankings. Requiring full payment up front. Refusing to hand over hosting or domain access. Building on a proprietary platform you cannot leave. Quotes with no written scope. An unwillingness to say what a project will cost before a lengthy sales process.
How we work
Fixed prices after a free 30-minute call, payment split across milestones, and you own everything from day one. You deal with the person writing the code rather than an account manager. If we are not the right fit, we will say so — we would rather turn down a project than take one we cannot do well.
To see how we deliver this work ourselves, read our Web Design Services and Website Development page.
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