Build a Team or Hire an Agency?
Hiring a senior developer takes 4-6 months and costs $180K/year fully loaded. An agency ships in 8-12 weeks at $150/hour. Neither is universally better. Here is how to run the math for your situation.
The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions
The Actual Math
Ask yourself: Will this code give you competitive advantage in 3 years? Will it need constant iteration based on user feedback? If yes to either, hire. Is this a one-time build that just needs to work? Is the technology outside your core? Agency.
Agency Is Right When...
Defined scope, fixed timeline, specialized skills you do not want to own. MVP builds. Redesigns. One-time migrations. Technology outside your core business. You need to ship before you could possibly hire.
In-House Is Right When...
Core product that changes weekly based on user feedback. Technology is your competitive moat. Long-term roadmap with no end date. Institutional knowledge compounds over time.
The Real Cost Comparison...
A $150/hour agency costs $312K for a 2,000-hour project. A $140K developer costs $185K fully loaded, is productive for maybe 1,500 hours after meetings and ramp-up, and you have to find them first. First-year cost for one senior dev: $200K+.
Hybrid Usually Wins...
Agency builds the MVP, you hire to maintain and iterate. Or you hire the core team and bring in agency for specialized work. Most companies eventually land on some version of both.
See It In Action
Common Questions
Everything you need to know before moving forward.
What is the real cost of hiring a senior developer?+
$140K salary becomes $185K with benefits, equipment, and office costs. Add $20K in recruiting fees. Add 3 months of ramp-up before full productivity. First-year cost for one productive senior dev: $200K-$230K. And that is if you find them in 3 months, which is optimistic.
What is the real cost of an agency?+
Good agencies charge $120-$180/hour. A 2,000-hour project at $150/hour is $300K. But that is the whole project delivered, not one person on salary. You pay for productive hours only, not meetings and learning.
When should I definitely not use an agency?+
When the product changes weekly based on user feedback and needs constant iteration. When institutional knowledge is critical and ramp-up overhead would be constant. When technology is your competitive advantage and you need to own it in your DNA.
We took on a project that should have been in-house once. What happened?+
The client needed constant iteration based on weekly user testing. Every change required a kickoff meeting, spec update, and review cycle. The communication overhead ate 40% of the budget. We finished the project, then told them to hire. They did. It was the right call.
How do I evaluate an agency honestly?+
Ask what projects they turned down recently and why. Ask about a project that went badly and what they learned. Ask if they would recommend hiring for your specific situation. Agencies that say yes to everything are the ones that end up cutting corners.
What should handoff to an in-house team look like?+
Documentation of architecture decisions. Commented code. Recorded walkthroughs of the codebase. A month of overlap where your new hire can ask questions. We have done this handoff a dozen times - it works if you plan for it.
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Not sure which approach fits?
Tell us what you are building and your timeline. We will run the cost comparison and tell you honestly whether to hire, outsource, or do both - even if the answer is we are not the right choice.
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