Hiring a Freelance Web Designers vs a Web Design Company

Web design is a perfect career choice for a freelancer. You can be anyone, live anywhere and work completely on the web. There are now more freelance web designers than ever before. But, if you’re on the other side of the equation as a client, which should you opt for? A freelance web designer or web design company?

The choice between the two comes down to several elements. They are:

• Price
• Resources
• Perspective
• Speed
• Support
• Risk

Price

Is budget is a serious consideration? Then a freelance web designer will be cheaper. However, there is no guarantee you’ll get value for money. What if the freelancer is suddenly in demand, or gets ill, or needs to get help to complete the project? What if they disappear?

A web design company may be a bit more expensive, but you know what you’re getting. If that web design company has a brick and mortar store, you’re a little more secure than a freelancer who is only contactable via email.

Resources

It would be a rare freelancer indeed who could design a customer CMS single-handed, host it, fill it with great content and support it. Most freelancers will work alone, or with a partner and simply won’t have the resources to deliver a complete web solution if that’s what you’re looking for.

A web design company of a decent size will. They will have people on staff who can provide all the important supporting services under one roof, so a single fee and a single contract can cover everything.

Perspective

Multiple viewpoints make better designs. There is no way round that. While many freelance web designers are superb, they only have a single viewpoint. Many corporations give brainstorming a bad name, but in the creative industry, it’s a vital process.

Speed

A freelance web designer is one part artist, one part juggler. A good freelancer will have any number of contracts ongoing at once. There are only so many hours in a day and unless you catch them at a quiet time, they often take much longer than a web design company.

Support

We have touched upon it already, but a freelance designer isn’t going to have the time or inclination to offer ongoing support, updates, security patches and the other elements that are involved in website ownership. A web design company worth its salt will offer all those and more.

Risk

Which would you feel safe giving your money to, an email address anywhere in the world, or a brick and mortar store in your town? Companies offer much more protection from legal problems or contractual issues. If something goes wrong, it’s easy to change email address and company name. It’s not so easy to move an entire company.

While there are pros and cons to each, using a web design company offers more in the way of project scope, perspective, security and speed. While we certainly won’t say freelance web designers aren’t worth the money, we know where we would spend ours.