The Freelancer vs. The Agency

Should you hire an agency or a freelancer for that next big project of yours?

So you have your next big project all figured out and are now in the unenviable position of looking for someone who can help bring it to life. How do you go about selecting the right person or team? Is there a standard process?

Well, the answer to that last question is “no, there isn't”. It all depends on your exact requirements, preferences, and, most certainly, budget. But before embarking on this unquestionably tough mission, knowing the answer to one single question can greatly reduce the number of potential candidates:

“Do I want an agency or a freelancer handling my project?”.

And again, the answer is “it depends”. In this article I will try and analyze the pros and cons of each of these choices and, hopefully, by the time you finish reading it, the answer won't be so unclear anymore.

Variety and Volume of Work

If your project’s needs encompass a number of different disciplines from, let’s say, prototyping to branding, and from user interface design to server-side development, you would probably be better off having an entire team at your disposal. No single person can do all of these things and do them well. You know the saying: “Jack of all trades, master of none”. There may be cases where even an agency won’t have the human resources to properly handle all these tasks, so make sure to check that before committing to anything. Some freelancers have a network of professionals with complementary skills they could potentially tap for the project, but, more often than not, scheduling conflicts, insufficient supervising and organized communications can complicate things too much and hinder the project’s successful and timely delivery.

In a similar manner, if you simply need a ton of things done and need them ready by the proverbial yesterday, this may just not be humanly possible for a single freelancer to handle. Again he/she could enlist additional collaborators to help out but the same potential scheduling conflicts could occur and, in this particular scenario, time is of the essence. Even if going with an agency, make sure they have the available human resources and bandwidth right from the start, as they may be involved in other ongoing projects at that time.

Know Who You Hire

With a freelancer, you have a better chance of figuring out their skill levels and maybe get to know a thing or two about them as individuals, even before getting in touch. The work in their portfolio is one hundred percent theirs and there is usually more personal information available. It is pretty much a case of what you see is what you get.

With an agency, you will probably speak to a customer service representative or project manager while the actual work will be done by someone you may never talk to or meet in person. Even though an Art Director will most likely be the one to set the overall direction of the project, the real work could end up in the hands of Junior Designers and you will probably never know. That doesn't necessarily mean that work quality will suffer since everything will most likely be closely supervised, but if you are more the hands-on type of person who likes to always be in the loop, working with an agency may not exactly be everything you might have imagined.

Flexibility

Agencies work 9 to 5. Most will probably agree to overtime if required but this could come at a higher hourly cost to you because, let's face it, they have to get back that extra 50% they will be paying their employees to stay at work late.

A freelancer's schedule is typically a lot more flexible. Even though some will enforce a strict 9 to 5 like work day, chances are, if you really need them at a unusual hour, they may be there to help and, sometimes, at no extra charge. In the end, the sooner the work gets done, the sooner they get paid.

There is also a matter of paperwork. Typically with an agency you can expect more complex contracts, work orders, and general bureaucracy. Any modification or addition to a project may mean quite a lot of back and forward to get that paperwork reviewed and signed before any actual work can start.

With freelancers, things aren't usually so complicated. There will obviously be contracts, estimates and so on but their complexity and volume won't be so overwhelming. Changes and additions can also be as simple as a verbal agreement some times, depending on a few factors, such as volume of work, length of collaboration, and so on.

Personal Involvement

For some this is just a job; for others, in some situations it can be more than that. Just because they are much more directly involved in all aspects of their business, freelancers tend to get more involved in a project than the average full time designer working in a nice and safe agency environment might. More personal involvement, whether conscious or not, is certainly a good thing. Ultimately, a freelancer's reputation is much more closely related to the success of the project he/she is working on. For you as a client, this might mean that extra attention to details, or that extra bits of work that might just make all the difference.

Furthermore, if things work out really great with a freelancer and they will start sharing a genuine common interest in the project, there is always an opportunity to transform the relationship into a full-time job, which can yield additional benefits as opposed to referring to an agency all the time for every bit of new work.

The involvement aspect works both ways though. Someone working in an agency will usually have easy access to feedback at every stage of the project, be it straight from their director in an official review, or just a simple glance from a co-worker. In the overall process, what gets delivered to the client will have been seen by at least a couple of different individuals before being sent off. A freelancer doesn't have that luxury. As a client, your feedback becomes all the more important and that will obviously require a bit more involvement. It may be something you would do anyway, but you should be aware of this aspect nonetheless.

Safety

Things happen all the time: people get sick, equipment breaks down, and so on. Simply due to their size, agencies tend to be somewhat better shielded from unforeseen situations. If, for instance, their main designer gets sick, someone else will be available as a backup. If a freelancer becomes sick, an available, trust-worthy collaborator willing to jump in may not always be an option.

It's the same way with equipment failures. Agencies are more likely to have better backup systems, or the resources to replace faulty equipment quickly. On larger projects with extremely strict deadlines, contractual terms may also be used to insure the project, if required.

Pricing

Given the same project and assuming you are looking at about the same level of quality, expect to pay a little bit extra if you are choosing an agency. The exact amount depends on a lot of factors but, for estimating purposes, an additional 20%-25% markup seems like a reasonable bet. Even if on an hourly rate a freelancer may charge more than the designer you actually end up working with in an agency, the overall operational expenses will more than overcome that, resulting in a bigger final project quote. Is this premium worth it? You are the only one who can decide.

Conclusion

If I were to try an analogy, I would say working with an agency is like taking the bus while working with a freelancer is like riding a motorcycle. Both will get you there, the main difference is how. While the bus may be the safer bet, it's also the boring one - your freedom is somewhat limited and you must follow a set of rules and guidelines while hanging in there with everyone else. Riding a bike may be riskier but it can certainly be a lot more fun - take any road you want, feel the wind in your hair, and arrive with a big smile on your face.

In a future article I will be tackling the next step: how to choose the right freelancer for the job.