TL;DR
- The cheapest option often costs the most (factor in rewrites and delays)
- The questions you ask reveal more than the answers you get
- Red flags during sales get worse during delivery—not better
- Team composition matters more than company size or hourly rate
- References are gold. Check them. Ask hard questions.
The $215,000 Mistake
A fintech founder spent $95,000 and 9 months with an offshore agency promising "senior full-stack developers" for $45/hour. The code looked fine in demos. But when his technical advisor reviewed it before launch:
- Zero automated tests
- Security holes in payment handling
- Database design that wouldn't scale past 100 users
- Hard-coded values everywhere
- "TODO" comments where critical logic should have been
Starting over cost another $120,000 and delayed launch 6 months.
Total damage: $215,000 and 15 months.
This isn't rare. It happens constantly—to smart people who did due diligence but asked the wrong questions.
You're about to spend $50,000-150,000 and hand 3-6 months of your product's future to people you just met. That decision deserves rigor.
Here's how to get it right.
The Landscape
Understand what you're choosing between.
Offshore Agencies ($25-60/hour)
The pitch: Lowest cost, large teams, 24/7 development across time zones.
The reality:
- "Senior" is often a title, not a skill level
- Communication gaps are real (language, time zones, context)
- Your "dedicated developer" might be 3 different people
- Quality varies wildly
- Hidden subcontracting is common
When it works: Strong technical leadership internally, extremely tight budget, simple well-defined project, or you've worked with this specific team before.
Big Agencies ($125-250/hour)
The pitch: Brand credibility, large teams, established processes.
The reality:
- You pay for brand overhead, not just talent
- Team: often 1 senior leading 5-8 juniors
- The people who sold you aren't building
- Large agencies prioritize large clients—you might be an afterthought
When it works: Enterprise budget needing a "safe" choice, massive project requiring 10+ people, specific compliance certifications required.
Boutique Studios ($100-175/hour)
The pitch: Senior talent doing the work, direct communication, faster decisions, design-conscious.
The reality:
- Smaller teams mean limited capacity
- Selective about which projects they take
- Some specialties might not be in-house
When it works: You want seniors without agency markup, speed and quality matter more than lowest rate, you value direct communication with builders.
Freelancers ($50-150/hour)
The pitch: Personalized, flexible, direct relationship, deep specialization.
The reality:
- Single point of failure
- Limited capacity
- May lack breadth across design, frontend, backend, DevOps
When it works: Small well-defined project, you have technical leadership to manage them, you found someone exceptional with strong references.
22 Questions That Actually Matter
Every agency has a polished deck. These questions reveal what's behind it.
On Team
1. "Who specifically will work on my project?"
- Red flag: "We'll assign the best available team"
- Green flag: Specific names, bios, LinkedIn profiles, portfolios
2. "What's the seniority breakdown?"
- Red flag: "All our developers are senior"
- Green flag: Honest breakdown: "1 lead with 12 years, 2 mid-level with 4-5 years each"
3. "Can I speak with the developers before signing?"
- Red flag: Only sales or account managers available
- Green flag: "Absolutely, let's schedule a call with your lead"
4. "What's your experience with [my tech stack/industry]?"
- Red flag: "We work with everything"
- Green flag: Specific examples, relevant portfolio, honest acknowledgment of gaps
5. "How do you handle team changes mid-project?"
- Red flag: "That rarely happens"
- Green flag: Clear process, knowledge transfer protocols, documentation requirements
On Process
6. "How often will we have demos?"
- Red flag: Bi-weekly or monthly
- Green flag: Weekly minimum, with daily async updates
7. "Walk me through a typical sprint."
- Red flag: Vague or "We're agile so it's flexible"
- Green flag: Clear cadence, defined deliverables, structured feedback loops
8. "How do you handle scope changes?"
- Red flag: "Everything is flexible" or "changes cost 50% premium"
- Green flag: Clear change management—how changes are evaluated, estimated, communicated
9. "What if I'm not happy with the work?"
- Red flag: Defensive or no clear recourse
- Green flag: Defined revision process, clear criteria, documented remediation
10. "How do you document the codebase?"
- Red flag: "The code documents itself"
- Green flag: Clear standards, README files, API docs, handoff plan
On Technical Approach
11. "Can you show me code from similar projects?"
- Red flag: Can't or won't
- Green flag: Walks through code or architecture diagrams
12. "How do you ensure code quality?"
- Red flag: "Our developers are experienced"
- Green flag: Code reviews, automated tests, linting, CI/CD, security scanning
13. "What's your architecture approach for MVPs?"
- Red flag: Over-engineering ("scale to millions from day one") or under-engineering ("figure it out as we go")
- Green flag: Balanced with explicit trade-offs
14. "How do you handle security?"
- Red flag: "We'll handle it"
- Green flag: OWASP compliance, secure coding standards, dependency scanning
15. "What tech stack do you recommend? Why?"
- Red flag: One-size-fits-all or whatever's trendy
- Green flag: Based on your needs, maintenance capabilities, hiring market
On Business Terms
16. "What's included in the estimate?"
- Red flag: Vague line items like "Development - $X"
- Green flag: Detailed breakdown by feature, hours per component, clear assumptions
17. "What's NOT included?"
- Red flag: "Everything's covered"
- Green flag: Honest list: hosting, third-party services, post-launch support
18. "What's the payment structure?"
- Red flag: 100% upfront or large upfront with unclear milestones
- Green flag: Phased payments tied to completed work
19. "What happens if we go over timeline or budget?"
- Red flag: "That never happens"
- Green flag: Transparent about causes, early communication, risk mitigation
20. "Who owns the code and IP?"
- Red flag: Unclear or shared ownership
- Green flag: You own 100% upon final payment—stated in contract
On Post-Launch
21. "What support after launch?"
- Red flag: "We're here if you need us"
- Green flag: Defined support period, clear SLA, maintenance options with pricing
22. "How do you handle bugs after launch?"
- Red flag: Everything billable
- Green flag: Warranty period (30-90 days), clear definition of bug vs. feature
Deal-Breakers
Walk away if you see these:
- Won't identify team members before contract. They don't know either.
- Pressure tactics. "Price goes up next week." Good partners don't pressure.
- No references. Can't produce 2-3 happy clients? Problem.
- Unrealistic promises. "Instagram in 6 weeks for $30K." No.
- Too cheap. If it seems too good, it is.
- Vague about who codes. Hidden offshore? Junior teams? Trust your gut.
- No scope in proposal. "We'll build your MVP" means nothing.
- Can't explain technical approach. Haven't thought about it.
- Defensive about questions. Good partners welcome hard questions.
- No portfolio or process. Experience should be demonstrable.
Green Flags
You're likely talking to a good partner when:
- They ask tough questions about your business model, users, validation
- They challenge assumptions. "Do you need that for launch?" shows investment
- Transparent about gaps. "We haven't done healthcare compliance—we'd bring in a specialist"
- Clear when they're NOT the fit. "This isn't right for us, but try..."
- References rave about communication, not just technical skills
- Show real code and explain decisions you can understand
- Talk trade-offs. "Faster if we skip this, but you'll build it later"
- Process with flexibility. Structure plus room for reality
- Product thinking. Care about what you're building, not just screens
- Long-term mindset. Talk about what happens after launch
Checking References
Your best source of truth.
Ask past clients:
- Best part of working with them?
- Most challenging part?
- On time and budget? If not, how handled?
- How did they handle unexpected issues?
- Would you hire them again? Why?
- How was communication?
- Code quality? (If reference is technical)
- What would you do differently?
Look for:
- Genuine enthusiasm (not just "fine")
- Specific stories (not generic praise)
- Honesty about challenges
- Consistency across references
Reference red flags:
- Scripted responses
- Can't give specifics
- Hesitation on "Would you hire again?"
- "Great... but..." caveats
- Seems coached
Trust Your Gut
Data helps. But you've evaluated people your whole life.
If something feels off during sales—evasive answers, pressure, misalignment—it won't improve during delivery. It'll get worse.
The right partner feels collaborative. They challenge you constructively. They want to understand your business, not just cash your check.
You're not buying code. You're buying a partnership. Choose someone you trust to tell you the truth, especially when it's uncomfortable.
That's worth more than the cheapest rate or the fanciest portfolio.
Next Steps
Evaluating partners and want a second opinion on proposals or red flags? We're happy to chat.
We might not be the right fit—but we can help you figure out who is. No pitch, just perspective from people who've been on both sides.