What type of developers is better?

tomED wrote: »

The general consensus for us is that when you use a freelancer, you tend to have to hold their hand a little. You need to do most of the testing and provide a lot of feedback.

This is a telling statement and is true of most freelancers and many companies. However, a good sign which suggests you've got a 'real deal' freelancer/company is when they're the ones holding your hand, tackling issues you might not be aware of and guiding you into good practices. So many of freelancers out there don't actually have that much experience and expertise, and very often exhibit a fundamental lack of knowledge of how to go about doing business on the web and business in general. The same may be said of companies, but not to anywhere near the same degree as the very fact they are companies suggests a higher level of professionalism, but not always. Trouble with web development and amateurism is that there is a very low barrier to entry. There are so many instances of people calling themselves designers/developers who only have a handful of sites done. As with most business sectors, there's a proporation of companies who are top notch, many companies who do a fair job and many at the bottom end. The low barrier to entry and huge scope of what can be involved in web development means there's a helluva lot at the lower end. It's difficult to weed these out and get a higher end solution. To give yourself a better opportunity, you need to do plenty of research, talk to previous clients and other similar businesses, make sure the solution provider uses contract, proposal, schedule, scope, etc. documents and get quotes and proposals from a good number of companies/freelancers. Too many business get ripped off because they simply didn't do enough shopping around, so don't let that happen.

Good luck and happy hunting.