Building a Development Agency: From Solo to Team

Beyond Solo Freelancing

There's a ceiling to what one person can earn trading time for money. Scaling into an agency means taking on larger projects and leveraging other developers' time.

When to Scale

• Consistently turning away work
• Projects too large for one person
• Wanting to step back from implementation
• Clear demand for your specialty

Contractors vs Employees

Contractors

• Flexible, project-based
• Lower overhead
• Less control over availability
• Must be truly independent (legally)

Employees

• Dedicated, consistent
• Higher overhead (benefits, taxes)
• More control and training investment
• Better for ongoing work

Finding Good Developers

• Your professional network
• Developer communities (Laravel News, etc.)
• GitHub contributions
• Paid trial projects before committing

Pricing Agency Work

// Your cost: Developer at $75/hour
// Your overhead: 20% (management, tools, etc.)
// Your margin: 30-50%

$developerCost = 75;
$overhead = $developerCost * 0.20; // $15
$margin = ($developerCost + $overhead) * 0.40; // $36

$clientRate = $developerCost + $overhead + $margin; // $126/hour

Quality Control

• Code review process
• Coding standards documentation
• Client communication guidelines
• Regular check-ins and feedback

Common Pitfalls

• Growing too fast
• Not raising prices with overhead
• Becoming the bottleneck
• Poor communication with subcontractors

Conclusion

Scaling to an agency is a business transition, not just hiring help. Build systems for quality, price to include overhead and margin, and grow deliberately.