What Type of Contractor are You Hiring?
What type of contractor are you hiring? That’s a question you should be asking yourself - and them - before you pull the trigger. Let me expand on the reason for this…
First of all, I should explain what I mean by “type” in this context.
There are three types of contractors that you may be hiring for your project:
Just Do the Work This is a contractor that doesn’t care about the task, the business or the decisions. They literally are just there to do the work for you. If you want more effort, pay more. Less, pay less. It’s just business.
Trying What’s Best Contractors fall into this group if they have pride in their work and intend to solve your problems effectively and efficiently. They may not know the reasoning for all of the decisions, but they’ll catch on. You get good quality work, and someone who gradually becomes familiar with your business.
All In The all-in contractor has programming skills and wants to understand your business. They will do the work, analyze the requirements, and potentially push back if they disagree with your request based on their understanding of the business’ objectives. They will invest more time in understanding your full business - you may not find output as fast as you’d like.
So - which is best?
I don’t know.
It’s more a question of which do you want?
Do you need a right-hand person, a contractor to take over and do the thinking as well as developing? All in! Perhaps you already have a team and just need someone to throw more hours at it. Just do the work! Or maybe somewhere in the middle.
The most important point here is that you understand there are different types - and that you inquire which you’re going to be getting.