The hardest part of working alone is not the work. It is that there is no cover — so a holiday, an illness or two deadlines in the same week all become the same problem.
Freelancing works well until two things land at once, or until something goes wrong while you are away. Then the choice is turning work down, delivering late, or working through a holiday — and none of those are good for a business built on relationships.
The second version of the same problem is capability rather than capacity. A designer who builds competently in WordPress wins a brief needing a custom integration; a developer gets asked for something outside what they do. Turning it down loses the client, and taking it on is a risk.
We are backup for both. Extra hands when there is too much, cover when you are not available, and a second opinion when you want one — without any interest in your client.
Picking up work when you have more than you can deliver, so you stop turning projects down.
Someone who can respond if a client has a problem while you are away. Agreed in advance rather than arranged in a panic.
A designer who needs an integration, a developer who needs a front end. Whatever sits beyond what you do.
Sometimes you want somebody experienced to look at an approach before you commit. That is a short conversation, not a project.
We work behind you. We do not contact your clients, during a project or after one.
You price the client. What we charge you is between us, and the margin is yours to set.
The scale you set, not approximated. If a typeface cannot be licensed for web we tell you before the build rather than substituting it.
A layout that breaks at 900px, an interaction that will be painful on a phone. You hear about it while it is still cheap to change.
Designs rarely cover every width. Rather than invent the in-between states we agree them with you.
So your client can update content without the design falling apart, which is what protects your work after handover.
No credit in the footer, nothing in the code, nothing in the documentation. Your client sees your agency.
It would be a terrible way to run this. If one of your clients approached us independently we would tell you.
Someone who has never seen the site cannot usefully cover it on the day. A short handover in advance is what makes it work.
We will tell you straight away if we cannot take something, rather than accepting it and delivering late. That is the whole value of backup.
Some effects cost ten times what they look like they should. We will tell you the price rather than absorb it or drop it silently.
Contrast below AA, or an interaction that cannot be used by keyboard. We will say so, and propose an alternative that keeps the intent.
The briefs outside what you do, the weeks where too much lands at once, or the holiday you have not booked. That tells us what kind of backup would actually help.