I agree a lot with csabatka1.
Note:
I have a small team of full time devs.
Think of getting your home foundation done. (I'm trying to find an obscure expensive and can blow up in your face analog)
So a rather large project.
Pros:
Cost can be cheaper.
You will need to know what parts of the team you will need.
Outside of the box thinking but many have told me to stand on the floor at a dealer.
Cons (I'm mixing domestic and Foreign):
You get what you pay for.
How do you know you aren't getting screwed?
Did they rebuild your engine without putting back in used parts and half assed the grease on the rod bearings?
Possible TimeZone issues.
Language barriers?
Cultural issues and color choices ... colors can be pretty wild.
They are invested in dragging this out long as possible.
Most likely they have no clue about US or even just automotive in general.
Notes;
If you go independent and try to manage this on your own, you really need to have someone that is close to a manager/tech lead developer to be on your side. This can be someone you can take a gamble on.
Would I use upwork? I hired my team there but I do coding for a living and I still had to fire a few people to get where I am. Then I spent a lot of time teaching them about the business and what I expect. Fiverr is about as bad. You are just another cog they want to spit out today.
If you go with a development shop, you can probably expect their quote to be 30% short unless they have over estimated and gave you a price. csabatka1 got most of this. You will be working with a sales rep who works with a product manager who talks with the devs. Then expect a large amount of your cost is in "meetings" and "feature approvals".
Then you get into smaller projects.
Sometimes Indies are possibly better here.
Internal Hire?
Ok to Good. Pay is the big factor here. Hire domestically you'll be in for at least 50k depending on the state but more likely closer to 100k for mid developer depending on the language.
Most full stack devs that I know that I can trust to actually work the 80% of the day are getting 140K plus benefits as a Full Time hire. 1099 is going be higher since they will need to cover their own insurance. I have been seeing crazy stuff. People working 2 jobs from 9-5pm and 1 guy I worked with was even doing meetings at the same time.
