This is a question that many business owners ask themselves when they’re ready to take their websites to the next level. However, if you take the time to research whether it’s smart to handle web app development in-house or outsource it, you’ll likely find that the best option is to outsource it.

When outsourcing web app development, you basically have 2 choices: you can outsource to a company overseas or partner with a fully US-based company. While the upfront cost savings can make outsourcing overseas a very tempting option, most businesses will end up spending much more money in the long run by choosing this route.

If you’re still on the fence about handling web app development in-house, here are several convincing reasons why outsourcing to a US-based web development firm is your smartest move:

Independent web app developers charge a premium price.
Considering that the unemployment rate for web app developers is virtually 0 percent, they are in a position to charge a premium rate for their services. Big tech companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon are hiring web developers right out of college at unprecedented rates for phenomenal salaries. This means that if you’re going to hire a really good independent web app developer for your company, you’re going to have to compete with these major players in the tech world.

There are a number of challenges presented with managing in-house web app developers.
There are so many different ways to build custom web apps, including a variety of platforms to choose from, an enormous number of third party tools to use, and several different options for servers and hosting.

For the best outcome, handling web app development in-house really needs to be managed by someone that really knows the needs of the business. As you can imagine, managing the web app development process can turn into a full-time job. Being a business owner that is focused on growing your company, you simply can’t afford to set time aside to manage the web app development process yourself.

You run the risk of losing your in-house web developer.
So you’ve found a strong in-house web app developer, and a year down the road, the custom business application that he built has now become a critical part of your company. Then one day, your developer turns in his resignation. With so much demand out there for custom web app developers, this is a very real scenario that many businesses are faced with.

If you find yourself in this predicament, you should know that it can take some time to find a strong replacement. Also, your former developer also likely left your company with an enormous amount of knowledge stuck in his head about your custom web app. Without this knowledge, getting your new developer trained with how your app works can be a nightmare.

And who is to say that your new developer won’t turn in his resignation a year down the road as well? With the constant churn of new in-house developers taking a stab of how your app–a critical component of your business–should be working, you may never get your app to return to its optimal functioning level again.

Fortunately, you can avoid some of these scenarios referenced above by partnering with an experienced and reputable web app development firm that employs a team of experts to keep up with the constant changes to technology and provide some continuity to your business. Just be sure to avoid the mistake of partnering with an overseas company to avoid communication issues an ensure high quality development.