How to Outsource Website Development, Step by Step
Last updated September 28, 2026. Every rule and number on this page was checked September 25, 2026.
The safe way to outsource website development is to settle three things before any work starts: who owns what gets built, whose name the hosting, domain, and logins are in, and whether the person doing the work is a contractor, an employee, or a company. Once those are set, you hand off one small task and build from there. The nine steps below cover each part, with the federal rules and the Florida ones.
This page is a plain reading of the rules. It isn't legal or tax advice.
Step 1. What web work should you outsource first?
A good first list is every web job that landed on your desk last month, small ones included.
The web work an outside team can take on runs from small to big:
| Small jobs | Bigger jobs | Ongoing upkeep |
|---|---|---|
| Bug fixes, homepage updates, new landing pages | Redesigns, full rebuilds, custom WordPress builds, WooCommerce stores, custom features, GoHighLevel funnels | Updates to WordPress, plugins, and themes; malware scans and security checks; backups; uptime checks; speed work |
DeskTeam360 takes on all of that web work, but it doesn't write sales copy or manage paid ad spend.
To help build that list, DeskTeam360 offers the Ultimate Task Delegation Template. You get the template plus a video walkthrough.
Get the Task Delegation Template
The button opens the template page on DeskTeam360's site.
Step 2. How do you pay for outsourced web development?
Outside web help is usually priced one of three ways:
| Way to pay | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fixed price per project | You agree on one price for one defined job |
| By the hour (also called time and materials) | You pay for the hours worked |
| Dedicated team | You pay for people assigned to your work |
A fourth way fits agencies with a steady flow of web work: a flat monthly rate. At DeskTeam360 that's $1,497, $2,994, or $4,491 a month, for 1, 2, or 3 tasks at a time. There are no contracts, and you can cancel any time.
Whichever way you pay, get the scope on paper. The author of this guide once saw a 6-week project stretch to 18 weeks. That project is why the author built the Client Expectation Framework.
Step 3. Where do you find help to outsource web development?
Outside web help can come from several places:
- Freelance marketplaces, such as Upwork and Fiverr
- Hiring sites, such as OnlineJobs.ph
- Agency directories
- Outside shops that bill per project, by the hour, or as a dedicated team
- A team on a flat monthly rate
Before starting DeskTeam360, the author hired people on Upwork, Fiverr, OnlineJobs.ph, and agency directories. One lesson from that time: a local assistant cost $5,000 a month, and Maria, hired overseas for $1,280 a month, was 10 times better, in the author's words.
Switching helpers happens, too. First Call Digital Agency, based in Montana, had sent its web development and some design work to another outside agency. Delivery times jumped around. Estimates missed. Quality was all over the place, and the back and forth started hurting the work for their own clients. They heard about DeskTeam360 through Duct Tape Marketing and switched. Now they send a ticket and a video that explains the job, and delivery is steady.
"DeskTeam360 Has Allowed Us To Grow In A More Predictable And Exciting Way!"
First Call Digital Agency
Ryan Burch, who runs The Tobie Group, had tried more than one kind of outside help:
"As a small ad agency, we aren't strangers to outsourcing some of our development work. We've used everything from freelancers to full agencies. Deskteam's process is absolutely excellent."
Ryan Burch, The Tobie Group (Trustpilot review)
Questions worth asking anyone before you pick them:
- Who will do the work, and will it be the same person next month?
- Who checks the work before you see it?
- Whose name will the hosting and logins be in?
- What does the written agreement say about who owns the work?
Step 4. Who owns the website when you outsource it?
You don't always own it unless it's in writing. US copyright law splits it like this:
- Work an employee does as part of their job counts as "work made for hire".
- Work you order from an outside person or company only counts as work made for hire if it fits one of nine listed types, and both sides sign a written agreement saying so.
- When the work doesn't count as work made for hire, the author is normally the person who made it.
- Moving the copyright to you only counts if it's in writing and signed by the owner.
So the fix is a signed agreement, before work starts, that says who owns the code, the design files, and the content. A lawyer can tell you exactly what yours needs to say.
Step 5. Whose name should the hosting and logins be in?
The domain, the hosting account, and every login belong in your name. One DeskTeam360 client learned why.
Lemonade Legend is a platform that helps people tell their own stories through video, media, and publishing. The owner had trusted one talented marketer with the website. That marketer put the site on the marketer's own hosting account, had total control of it, and then stopped cooperating. She held back 10% of an unfinished task, and that 10% was critical. The owner came to DeskTeam360 in crisis mode. DeskTeam360's team stayed polite with the former marketer and found a way around the missing 10%.
"I Can Be Sure That I Will Get What I Need When I Need It!"
Lemonade Legend
With the accounts in your name, each helper gets their own access, and you can turn it off when the work ends.
Step 6. Is your web developer a contractor or an employee?
It comes down to control. The IRS looks at control and independence in three groups: behavioral, financial, and the type of relationship. Florida looks at 10 common-law factors, and control over how the work is done matters most.
This one is serious in Florida. Calling an employee a contractor on purpose is a felony. If you're not sure which side of the line someone is on, that's a question for your accountant or lawyer.
Step 7. What paperwork do you file when you pay a web contractor?
Two different rules apply, with two different dollar lines.
| Rule | Who it covers | Dollar line | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida's report for people who aren't employees | A person you pay for work who isn't your employee | $600 or more in a calendar year | Within 20 days of the first payment or the contract date, whichever comes first |
| Federal Form 1099-NEC | A non-employee you pay | $2,000 or more, for payments made in 2026. The old line was $600 | Set by the IRS (see irs.gov) |
Florida added people who aren't employees to its report on October 1, 2021. The IRS says the $2,000 line may be adjusted for inflation starting in 2027. Payments to a corporation, including an LLC taxed as a C or S corporation, generally don't need a 1099-NEC. The IRS lists some exceptions.
Step 8. Do you charge sales tax when you resell web work in Florida?
It depends on what you sell and how. Florida's state sales tax is 6%, and many counties add their own surtax on top. In 2001, Florida ruled that web design by one ad agency wasn't subject to sales tax, because no physical goods changed hands. That ruling only binds the business that asked, on its own facts, so it shows how Florida has looked at web work without setting a rule for every agency. Separately, Florida law says an ad agency's sale of advertising services to a client is exempt from sales tax.
Your accountant can tell you how these fit your agency.
Step 9. What's a good first task to hand off?
A good first task is small and has a clear finish line. That's how it went for one agency owner.
Sidecar Marketing Solutions has been around since 2012. It's a marketing agency for solo owners and small firms. For special jobs, the founder had been using a mix of contractors, and they all felt cut off from each other. Services like DeskTeam360 had been tried before, and they hadn't delivered. After meeting the author of this guide at a Duct Tape Marketing summit in fall 2022, the founder started with DeskTeam360 in January 2023. The first task was a homepage, built from a sketch and copy the founder had already put together. Now DeskTeam360's team builds web pages and page sections for Sidecar's clients, and the founder is saving thousands of dollars a month without hiring single specialists.
"With DeskTeam360, I’ve Been Able To Actually Delegate Instead Of Doing Everything Myself."
Sidecar Marketing Solutions
A first task shows you how a team asks questions, how the work comes back, and how changes go. At DeskTeam360, unlimited revisions are included on every plan.
Want help with the steps?
If you'd rather hand the web work to a team that already works this way, book a call with DeskTeam360.
The button opens DeskTeam360's Book a Call page.
If you're not ready for a call, the Ultimate Task Delegation Template helps you list what to hand off. It comes with a video walkthrough.
Get the Task Delegation Template
That button opens the template page on DeskTeam360's site. For the full cost of a hire next to outsourcing, see what a web hire costs.
Sources
- US Code, Title 17, sections 101 and 204(a) (uscode.house.gov)
- US Copyright Office, Circular 30, Works Made for Hire (copyright.gov)
- IRS, Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee? (irs.gov)
- IRS, Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (irs.gov)
- Florida Statutes, 2026, section 409.2576 (flsenate.gov)
- Florida Department of Revenue, new hire reporting for independent contractors (servicesforemployers.floridarevenue.com)
- Florida Department of Revenue, employee or independent contractor, and sales tax (floridarevenue.com)
- Florida Department of Revenue, Technical Assistance Advisement TAA 01A-019 (floridarevenue.com)
- Florida Statutes, 2026, section 212.08(7)(vv) (flsenate.gov)
- The author's story: DeskTeam360's About page (deskteam360.com/about)
- Trustpilot, DeskTeam360 reviews (trustpilot.com)
- DeskTeam360 case studies: First Call Digital Agency, Lemonade Legend, Sidecar Marketing Solutions (deskteam360.com/case-studies)
All checked September 25, 2026. This site isn't connected to the State of Florida, the Florida Department of Revenue, the IRS, the US Copyright Office, or any other government agency.
What changed
- September 25, 2026: First version of this page.
- September 28, 2026: Added what DeskTeam360 doesn't do (step 1) and a client review (step 3), moved here from the home page. No number changed.