I occasionally do freelance mobile app & data analysis work, and also subcontract some of the work to other freelancers. The ability to write great specs and mi

I occasionally do freelance mobile app & data analysis work, and also subcontract some of the work to other freelancers. The ability to write great specs and milestones (micro-managing) is the biggest cost differentiator in commissioning work. • If you know precisely what you want (to pixel-perfect photoshop mockups of every screen and interaction), you can hire anyone on Elance for $10/hour and get a good result. • If you know mostly what you want - a written spec with some gaps - you need to hire a skilled, local developer for 50-100$/hour who will sit down with you to describe the relative complexity of features, make technical decisions, and offer suggestions on what to cut out to reduce cost. • If you only have a vague vision, you need a huge budget, because you are hiring an UX designer, graphical designer, developer and a business advisor, and paying for their time spent on changes after seeing prototype demos. The more you "micro-manage", the cheaper developers you can hire (and still get an acceptable result), and the less time you need to budget for changes. For a $800 project, there is no other way to make it work.