What a dedicated team really means
A dedicated team works only on your projects, usually full time, and follows your priorities. You are not buying scattered hours from a pool of freelancers: you get people who learn your product, your tools and your standards over time. A project manager coordinates the work, so you do not have to manage each person individually.
This model suits projects that run for months: a growing website, an online shop, a product that keeps evolving, ongoing maintenance and improvements.
Why companies look at Pakistan
Pakistan has a large pool of developers, designers and technical specialists, and English is widely used in tech teams. The time difference is manageable: Pakistan is on UTC+5 all year, four hours ahead of the UK in summer and five in winter. For many small and mid-sized companies, the combination of skills, communication and cost is attractive.
Quality still varies, as it does everywhere. The goal is to find a partner that proves its level before you commit.
A project for the Lahore team?Describe it in two minutes. We reply in English or French.
Get an estimateWhat to check before you sign
- Live projects you can open and test, not only a CV or a slide deck
- A short paid technical test based on your real needs
- Clear English and a named project manager who answers quickly
- Who owns the code, the design files and the accounts
- How replacements are handled if someone leaves the team
- How progress is reported: weekly demos, task boards, written summaries
How to run a small paid test
Before a long contract, offer a one to three week pilot on a real but limited task: a landing page, a form connected to your CRM, a performance fix. Judge the quality of the work, the clarity of questions, the respect of deadlines and how the team reacts to feedback. A good partner will welcome this test; a weak one will resist it.
Contracts, ownership and payments
Put the essentials in writing: scope, deliverables, schedule, payment milestones and confidentiality. State that code, designs and content belong to you once paid. Keep the domain name, hosting and code repository under your own accounts. Agree on currency, payment dates and any bank fees. For legal questions, have the contract reviewed by a professional in your country.
Time zones and daily routine
For the UK, your morning is the team’s afternoon, so you have a comfortable overlap. For the US East Coast, the overlap is shorter: plan a short daily check-in in your morning and rely on written updates for the rest. A shared task board, a weekly demo and a short written summary after each meeting keep everyone aligned.
Common mistakes
- Choosing only on price
- Starting without written deliverables and acceptance criteria
- Skipping regular demos and learning about problems at the end
- Giving administrator access through personal accounts of the team
- Paying everything upfront with no milestones
A realistic first 30 days
- Week 1: goals, access, tools and a shared backlog
- Week 2: designs approved and pages mapped
- Week 3: development and a first working demo
- Week 4: testing, fixes, launch and handover
After the pilot, decide with real evidence whether to extend the team or the scope.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to manage each developer myself?
No. With an agency or a managed dedicated team, a project manager coordinates the work and reports to you. You give priorities and feedback.
How quickly can a team start?
It depends on the profiles you need and the clarity of your brief. A clear scope and available accounts shorten the start considerably.
What if I need to reduce or increase the team?
Agree on this in the contract: notice periods and how team size can change. A flexible monthly model makes it easier.
How do I protect my intellectual property?
Use a written agreement covering ownership and confidentiality, keep repositories and accounts under your control and limit access to what each person needs.
Why work with an agency
An agency handles recruitment, management and quality control, so you do not have to. aliphbay combines French project direction with a team based in Lahore, with one point of contact for the whole project. To see how a collaboration works end to end, read Outsourcing to Pakistan: how does it actually work? and meet our team in Pakistan.
