There are two main advantages to hiring a freelance web designer/developer over a web design agency. The first is the personal touch: you're in direct contact with the person who's actually doing the work of designing and developing your website without everything being filtered through a project manager.
The second is price: an agency has higher overheads so I'm able to pass on the savings of not maintaining an office and paying the salary of project managers to you.
What's your payment schedule?
For smaller web design and development projects I usually work on a 50% deposit to get the ball rolling, then the remaining 50% becomes payable when we're ready to go live. For larger, more complex projects like ecommerce site builds I can split the schedule across more milestones.
Do you work internationally?
I've worked with clients from Cape Town to California in addition to right here in Bridgend and across South Wales.