There were 3 people from upwork whose work quality was great, but are also severely overbooked (great work on the first project, then no reply for weeks)
The biggest problem for me is that qualified devs all seem to be overbooked.
did you try giving them more money?
to add to this - I pay exactly what the freelancer asks, and not a single person I've worked with has ever asked me for an increase in rates, even when I would have gladly accepted. When I offer more money proactively, it's usually when they're dropping the project and I really want them to continue. Unfortunately money doesn't seem to be the issue in these cases - the two instances were "got a job" and "personal issue".
apart from that:
- hourly rates don't correlate with total cost, lower hourly rates = they'll bill you more hours
- higher hourly rates isn't necessarily better. The best, most reliable person I've worked with charged $60/hr. The worst was well over 100.