Than it would be to have engineers... - Tradução em português

Eu costumo ler alguns textos pra aumentar vocabulário. Porém esses dia me deparei com essa expressão (em negrito) e que pra mim não faz sentido (don't make sense)!

Ian says he knew that Jukt would determine it was cheaper to hire him—and pay him to fix their database--than it would be to have engineers do it. And he knew this because the same thing had happened to more than a dozen online friends.

Alguém pode me ajudar?