Good reasons to work away from your home city

[PermieToContractorAndBack]

A contract would require me to spend 3 full days a week away from my home city. It's too far to commute on a daily basis, it would be too expensive too. The other 2 days I'd be able to WFH.

What would be a good reason to accept it? The call I had with the client wasn't particularly enlightening, the contract could go either way in terms of it being useful for my CV, giving me more experience. The dayrate is ok but nothing I couldn't get in my home city.

The only positive I can think of is that I would be able to use and enhance more recently gained skills, it's a field that greatly interests me and is lucrative long term. But - as I said before - I can't tell from the initial conversation the likelihood of the various projects actually delivering anything.

The hesitation comes from the facts that a) I don't want to leave a client within a month or two, b) I have commitments in my home city so being away so much would have consequences c) the town I'd be working in is pretty boring, especially mid-week.

But the lure of potentially ending up using my new skill set is quite strong. I always learn something new with each contract.

Your experiences and perhaps a different angle here would help me. Thank you.

[northernladuk]

IMO you have to be committed and comfortable with staying away from home else it won't work. I've lost count of the number of people I've met on their first stay away gig and in less than 3 months they've gone. They put up with it for a couple of weeks and start moaning about the journey until either they've had enough or the client has had enough of them.

There is a good chance you could be missing important stuff if you've got kids like parents evening/awards at school and so on. Your weekends are going to change as you have to shoehorn 7 days worth of time with your partner/family in to two days.

I can't really comment on what you need to convince you to take it. I'm quite happy with away from home gigs so don't need the persuasion you need. Can't help with the decision making but can tell you to think about whether you really can do the time away from home. Crap dark days away from home in B&B's, cheap hotels, on your jack while the family is at home. The dreaded commute to the client and home again. If any of these things appear daunting or something you don't want to do but would put up with it to invoice, I'd think about a different gig.

Remember also, any gig might look great on paper and still be a pile of cack when you get there

[PermieToContractorAndBack]

Thanks northernladuk.

Makes a lot of sense - I don't have a family so I have a lot of personal freedom without the responsibility but have other commitments and I have no idea what the commute would be like. Certainly a lot could go wrong with it, inconvenience, cost, hassle, etc.

Your last sentence is what worries me the most. After reading glass doors and having had that very vague call, I'm not convinced.

[jmo21]

I've been contracting 10 years now, and have never had to stay away for a contract.

Longest commute has been 90 mins.

I hope it stays that way, as I'm not sure I could stay away from home for a contract now.

From reading this forum, this definitely does not seem to be the norm, so I guess I am very lucky so far. Hope it doesn't change!

[b0redom]

What JMO21 says.

I've worked with a number of people who work away and they seem to enjoy the freedom it gives them, ie 3 evenings/week with no responsibilities. Don't think I could do it though....

[WTFH]

In my approx 20 years of contracting, I'd say that most of my clients have been away from home.
I've always treated it as a way to explore new parts of the country (or the world) and experience new cultures.
I'd tend to say that if a client takes more than about an hour's driving to get to them, then I'd stay over one or two nights a week. Over two hours and I'll probably stay away every night if I'm on site the next day.

Part of contracting is that you aren't tied to one location, another part is that you don't have to take contracts if you don't want to.

[vwdan]

I've done both - with a lot of staying away. Biggest stints being 6 months in Swindon (Eventually got Mon-Thur at the end) and 12 months in London (Mon - Thur)

Swindon was fine - boring place, but decent rate and we were saving for our house so had a clear goal. When you're saving literally thousands it's easy to put up with.

London I love, but it was my first gig after my son was born and was a slog in personal times and I was desperate to get back home towards the end.

Broadly, staying away is always going to be less desirable than not but apart from my son, I've never minded it. My wife worked full time so it kind of worked for us - you make the most of your weekends. The trick is to be earning enough cash to make it worthwhile - if you've got a goal or can really enjoy your downtime then it's not too bad. A couple of holidays, some good saving, loads of days out and you feel like you're living life even if you're missing a few evenings out.

To be honest, for a vaguely decent gig I wouldn't hesitate with 3 days - that's a piece of piss. If you can get in later Day 1 and maybe sneak away early on Day 3 then you'll blitz it.

[PermieToContractorAndBack]

Thank you everyone for the different perspective.

To be honest, for a vaguely decent gig I wouldn't hesitate with 3 days - that's a piece of piss. If you can get in later Day 1 and maybe sneak away early on Day 3 then you'll blitz it.

Well this is it, I don't mind getting up very early on Tuesday but have no idea whether I'd be able to sneak away early on Thursday, especially for the first 2-3 months while I'm working out what's what. And I don't know yet how decent the gig would be, the money is ok, not exceptional.

I live in London and I do stuff during the week in the evenings because I can. So I need to decide how much it bums me out to have that all squeezed in Fri-Sun.

[WTFH]

I live in London and I do stuff during the week in the evenings because I can. So I need to decide how much it bums me out to have that all squeezed in Fri-Sun.

The good news is that things happen in places outside London.

Where is the new gig?
Are there any other contractors on the site?
Will you have a car with you, or be relying on public transport?

[vwdan]

I live in London and I do stuff during the week in the evenings because I can. So I need to decide how much it bums me out to have that all squeezed in Fri-Sun.

Well, I think it depends on how little you can do in this new place. I've always been at my fittest when staying away - actually, Swindon is a good example of that. Started the contract with an injury and could barely walk - by the end I was doing 10 - 15 miles before dinner most nights.

Also did a bit of sideline development work for a few old customers - made a couple of quid that way in my downtime.

Given the thread, I'd say it's pretty clear it's not for you. This is on the nicer side of "staying away" and you're still hating the idea.