Hours to claim for

[HankWangford]

Guys,
Just past my driving test a few weeks ago so not travelled for a client before.
Anyway my client asked me to attend an office three hours drive away to manage a release on Thursday & Friday. Do I claim for hours from setting off from home in the morning to getting back home at night or do I calculate that time minus what it normally takes me to get to work in the morning. Normally takes me an hour to get to/back from work.

[malvolio]

Strictly speaking you should knock of normal get-to-work time - but how long is the drive from your bedroom to your front door?

[Mordac]

As a general rule, I would charge not claim, (this is an important distinction, that's what employees do) for the hours worked, plus the driving time, plus the hotel & meal costs, plus the mileage (@40p per mile minimum). Just like any other business would do.

[Denny]

As a general rule, I would charge not claim, (this is an important distinction, that's what employees do) for the hours worked, plus the driving time, plus the hotel & meal costs, plus the mileage (@40p per mile minimum). Just like any other business would do.

The outcome is likely to depend on what contractual arrangments the end-client had with the recruiter and to you (if you were sourced through one) or what they agreed with you directly (if you didn't use one). There's no point in invoicing for these 'charges' if there is no contractual provision in place for them to honour them.

[malvolio]

Disagree - if you are paid for hours worked, and you have to go out of your way to be somewhere else, then those are hours worked and you should get paid for them. The moral dilemma of dropping off the time you would have spent travelling normally is just that, a moral one. The contract almost certainly won't say that you will only be paid for sitting at a desk.

Of course, this is one of the downsides of day rates - you can't charge extra!!

[thunderlizard]

Agree with Malvolio. If you haven't agreed any specifics (contractually or informally), any unexpected travelling generally counts as working and is hourly-billable as such. I think this is pretty standard, so you can invoice first and field objections later if they arise.


Occasionally (e.g. if I'm doing an early start somewhere far-flung and I talk them into expensing a hotel there and I travel down the night before) I won't charge, but that's just me.