Long commute to contract - experiences?

[Gentile]

...Anyone else got experience of doing similar sort of commute? Do-able of course, but I'm concerned that 5 days a week of this for any extended period of time is going to knacker me big time.

I did 52 miles each way through Scottish country roads during that bad Winter of 2009/2010. I wouldn't choose to do it again unless I really had to. It's very tiring when it can take anywhere between 50 minutes and two hours to get to and from work, depending on the weather and road conditions, and you need to take a sleeping bag and shovel in case you get snowed in. Brrrrrr!!

[SarahL2012]

Can they set you up to work from home?

I did 18 months Birmingham to Nottingham, driving daily. Fastest I ever did it in was 90 minutes and that was was leaving at 6:30am, with no accidents or roadworks. After the first 3 months I was able to get the set-up in place to work from home, which meant I could do at least one day a week from home. It also helped when we had those bad winters - I could still get paid even when the car was stuck on the drive.

Was glad when that job came to an end!

[darmstadt]

Currently just coming up to 2 years of commuting 300km each way, staying over for 2-3 nights a week depending upon what I decide to work. Normally takes between 2.5 - 3 hours although Friday took me 7 hours to get home (bastard lorry drivers deciding to drive too fast in the wet through roadworks.) Befire that it was 150km each way for a year and before that 250km each way for 2 years. Also as I do other projects at the same time I might drive 300km and stay 3 days then drive on for another 200km, do 2 days work and then have a longer drive home (but I do have a fast car and the Autobahns are pretty good.)

[psychocandy]

I did 52 miles each way through Scottish country roads during that bad Winter of 2009/2010. I wouldn't choose to do it again unless I really had to. It's very tiring when it can take anywhere between 50 minutes and two hours to get to and from work, depending on the weather and road conditions, and you need to take a sleeping bag and shovel in case you get snowed in. Brrrrrr!!

Similar to what my commute would be. Whereas normally it would be a nice scenic drive, it would be via some areas of South Wales/Mid-Wales that are not the best in bad weather.

Heads of Valleys/Beacons for those interested.

[Butcheroo]

Long commute to contract - experiences?

I purposely moved to where improve to be near my normal clients. I have been very lucky working near home all the time bar my first ever contract

If I had to, I would work anywhere though

[psychocandy]

Some very interesting replies. Thanks all. It seems long commutes etc are the norm for some people. Especially those of you in the South East is seems.

I agree with some though. Commute time on the train is less hassle than driving. Definitely less tiring. Of course, possibly more hassle if the train is unreliable.

Funnily enough, I've got another option on the go where its 10 mins drive to train station for me, 45 mins on train. Client then is right next to train station - they've actually got their own side gate. Sounds a bit better to me than 90 mins drive at least.

Mon-Fri long commute every day. Seems to raise a number of possible inconveniences.

- You can no longer nip to the doctors/dentist and roll in to client a bit later. No good going to dentist at 9am and then driving 2 hours to client.
- Evenings. You're so knackered by the time you get home you dont want to do anything anyway.
- You're car. Totally reliant on it. If it breaks down, you're screwed. Public transport backup may not be an option.
- Miles on car. If you've got a nice car, its going to have loads of miles on it soon. If you decide to buy a not so nice car, you risk unreliability issues as above.
- Extra hours. With a 90 min+ drive in and 90 min drive home last thing you want is for client to expect more than 7.5 hrs a day off you. If they do, it could be a show stopper and make the commute undoable.



The old mon-fri stay away thing.
- Fine for people with no kids/family etc otherwise 4 nights away means you're away MOST nights of the week. Couldnt do this long term.

What I've been thinking is something that a few of you have already mentioned. Its a local council so flexible time (but also probably no WFH). Only thing of course is the IR35 issue but thats another matter.

So:-

monday - drive from home, late start, early finish, drive home.
tuesday - drive from home, late start, late finish, stay in hotel.
wednesday - in hotel, early start, early finish, drive home.
thursday - drive from home, late start, late finish, stay in hotel.
friday - in hotel, early start, late finish, drive home.

Only one day doing the drive twice this way and only 2 nights away. Not so bad I guess.

[Antman]

Interesting thread.

When you say "late start", do you mean 10am? If it's later would that impinge on any 'core hours' that they have?

[andrewb]

- Evenings. You're so knackered by the time you get home you dont want to do anything anyway.

Yes, that's the annoying bit for me. I'm currently doing a bit over 2 hours each way. Mostly by train (so I don't have to be particularly awake in the morning, or particularly sober in the evening, which is about the only good thing about it).

Might have to look in to staying overnight, but it's London so it makes the commuting look very cheap and still doesn't give me my evenings back. (Well, it would, but I wouldn't be at home.)

[Scoobos]

I move to get as close as possible.

Living near London now, I have no idea how people accept a 1.5 hour commute each way as acceptable.

I'm a shandy by all accounts , more than 30 minutes and I'm getting annoyed.

[SueEllen]

Mon-Fri long commute every day. Seems to raise a number of possible inconveniences.

- You can no longer nip to the doctors/dentist and roll in to client a bit later. No good going to dentist at 9am and then driving 2 hours to client.

It depends on your doctor and your dentist plus the client. If you can start at 10.30am but work until 6.30pm then it's not a problem.

Lots of doctors especially in London have early or commuter clinics this means you can book an appointment for between 7.30am and 9am.

However if you are that ill you shouldn't be driving that distance anyway so it doesn't matter what time you see the doctor.

With dentists if your dentist is private then you can get an early appointment.

To be honest the only time I had difficulty with a company with medical appointments in the morning meaning I was in 30 minutes to an hour later was when I was permanent. The company were such f**** I ensured my appointments were in the middle of the day meaning I would go to work for about 2 hours.

So:-

monday - drive from home, late start, early finish, drive home.
tuesday - drive from home, late start, late finish, stay in hotel.
wednesday - in hotel, early start, early finish, drive home.
thursday - drive from home, late start, late finish, stay in hotel.
friday - in hotel, early start, late finish, drive home.

Only one day doing the drive twice this way and only 2 nights away. Not so bad I guess.

One thing you haven't taken account of is traffic.

There are certain times on the roads when they are more busy and if you start your drive late you are more likely to be delayed by an accident. Generally with my commutes if I'm on the road by 6.45am I'm less likely to stuck in traffic behind an accident than if I leave at 7.10am.