Travelling for client

[formant]

The agency *will* push back on this, with classic lines of "that's just not how we do it", "none of our other contractors have asked for that" and the classic "this could be a deal breaker".

They're lying. They do that a lot.

It's a tricky one to get right, certainly. For weekends / evenings when I'm away, I don't charge as I'm not working on the clients project - usually I can use the time to catch up on PlanB or something else as I'm away from the family.

Traveling time such as flights etc; I take the view that some journeys are part of the job and re-charge the cost. If I am losing a whole day to traveling then I would certainly expect to re-charge the cost to the client.

No time in lieu and no overtime though.

Cheers for the advice regarding agencies and travel. Good to be prepared.

Yeah, well I've also had permie employers where I could claim neither time off in lieu nor paid overtime. Stingy buggers.

For your journey - demand business class at least.

Damn. Too late. :-(
(I'm not all that fussed, but if that's a reasonable thing to request, well it would've been nicer...)

[mudskipper]

I aim to travel during the working day and just bill as normal. I guess if you're on an hourly rather than daily rate it's negotiable. Doing what the permies do isn't always unreasonable.

economy - again you should discuss this prior to agreeing to travel. Client wanted me to go to Oz premium economy, so myCo paid for the upgrade. Well worth it IMO - and you can often get it cheaper on the day at the check in desk.

[formant]

In my opinion you have "properly started", I also think it is good business practice and common courtesy to start communicating with the client directly. Also as RasputinDude has said, the agent will spin you a line of complete BS.

Ok, cool, that's good to know for the future.

[formant]

I aim to travel during the working day and just bill as normal. I guess if you're on an hourly rather than daily rate it's negotiable. Doing what the permies do isn't always unreasonable.

economy - again you should discuss this prior to agreeing to travel. Client wanted me to go to Oz premium economy, so myCo paid for the upgrade. Well worth it IMO - and you can often get it cheaper on the day at the check in desk.

I am on an hourly rate, as when not travelling, I'm only part-time for now. Will keep the business class thing in mind for future travel (although within this contract there may not be any).

[Ticktock]

One thing I meant to add - although I won't charge for weekend days when I'm stuck away (as someone said earlier, my time's my own then), I WILL still charge expenses for all meals. With some clients, and depending on location, I'll also charge for car hire / train to head a bit further abroad, and of course for the hotel room. Last time in the USA the office was in Connecticut and I hired a car to visit Rhode Island. In Australia I hired a car for 2 weekends. If I decide to stay somewhere else over the weekend (rather than the hotel close to the office) then I'll either pay for it myself, or check out of the original hotel and charge for the "away" one, choosing one at a very similar cost.

My logic is that my time is my own, however I will not incur additional personal expense because of my clients choice to have me work somewhere that I don't have access to my own car, kitchen, etc.

Of course, as always, make sure your client agrees to this in advance.

[formant]

One thing I meant to add - although I won't charge for weekend days when I'm stuck away (as someone said earlier, my time's my own then), I WILL still charge expenses for all meals. With some clients, and depending on location, I'll also charge for car hire / train to head a bit further abroad, and of course for the hotel room. Last time in the USA the office was in Connecticut and I hired a car to visit Rhode Island. In Australia I hired a car for 2 weekends. If I decide to stay somewhere else over the weekend (rather than the hotel close to the office) then I'll either pay for it myself, or check out of the original hotel and charge for the "away" one, choosing one at a very similar cost.

My logic is that my time is my own, however I will not incur additional personal expense because of my clients choice to have me work somewhere that I don't have access to my own car, kitchen, etc.

Of course, as always, make sure your client agrees to this in advance.

We have agreed upfront that they are definitely covering car hire/transport as well as food/drink (actually, I didn't even need to bring that up, that was part of their offer). I may be somewhat agreeable about charging for my time with regards to travel, but I definitely wouldn't want to incur additional expenses!