Do you take days off when contracting?

[jmo21]

Really!? Im frequently asked 'do you have any holidays booked or intend taking any holidays in the next 3 months \ contract period?' Point is, if a PM or whoever let's one contractor take time off, the rest will follow often as not.

My response is always I dont take time off during contracts except for unforeseen circumstances or doctor \ dental appointments which I try and arrange for Monday morning or Friday afternoon.

I fully understand the work \ life balance. That's one of the reasons I turned contractor. But, I dont expect to take days or weeks off in a contract to achieve that work \ life balance. From a contractor perspective, it doesnt sit right to me.

I've met plenty of stressed permies who don't take holidays "for the good of the project" and accrue lots of days, carry them over etc, so it works both ways.

[nomadd]

I've met plenty of stressed permies who don't take holidays "for the good of the project" and accrue lots of days, carry them over etc, so it works both ways.

Worked on three sites in my career were permies have had stress-related heart attacks. Two survived after quadruple bypass surgery and a year off work, the other died before ever reaching the hospital.

There's a life lesson in there for all of us.

All three were well under 50 years of age.

[Willapp]

Yeah I agree, I don't see the 'contractor' title as being a requirement to work constantly through each gig just to ensure the client gets every possible day out of you.

If you think about it, it's not much different than contracting a builder to build you a house, which could take 12 months, and expecting him to work on it every single day. I'd assume they would take at least one 2 week break during that period, if not more, and as long as I knew when they weren't going to be there (in case I turned up for a progress report) it wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

The key is always communication with clients to make sure any time off (or 'unavailability' for the contractor-terminology pedants) isn't overly inconvenient to them, and plan accordingly.