Green grass (the life of a contractor?)

[Sausage Surprise]

Contracting is not that good at the moment. I think it´s only worth it if you can find contracts fairly close to home, with occasional travel to fill in gaps. No point in working away long term.

Unless the rate is right.

[cojak]

I've been contracting for over 13 years. I did have one 3 month contract where I could commute every day (1 hour 40mins on the train) a few years ago, but apart from that I've always had to work away from home.

But because of that I've rarely been out of contract.

[BlasterBates]

The rates I´m seeing are up to 400 per day. That would be 92000 gross, now here´s the killer, subtract your travelling expenses. In my experience 1500 a month would be a reasonable guess.
That means you have 74000, and then on top you have accountants fees and other expenses, also bench time.

I´m not seeing the point of travelling away when you can earn 60 grand, no-one contracts away for fun, and it means your working week is typically extended by around 10 hours.

One of the reason many contractors did this was because they thought they weren´t paying much tax (loan schemes and BN66), and it was worth their while, financially. Of course rates haven´t changed or gone down and if you´ve been in a perm job over the last 12 years were on a good salary that went up, relatively speaking you´re doing much better i.e. you´ve now caught up.

In my view, at least at the moment, it´s not worth it, unless you can get a good contract close by i.e. you live in London and you go from bank to bank, like many contractors used to do.

[ContractorsSpouse]

The rates I´m seeing are up to 400 per day. That would be 92000 gross, now here´s the killer, subtract your travelling expenses. In my experience 1500 a month would be a reasonable guess.
That means you have 74000, and then on top you have accountants fees and other expenses, also bench time.

I´m not seeing the point of travelling away when you can earn 60 grand, no-one contracts away for fun, and it means your working week is typically extended by around 10 hours.

One of the reason many contractors did this was because they thought they weren´t paying much tax (loan schemes and BN66), and it was worth their while, financially. Of course rates haven´t changed or gone down and if you´ve been in a perm job over the last 12 years were on a good salary that went up, relatively speaking you´re doing much better i.e. you´ve now caught up.

In my view, at least at the moment, it´s not worth it, unless you can get a good contract close by i.e. you live in London and you go from bank to bank, like many contractors used to do.

OK, agreed, if you have a 60K job and you're considering a £400/day contract, and the only reason you're considering contracting is to make more money, then don't.

But if he's looking at £600/day with 1 mid-week 2-night trip to London and a couple of days at home each week working on a seriously interesting project that he wouldn't otherwise have access to, then that would be different.

Since we don't have any details about the OP's circumstances it's impossible to say one way or another. What I'd suggest is to think about the following;

Why are you considering contracting? (Can be loads of reasons, it's not always about the money)
What are your day-rate expectations, and how does this compare to your current salary?
What evidence do you have that you will have a reasonable chance of finding contracts?
How secure does your current job appear to be?
What's your view on travelling / staying away from home?
What's your view on having time off (ranging from none to 3 months) between assignments?
Are you / will you always be in a position to spend 6 months waiting for a contract, and then a further 6 months trying to find a permanent job if you give up on the contracting idea?

Bottom line; think seriously hard about it, be realistic, and go in prepared and with your eyes open. (Or don't go in at all...)

[northernladuk]

<good stuff>

Nice post.

[wantacontract]

Here's the deal. With a bunch of qualifications including a doctorate and 12 years industry experience I think I am ready for the contact world.

If i stay where I am I get good pay (currently £60k p/a) and a generous final salary pension. But it feels the 'safe' choice.

Safe is good, I have a family and dependencies.

Am I mad to even think about leaving this sweet setup. I'm 35 and I feel like I have to decide the rest of my career right now!

Anyone else go through this, any advice you can pass on.

Thanks. PG

For me I am quite risk averse, so I feel I need a years worth of savings behind me which would cover for all expenses (inc mortgage) before I would have left a setup like yours, especially with family and dependencies.

The only reason I made the leap into contracting was because I had no mortgage, no kids and no worries back in my twenties, would think twice now....

[billybiro]

Otherwise sit tight and wait till the market improves.

And that will be when?

[sirja]

I've met contractors whose entire careers consist of working away from home. In some of their cases it's probably they are still married and in the others it explains why they aren't.

Remember contractors like people aren't the same.

I agree. I've been contracting for about 7 years and in that time have only done 1 local gig. It's not affected my personal life at all, in fact I think it's been the opposite!

[wantacontract]

I have been quite lucky then, 7 years in contracting and have had 3 gigs WFH.

[wonderboy]

OP - what is your skillset?