6 weeks after interview - get an offer

[lukemg]

26% is a an absolute p**stake, anything over 10% is ridiculous for factoring the payments and 10 mins of paperwork.
50 notes a day is 11 thousand pounds a year.
When the agent calls say yes I am interested but I want 450/day, dont explain why or apologise.
If he says hold on - you said 400 was fine at the time, feel free to say that was before I found out you were charging 500.
He might be pissed off but will still want commision and he WONT want to upset the client by not getting you in there.
If they mess you about, I would leave it a couple of days, give them a chance to sort it and then personally I would contact the client just to say you are keen but agent seems to be holding things up over charging 26% of the rate.
THIS IS RISKY so I am telling you what I would do because that 11k would burn me over the following months. If you dont want to upset anyone, suck up the offered rate and get on with it.

[Unix]

Incidentally, I mentioned, based on initial rate that agency cut is about 26%. Bit high.

What is reasonable these days?

Is this your first contract? Based on all the questions I assume so. If you are breaking into the contracting world then you might have to suck it up on the first few, in order to get some experience. For a experienced contractor 3-10% is normal.

[Old Greg]

Is this your first contract? Based on all the questions I assume so. If you are breaking into the contracting world then you might have to suck it up on the first few, in order to get some experience. For a experienced contractor 3-10% is normal.

3% surprises me - can anyone make money on this. The lowest I have had is 5%, where I have found the contract and taken it to the agent. Well done if you can achieve 3%!

[psychocandy]

26% is high but maybe they found you on CUK and are expecting you to be very high maintenance, calling up every two days to ask if it's OK to be a bit late because your dog has diarrhoea, or what colour pen to use when filling in your timesheet, etc.

What about my cat? And I was thinking red pen....

[psychocandy]

26% is a an absolute p**stake, anything over 10% is ridiculous for factoring the payments and 10 mins of paperwork.
50 notes a day is 11 thousand pounds a year.
When the agent calls say yes I am interested but I want 450/day, dont explain why or apologise.
If he says hold on - you said 400 was fine at the time, feel free to say that was before I found out you were charging 500.
He might be pissed off but will still want commision and he WONT want to upset the client by not getting you in there.
If they mess you about, I would leave it a couple of days, give them a chance to sort it and then personally I would contact the client just to say you are keen but agent seems to be holding things up over charging 26% of the rate.
THIS IS RISKY so I am telling you what I would do because that 11k would burn me over the following months. If you dont want to upset anyone, suck up the offered rate and get on with it.

Ta for feedback. Not going to take 26% thats for sure. Like I said its 100 notes a day at 26% they're getting.

Still not sure if admitting I know the truth is going to cause a tulip storm between client and agency.

[psychocandy]

Is this your first contract? Based on all the questions I assume so. If you are breaking into the contracting world then you might have to suck it up on the first few, in order to get some experience. For a experienced contractor 3-10% is normal.

Nope. Far from it. First one I've known the margin for sure though....

[Old Greg]

Nope. Far from it. First one I've known the margin for sure though....

One of the few good things about being a PM is that you need to manage project expenditure, so you need to know your own costs including agency cut.

[d000hg]

Ta for feedback. Not going to take 26% thats for sure. Like I said its 100 notes a day at 26% they're getting.

Still not sure if admitting I know the truth is going to cause a tulip storm between client and agency.

The agency works for the client so they are not going to tell the client off, for fear of losing them as a customer.

[Unix]

3% surprises me - can anyone make money on this. The lowest I have had is 5%, where I have found the contract and taken it to the agent. Well done if you can achieve 3%!

0% is my lowest, when I went direct. Joking aside, 3% would be too low for most typical daily rates.

[Old Greg]

0% is my lowest, when I went direct. Joking aside, 3% would be too low for most typical daily rates.

I have gone direct too! I can perhaps see 3% at a very high day rate. My 5% came about when I agreed a rate of £600 inclusive of agency rate. It was a bit odd having a daily rate of £571.43.