How to maintain/increase a good day rate

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

That's mad. Dropping from £875 to say £350 or say £1750 to £700 at the top end of the market must be a killer!

I can't think of a market that would support such a broad range in day rates?

Maybe he switched from being a male escort to one of us regular rate whores.

[psychocandy]

Maybe he switched from being a male escort to one of us regular rate whores.

Deffo earn more gnoshing off!

[psychocandy]

That's mad. Dropping from £875 to say £350 or say £1750 to £700 at the top end of the market must be a killer!

I can't think of a market that would support such a broad range in day rates?

To be fair, I've got a split of skills. Skill A pays a lot more than skill B. Last contract was good rate for skill A. Current contract is bottom of scale for skill B (being local government as well).

[kingcook]

A guy that I have been working with reckons that you get a better rate by not rushing into the next contract. He said that he generally gets to add a few hundred on the published day rate at any given time just by saying no thanks I'd rather go fishing. Whether it works on other skill sets is to be seen however he does not seem to be too bothered about money and his accounts seem to show him making a good 12 months salary based on 9 months effort

He's either talking bull5h1t, or being offered £50/day in the first place.

[psychocandy]

One other thing when you move to low payer after being on a decent one. To be honest, I'm always on the look out for a 'proper' gig but then you get loads then which are better than current one but still not as good as before.

Its a tough decision. You don't want to jump from gig to gig but then you want something better.
Personally, I've made the decision to stay in current gig until something considerably better comes along (because its easy going, no hassle etc).

Can just imagine. Can current gig for something £50 more but its still £200 below your ideal rate. Two weeks later an ideal gig comes along. What do you do? Can the 2nd one as well? Not so cool I fear.

[d000hg]

Although, to be fair, because I havent worked for a few months theres salary to catch up (before end of tax year - used to pay £641 but gotta double that for last few months)

Isn't this dodgy? You're still employed by YourCo even if you're not in a contract, and the whole point is you still take that salary regardless.

That's mad. Dropping from £875 to say £350 or say £1750 to £700 at the top end of the market must be a killer!

More likely £150/£375 split - bottom end support type gig to keep busy.

[psychocandy]

Isn't this dodgy? You're still employed by YourCo even if you're not in a contract, and the whole point is you still take that salary regardless.

More likely £150/£375 split - bottom end support type gig to keep busy.

Nope. Without wishing to start up the JSA argument again. MyCo provided P45, and stopped paying salary to allow me to claim JSA. Perfectly legal.

Not quite right on the rates BTW :-)

(although I did wonder if poster was taking the piss a bit when suggesting day rate of £1750. Dont see this too often on jobserve).

[Kanye]

(although I did wonder if poster was taking the piss a bit when suggesting day rate of £1750. Dont see this too often on jobserve).

It was to illustrate the point that I can't imagine any market supporting a 250% variation.

tulip Rate - £100 - £250
OK Rate - £350 - £875
Good Rate - £700 - £1750

Only the real bottom end of the market looks realistic there.

You have since partially answered the question by saying you are effectively in 2 markets, but even that makes depressing reading.

[evilagent]

4 years into contracting and I have managed to reach rates I would never have imagined when I first started off. It's the kind of rate I would be happy with for quite a number of years. I am just starting to worry that I will struggle to get such a good rate again. This is one of the few contracts where extension possibility seems slim at the very best (can't go into details why). Otherwise I'd stick around in this one for a long time.

Looking at roles on-line, there are no other roles paying this rate and I just worry that I will have to drop down again, which while not the end of the world is not what you want to do as a "business".

Anybody else been faced with this and how did things go?

You got lazy, sorry!

You should always be aware of the median market rate.
That way, you treat any higher difference as a windall, or bonus.

If you are used to an unusually high-rate, you are going to feel short-changed when going back to median rates. If you're not careful it might show in your demeanour at clientco.

Sitting around waiting for an equally higher rate means not earning, then your annual gross may come down.
Better to be invoicing than not. You never know, if you keep getting renewed, you might get increases, and be right back at the top.

Staying out of the game has too many pitfalls compared to being in.

Ultimately, up to you, though.

[Ticktock]

I'm starting to come to the opinion that any rates actually advertised are going to be below market rate. I've hovered around the same rate for the past 3 contracts, give or take a little extra I got when I had to do a Mon-Fr away gig and little less I accepted to get my foot in the door with a consultancy.
If I see anything advertised for my skillset (which is fairly rare) then it tends to be at about 50-85% of my personal median rate. My current gig was advertised by a number of agents, with rates from 50% up to 75% of what I am being paid.

I ignore rates I see on Jobserve, stick to my guns on rates (with limited flexibilty for negotiation, of course) and I'm doing fine with finding contracts.