Equivalent Day Rate

[ITPRO2]

I had a quick look on jobserve which confirmed my suspicions, the only place you can earn is Scotland on oil and gas, and the rates are 450-550, on a salary 114K I would say not worth it. Once you're out of Oil and Gas field, pay is abysmal, so you want to hang in there.

Jobserve will not list any decent posts besides technicians, etc (not qualified professionals). I didn't even know this site would list specialised roles such as these. Try oil and gas jobsearch. However, this will not list rates most of the time (most positions don't). You'll have to speak to an agent or a colleague to find out the rates for the roles.

Not being able to earn decent money outside Scotland (i.e Aberdeen) is incorrect. The hubs in the UK are London (including Surrey, Hampshire and outside Reading), Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth. The rates you've quoted are also on the low side.

Assuming the OP has >10yrs experience and is competent (i.e. capable to leading small team, etc), he will earn much more as a contactor. The market is very busy at the moment and he should have no problem getting a contract. If it all goes wrong, he will also be able to walk back into a permie role (at that salary level) very easily assuming he's competent.

Also, the OP should be very wary of taking advice from this board. I get the impression most people are in IT and the two industries seem to be very different (rates, market, bench time, etc).

[ITPRO2]

I can't remember why I questioned your reasoning. It sounds fair enough to me

I assume you're being sarcastic?

The money seems to go up steadily from starting to around 10 years regardless of what you're doing (give or take a bit). Once you get over 10 years, you have to take progressively bigger roles for the money to move up substantially. This is my experience anyway.

[SpontaneousOrder]

I assume you're being sarcastic?

No. It's just that I was reading through threads, saw that post and can't really remember what I was trying to get at.

[BlasterBates]

Jobserve will not list any decent posts besides technicians, etc (not qualified professionals). I didn't even know this site would list specialised roles such as these. Try oil and gas jobsearch. However, this will not list rates most of the time (most positions don't). You'll have to speak to an agent or a colleague to find out the rates for the roles.

Not being able to earn decent money outside Scotland (i.e Aberdeen) is incorrect. The hubs in the UK are London (including Surrey, Hampshire and outside Reading), Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth. The rates you've quoted are also on the low side.

Assuming the OP has >10yrs experience and is competent (i.e. capable to leading small team, etc), he will earn much more as a contactor. The market is very busy at the moment and he should have no problem getting a contract. If it all goes wrong, he will also be able to walk back into a permie role (at that salary level) very easily assuming he's competent.

Also, the OP should be very wary of taking advice from this board. I get the impression most people are in IT and the two industries seem to be very different (rates, market, bench time, etc).

Those adverts were not for technicians, some of them requested Chartered Engineer status.

Sure maybe there is a bit of boom at the moment.

If the market is as you say he justs need to ring up an agent and get 700 day contract.

Here's an example:

http://http://www.jobserve.com/gb/en/JobSearch.aspx?shid=5D8F462378F4A92E

[ITPRO2]

Those adverts were not for technicians, some of them requested Chartered Engineer status.

Sure maybe there is a bit of boom at the moment.

If the market is as you say he justs need to ring up an agent and get 700 day contract.

Here's an example:

http://http://www.jobserve.com/gb/en/JobSearch.aspx?shid=5D8F462378F4A92E

An arbitrary search on a website such as jobserve will not give you an accurate view of the market. O&G jobs are simply not advertised there. The ones listed on your link seem to be outside this market (judging from the locations).

Don’t take this the wrong way, but what you’ve done is like me searching for “IT jobs” on Google and then claiming I know the going rate and state of the market.

Electrical Engineers tend to be on the lower paid side when compared to other disciplines. However, I’d be surprised if 75/h wasn’t easily achievable around London (higher in Aberdeen or lower in Norfolk).

[Fred Bloggs]

I'm in the industry, currently working in Surrey. The market is split between jobs with EPC contractors (mostly) and operating co's (fewer roles). The rate for an electrical engineer is about £65 per hour with the EPC companies, with a ceiling at around the £70 mark. The operating co's usually pay day rates and it would be typically around the £650 per day mark. I haven't seen much difference of rate per the locatons of the roles. ie Aberdeen and London pay about the same. Personally, I'm not sure I'd give up a £90k a year job to go contracting, but the OP will have his reasons, no doubt. It's a fairly low risk venture as there is always jobs in the O&G industry, the problem comes when (like me) none of the roles are anywhere near where you live. HTH.

[ydraiggoch]

Firstly, apologies for not replying sooner! I have been away...

Reading through your posts is certainly interesting and has given me food for thought! I am in the Oil & Gas industry, and I am currently working Offshore on a 2 week on 3 week off rota. Which I appreciate if I tried to work out a day rate based on the amount of days I work now, it would be unrealistic.

My reason for considering contracting is because I am being offered a position at £450 a day which taking into account 28 days holiday and weekends would give me a salary of around £101k.

But Wouldn't I be paying far less tax (20%??) and so take home pay would be greater than my current role?? My current take home pay is ~£4,500

There is also a lot of speculation about my current company and whether they are about to pull the plug etc. So, as I have an opportunity potentially lined up I am trying to decide whether to jump ship now, or ride it out.

Again thanks for all the replies!

[Bunk]

Firstly, apologies for not replying sooner! I have been away...

Reading through your posts is certainly interesting and has given me food for thought! I am in the Oil & Gas industry, and I am currently working Offshore on a 2 week on 3 week off rota. Which I appreciate if I tried to work out a day rate based on the amount of days I work now, it would be unrealistic.

My reason for considering contracting is because I am being offered a position at £450 a day which taking into account 28 days holiday and weekends would give me a salary of around £101k.

But Wouldn't I be paying far less tax (20%??) and so take home pay would be greater than my current role?? My current take home pay is ~£4,500

There is also a lot of speculation about my current company and whether they are about to pull the plug etc. So, as I have an opportunity potentially lined up I am trying to decide whether to jump ship now, or ride it out.

Again thanks for all the replies!

20% on £101k? Nope, it'll be more than that. How much more depends on whether you have expenses or not, although if you do have expenses, then that's not really part of your take-home pay anyway.

It also depends on whether you're inside IR35 or not.

I just stuck the figures into a contractor calculator and it came out around £5,800 a month outside IR35, £4,500 inside IR35.

[SpontaneousOrder]

My calculations for 100k earnings, flat rate vat @13.5% and expenses of 10k, salary of £8,400 come out to about 79.5% retention of my day rate.
I could be missing something though.

LtdCo           Me            HMRC
---------------------------------------
120                 0                                      //Revenue
106.5                             13.5                // Minus VAT
96.5                10                                    // Expenses
88.1                18.4                                 // Salary
70.48                             17.62              // CT
37.48               51.4                                 // Basic rate divi  
0                   88.88                               // higher rate divi
                    79.51         9.37               //  higher rate tax

[malvolio]

My calculations for 100k earnings, flat rate vat @13.5% and expenses of 10k, salary of £8,400 come out to about 79.5% retention of my day rate.
I could be missing something though.

LtdCo           Me            HMRC
---------------------------------------
120                 0                                      //Revenue
106.5                             13.5                // Minus VAT
96.5                10                                    // Expenses
88.1                18.4                                 // Salary
70.48                             17.62              // CT
37.48               51.4                                 // Basic rate divi  
0                   88.88                               // higher rate divi
                    79.51         9.37               //  higher rate tax

OK, so let's just think about this a moment

You don't get paid for days not worked. That's holidays, rotations, bank holidays, time off... I base my numbers on working 7 months a year, tops. After 16 years, I've not been proved wrong.

You have to pay Employers NICs at 13.8% of gross earnings...

You have accountants or umbrella fees, sickness insurance, PEI, BUPA, training, materials....

When I say divide your gross salary by 1000 to get an equivalent hourly rate to retain net parity, I'm not making it up. Most, if not all calculators are wildly optimistic. Even the good ones are based on you working full time. You won't be.