London Contracts and Travel

[SueEllen]

No Brussels to Slough .Commuting daily would be possible but ridiculous

I feel so sorry for you. Commiserations

[Brussels Slumdog]

I feel so sorry for you. Commiserations

Why, I catch the 8 o clock train on Monday arrive at the office at 10.15 before another colleague from around the Manchester area as I gain an hour.
I will accept your commiserations on Friday as I catch the train at 6 and I only get home at 9.15 as I loose an hour.
I will hopefully do this until end of July then take a break and then look for a contract hopefully travelling in another direction.
I'm a hotel and restaurant contractor. The idea of renting and having to go shopping, cooking and cleaning after finishing work during the week doesn't appeal to me.If I have to stay 4 nights a week away from home then I want a nice hotel,evening meal and a few glasses of wine.

[kal]

Why, I catch the 8 o clock train on Monday arrive at the office at 10.15 before another colleague from around the Manchester area as I gain an hour.
I will accept your commiserations on Friday as I catch the train at 6 and I only get home at 9.15 as I loose an hour.
I will hopefully do this until end of July then take a break and then look for a contract hopefully travelling in another direction.
I'm a hotel and restaurant contractor. The idea of renting and having to go shopping, cooking and cleaning after finishing work during the week doesn't appeal to me.If I have to stay 4 nights a week away from home then I want a nice hotel,evening meal and a few glasses of wine.

Fair play, I would do the same, still £340 seems an awful lot for 4 nights hotel in Slough, are you staying at some 5 star place

[TheFaQQer]

Why, I catch the 8 o clock train on Monday arrive at the office at 10.15 before another colleague from around the Manchester area as I gain an hour.
I will accept your commiserations on Friday as I catch the train at 6 and I only get home at 9.15 as I loose an hour.

I think the commiserations were more to do with destination than travel time.

[ForBajor]

I'm considering London contracts as I am about to take the plunge. Being in Bristol I'm looking first and foremost for Bristol, Bath, Newport, Cardiff, Swindon, Chippenham, and Gloucester - and then stretching out to Birmingham and London if I can't get the work OR something REALLY attractive comes up (based on the client / role etc.).

Reading this thread has been really useful, as indicates that taking London contracts when you're based a few hours away is quite common -and I'm fascinated by the option to WFH. To be honest my last company allowed us to WFH 2 to 3 days a week, so if I could do that it would really break things up.

Another question - I'd commute up from Bristol rather than stay over, so has anyone ever asked their client to count a couple of hours on the train as working time? Connectivity on the M4 corridor these days is pretty good - and in my last job I used to get plenty done on the train from Bristol to Leeds.

[cojak]

Are you staying at a hostel or the YMCA?
It cost me £340 hotel £150 train £120 meals in Slough.

Nonsense! When I work in London I have a nice little B&B close to St Pancras - £70 pn. The Calthorpe Arms serves excellent meals with wine for less than £15.

Trains are bloody expensive though.

[ShandyDrinker]

Another question - I'd commute up from Bristol rather than stay over, so has anyone ever asked their client to count a couple of hours on the train as working time? Connectivity on the M4 corridor these days is pretty good - and in my last job I used to get plenty done on the train from Bristol to Leeds.

It really depends on your client. I know people who've worked on the train into London, arrived at work at 10am then done a similar thing leaving work at 4:30pm, working on the train on the return journey. From experience most managers won't go for this but are more likely to go for working from home.

It's up to you as a contractor to negotiate what works best for both your client and you. You may be surprised by their (in)flexibility!

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

For London contracts there are 3 factors:

1) Financial costs (travel/hotel etc) - for me this amounts to £100/day
2) Time costs (the time it takes you to go to London is a personal cost) that amounts to an additional £50/day
3) Headache/family sacrifice costs. Although you can't put value on your family time I'd factor in another £100/day.

Total difference is £250/day which means I am unlikely to ever accept/get offered a London contract.

HTH

[MCC7]

I'm considering a commute from the Midlands to London going forward. I currently WFH 2 days a week and this is fairly common within the area I work in. We bought a small house in London last year which we will keep on rent.

Reasons are friends and family, larger houses (for hell of a lot less than the price in London) etc. The wife's from London and starting a family is on the cards, for which I want more space and want to raise the family in a calmer non-London environment essentially. I would stay one night in London (plenty of friends/family to kip, saving costs) and do the full commute one day.

Sounds achievable in principle but whether the time spent on commuting and missing a night with wife/young family is going to take it's toll...only one way to find out. My view is that if it doesn't work, just come back to London. Doubt there's a price on missing time with family.

(This is my first post for many a year but have been back contracting for 9 months or so and don't intend to go back to perm )

[TechJinx]

Speaking as someone who lives on the edge of London and has an annoyingly expensive mortgage as a result as the wife wants to stay where she grew up, I wish all you northeners would stay away and stop taking perfectly good jobs from us native Southerners.

I'm setting up the London independence Party......:nazi: