£65k perm salary , £350 daily rate - Worth moving into contracting ?

[vwdan]

It that with quite a lot of expenses? I'm currently on £400 a day and after (not very much) mileage & taxes I'm taking home nearer £6500. Going to London obviously would put me at £450 to £500, but I'd spend most of that on trains & hotels.

At 350 I'd expect you to take home something closer to 5500 a month.

I've still got a few grand in the company, but yes, my work is very travel heavy. Currently sat in London and losing a lot more than I'd like while on Northern rates.

I didn't count whatever profit on my mileage, thinking about it, either.

[SpontaneousOrder]

I've still got a few grand in the company, but yes, my work is very travel heavy. Currently sat in London and losing a lot more than I'd like while on Northern rates.

I got lucky with a decent rate very locally - but the works sucks. I'll probably be in London too come November.

[vwdan]

I got lucky with a decent rate very locally - but the works sucks. I'll probably be in London too come November.

It's a balancing act I suppose - I think I've just got myself a lead position on what will be my biggest project to date, but my take home is going to suffer

[northernladuk]

It that with quite a lot of expenses? I'm currently on £400 a day and after (not very much) mileage & taxes I'm taking home nearer £6500. Going to London obviously would put me at £450 to £500, but I'd spend most of that on trains & hotels.

At 350 I'd expect you to take home something closer to 5500 a month.

Which of course you would have to stop claiming for when you know you will be there two years which is quite a hit. For the OPs benefit that is the two year or 24 month rule which needs researching.

[dty]

It that with quite a lot of expenses? I'm currently on £400 a day and after (not very much) mileage & taxes I'm taking home nearer £6500. Going to London obviously would put me at £450 to £500, but I'd spend most of that on trains & hotels.

At 350 I'd expect you to take home something closer to 5500 a month.

How are you managing that?

Discounting expenses, etc. £400/day x 220 days x 75% takehome / 12 = £5500.

Or did I miss something significant enough to make £1000 pcm difference?! I ask because I'm currently on £475 which I reckon is closer to £6500 than your £400.

Another way I look at it is that all the factors except day rate are constant. So if you combine them you can go from day rate to monthly take home by multiplying by 13.75.

This all assumes no warchest contributions, etc.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Which of course you would have to stop claiming for when you know you will be there two years which is quite a hit. For the OPs benefit that is the two year or 24 month rule which needs researching.

Omg, I'd cut my own throat long before I ever got near 2 years there!

[SpontaneousOrder]

How are you managing that?

Discounting expenses, etc. £400/day x 220 days x 75% takehome / 12 = £5500.

Or did I miss something significant enough to make £1000 pcm difference?! I ask because I'm currently on £475 which I reckon is closer to £6500 than your £400.

Another way I look at it is that all the factors except day rate are constant. So if you combine them you can go from day rate to monthly take home by multiplying by 13.75.

This all assumes no warchest contributions, etc.

I'll be nearer 235 days worked, although I hope to take 2 or 3 months off next summer - I'm not sure how many days vwdan is assuming.

I also included the mileage I claim in that, as it's an expense I'd have whether I was a permie or contractor - i.e. I'm comparing my contractor take-home in the same way I looked at the take-home figure in my old permie pay-slips (which had to pay for fuel as well as beer).

So without any other expenses going through the books my spreadsheet says 6100 isn at 235 days, and 5800 ish at 220 days. So it's closer, although still a lot more than vwdans even adjusted for the extra £50 a day.

I suppose whenever I end up having to travel further (so 10k miles runs out faster, or it's a long train journey or hotels instead) then including the travel expenses claimed will start to make less sense (as i'm less likely to travel far for a permanent job).

[speling bee]

I wouldn't do it. Even if the sums add up taking into consideration the risks involved, if you're worth 65k as a permie, you are likely (accepting we don't know your discipline, skills, industry and location) to be worth £450 to £550 pd as a contractor IMO.

[PurpleGorilla]

I wouldn't do it. Even if the sums add up taking into consideration the risks involved, if you're worth 65k as a permie, you are likely (accepting we don't know your discipline, skills, industry and location) to be worth £450 to £550 pd as a contractor IMO.

FWIW I recently switched from £57k to 55/hr. I think you should look for a bit more IMHO, even considering it as an 'introductory rate'.

[speling bee]

FWIW I recently switched from £57k to 55/hr. I think you should look for a bit more IMHO, even considering it as an 'introductory rate'.

I switched from 50k to £500 pd, but that was some years ago.