First time Contracting, hotel ideas in London

[faved]

Hi all,

I am about to start my first contract in London in a couple of weeks, and will be traveling up from Cornwall each week for it.

I have a hotel booked for the first couple of weeks but at £450 a week its eating into profit

I am going to be working in the Farringdon area, and wondered if anyone had any good suggestions for hotels, that are within decent travel time, has WiFi and not a hostel

Many thanks

[northernladyuk]

Hi all,

I am about to start my first contract in London in a couple of weeks, and will be traveling up from Cornwall each week for it.

I have a hotel booked for the first couple of weeks but at £450 a week its eating into profit

I am going to be working in the Farringdon area, and wondered if anyone had any good suggestions for hotels, that are within decent travel time, has WiFi and not a hostel

Many thanks

That seems like a good deal for a London hotel. Did you quote appropriately to cover expenses? Are you outside of IR35?

If you want to save money by commuting in, look at National Rail routes direct to Farringdon and see if you can find somewhere decent to stay near an easily commutable train station in a nice enough area (West Hampstead for example 0 I don't know of anywhere to stay there but you get the idea).

Good luck with the contract by the way.

[TwoWolves]

In London you do bedsit if you are on a budget. No shortage of them as people can't afford the mortgages and rent out the front room to get by.

[scooterscot]

Inform the client how much you're spending on travel + accommodation in the weeks to come. They'll let you work from home soon enough with regular attendance.

[PhiltheGreek]

Something like this ought to do for your sort;

https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/5533...-rent-from-19/

[ladymuck]

Depending on the length of the contract and whether there is a WFH opportunity once your feet are firmly under the desk, you might want to look at other options. Living in a hotel can be ok for short term but after a while the novelty will wear off.

You can get Monday-Friday rentals (I used to rent one over Blackheath way back in the day) and there seems to be quite a selection local to Farringdon. These can work quite well as you can leave your stuff there over the weekend (most will allow that) so you carry less to/fro every Monday/Friday. I stayed in Blackheath when I was working in Canary Wharf as I realised the monthly rental was cheaper than the train ticket. Yes, still had to pay twice a week but the cost saving mostly offset that.

[PurpleGorilla]

Have a look round Paddington - rooms are cheap as fark. Follow the sewer smells.

[fullyautomatix]

I got plenty of recommendations but first tell me this Favad, have you ever wondered what a naked fat lazy contractor looks like?

[vwdan]

Air BnB but it can be very hit and miss and sometimes not that much cheaper once you knock the VAT off a hotel but it can be nice to have a kitchen and such. Except a few weeks of crap stays, and then try and keep the one you like.

Best tip is to forget geography and distance for a moment, and take a look at the tube map. You can commute a surprising distance in a short amount of time IF you're on the right line.

Impress early on and put in reasonable hours (Don't kill yourself, just don't clockwatch) and you can normally start to negotiate nicetities like WFH and late starts on Day 1 and early finishes on the last.

London is a lot of fun, though - take advantage and enjoy.

[SeededLoaf]

What about a flat/house share? £150 a week gets something decent and you can leave your stuff over a weekend.

https://www.gumtree.com/property-to-...at/house+share

Plus do home cooking and save a bomb there too.