Professional Day

[TheRightStuff]

Oh come one. A PWD is anything between 0 and 24 hours. If you do real work for the client in any 24 hour period, you charge them a day. If you do nothing, you don't. If you do five minutes on their behalf in a day, you are entirely at liberty not to charge them. If you do 23 hours 59 minutes you still charge them a day. It's not hard.

If you're going to get picky about what a day really is, go for an hourly rate. PWD is just an accounting convenience, not a measure of hours worked.

You really need to take a break from your PCG / IR35 world. You geek.

[TheRightStuff]

Agree with SA and Mal...

As a Permie who wants a promotion you need to play the game and impress the boss...thats just the way of life...

If you are not a Permie however you do what is required...no more...no less. My standard working day at the moment is 8 - 4 with a 2hr commute either side...and yes, I go at 4 on the dot every day because my evenings are important to me and so far I have managed to organise my workload in such a way that things have stayed pretty consistent...if I ever needed to work 20hrs in a day to get something done then I would (and no, I never charge overtime) in the same way that if there is nothing to do I would go home.

I do what Mal does...if i work an hour on any given day then that is considered one day...if I work 20hrs on any given day then that is considered one day...if you get your quotes right and manage your work properly like all professionals should then you should be charging a fair amount for a fair days work...if you work your ass off then you get rewarded with some time off, if you slack a bit then you get punished with some extra hours...

Sometimes I do wonder how I manage to control my hours when I use 1,000 words when only a few are needed...what I meant to say on this post was:

I agree with SA and Mal

You agree with SA and Ma - but you do a 8 hr day. I can really see your client accepting an invoice of 1 days work if you came in at 8 and left at 12. We need a real world alert here. I guess alot of people write posts here so they make out they are the big contractor. 'Yeah I get paid 1K a day and I do the hours I want when I want and if I work 1 minute I get paid for a full day'.
I'm so impressed and jeaulous.

[ratewhore]

Got to go with Mal on this one. You lot arguing the toss over 7.5 or 8 hours per day are thinking in permie terms. My business day varies so I don't commit to set hours. Delivery, on the other hand, is what it's about. And if I am at home for the day and send a couple of emails I don't charge either.

[Vito]

You agree with SA and Ma - but you do a 8 hr day. I can really see your client accepting an invoice of 1 days work if you came in at 8 and left at 12. We need a real world alert here. I guess alot of people write posts here so they make out they are the big contractor. 'Yeah I get paid 1K a day and I do the hours I want when I want and if I work 1 minute I get paid for a full day'.
I'm so impressed and jeaulous.

I do currently do an 8 hour day yes because that is what it is taking me to get my work done (as I would expect given that my quote was accurate)...and I do 8-4 because thats what train times dictate.

Last year I spent 9 months on a contract and yes, there were times I invoiced a day for a site visit that took me 2 hours...but at the same time I was sometimes on site at 2am in the morning having been there for 18 hours.

Its got nothing to do with being a big contractor...I went contracting because I wanted to operate my way without the politics that I had to endure as a Permie...

Moron

[wendigo100]

This thread is such a load of b*ll*cks.

Are you lot a bunch of permies or something?

You take a contract, you have deliverables, you meet them.

Who gives a toss if you stay late, have a long lunch or a fecking rapour with the cleaning staff?!

Hours are things for the permies to worry about, deliverables are what contractors should worry about.

I take it you are paid a fixed price for each of your deliverables then?

Most contractors are on a price per day, or per hour, and that is who this thread is for. Especially those performing support and other reactive work, where the deliverable is not an easily packaged and priced item.

[TheRightStuff]

Got to go with Mal on this one. You lot arguing the toss over 7.5 or 8 hours per day are thinking in permie terms. My business day varies so I don't commit to set hours. Delivery, on the other hand, is what it's about. And if I am at home for the day and send a couple of emails I don't charge either.

where have we argued between if a working day is 7.5 or 8 hrs? I don't see any. We all agree it's around 7.5 - 8hrs.

[TheRightStuff]

I currently do an 8 hour day yes because that is what it is taking me to get my work done (as I would expect given that my quote was accurate)...and I do 8-4 because thats what train times dictate.

Last year I spent 9 months on a contract and yes, there were times I invoiced a day for a site visit that took me 2 hours...but at the same time I was sometimes on site at 2am in the morning having been there for 18 hours.

Its got nothing to do with being a big contractor...I went contracting because I wanted to operate my way without the politics that I had to endure as a Permie...

Moron

Asking people roughly how long they think a professional working day is has got nothing to do with being a permie or politics. You just want to know roughly how many hrs you are expected to work in a day.

I get in between 8.45 and 9.15 and leave between 5 - 6 depending on my evening plans. Permies here start before 9 and leave after 6.

Why have you signed your post Moron. You crazy fool.

Genius <- that's my signature.

[malvolio]

I take it you are paid a fixed price for each of your deliverables then?

Most contractors are on a price per day, or per hour, and that is who this thread is for. Especially those performing support and other reactive work, where the deliverable is not an easily packaged and priced item.

No, most contractors that aren't getting paid for specific deliverables are using up a piece of budget. The client has allocated a sum of money for the work - it will have been calculated off a project plan of some kind as a multiple of days or hours but it is a single sum. Hour or day rate are merely a convenient way to parcel up the payments - they would much rather pay you a lump sum 90 days after you finish. Or do you imagine renewals aren't dependent on renewed budgetary resources being available?

[scon_ead]

This thread is such a load of b*ll*cks.

Who gives a toss if you stay late, have a long lunch or a fecking rapour with the cleaning staff?!

Day 2 not smoking...

Hey! In my defence I was just being facetious.

SallyAnne...chill!

[Lockhouse]

A professional day is just that - what a professional is expected to deliver on any particular day when doing what they are supposed to. It also depends what industry you work in. If you worked 9-5 you wouldn't last very long at an investment bank for example.

My current day is around 08:00 until 18:00 but I get paid enough to make it worthwhile.