new to contracting, what daily rate should i go for

[SupremeSpod]

If you want to get scientific about it...

How much net do you need each month to pay the mortgage and stay alive. Add 30% to cover tax losses (I know, bear with me)

How much does it cost to do the job - transport, food , accomodation, whatever. How much will you be paying out on insurance, PCG membership, accountancy fees, critical illness cover, pension provision, training and all the other hidden things you get as a permie that you never see.

Add those two together, divide by 20. That's your absolute minimum day rate: not, however, what you need to earn.

Work on earning for seven months a year (not unrealistic in today's world; I've been looking for six weeks now). That's 140 days. Still convinced you can cover a £50k salary?

As a rule of thumb, the agencies use 10% of permie salary as the day rate, so £50k = £500, as has been said, but that includes thier margins. Alternatively, salary divided by 1000 gives an hourly rate necessary to cover all your overheads and return much the same net. £50 an hour is £400 a day.

But you don't get the well paid gigs without being either very good, very senior or very niche; there is way too much competetion from experienced, establlished contractors. Do your sums on £350 a day and see how it works out.

The highlighted items are of course optional but Malvolio won't tell you this as he's right up the arse of the PCG.

Shame on you Malv!

[Scoobos]

Greed.

Don't listen to spod by the way - Mal's one of the most consistent good advicer givers I've seen in my years lurking around this forum. He is perhaps biased to the PCG, but that's no bad thing either imo.

[MarillionFan]

This £50k = £500 pd is bollocks.

Actually, fleck it no. Put your rate up at £50k per day. You only need to do one days work then. Sorted.

[alreadypacked]

Hi

im new to contracting and have limited savings. I can survive up to 3-4 month only, it be a disaster if I resign from my permie role and also end up having my first contract terminated early.


Thanks

What happens if you can't get something local, do you have enough to keep your home going and cover cost of being away for 6-8 weeks before you get paid?

The other sticking point with contracting, they want you to be available in less than 2 maybe 3 weeks otherwise the agent may not put you forward for the role.

[malvolio]

The highlighted items are of course optional but Malvolio won't tell you this as he's right up the arse of the PCG.

Shame on you Malv!

What are you on about? They are all optional, but only a complete clown wouldn't have something in place for all of them. Plus the OP is not a contractor, and likely has no idea of the overheads involved, unlike the enlightened superheroes of General.

Stick to mud pies, leave business to the grown ups.

[ChimpMaster]

Unless you are particularly confident of your skillset, abilities and industry, I would not consider leaving a permie job at this time - unless of course your job itself is at risk anyway.

£50k is a good salary in today's world. You'll be hard pressed to find a contract that will live up to your expectations; just read the posts on these forums about the Indians waltzing in and decimating the industry with their low rates and even lower quality.

I'm seeing contracts advertised in London at < £300/day, whereas a couple of years ago it would have been more like £500/day.

Yes, it's a shame, but I really feel that contracting is dead in this country. We have had absolutely no support from successive governments, so we are being beaten down on taxation and work is being offshored in ever increasing volumes. If you're already in the game then it's OK because you can probably stretch it out for a couple of years more - but as a fresher I would recommend you stay out.

[Old Hack]

Going contracting is a risk, as there's always the chance it will go tits up.

What I do find, is ex Public Sector people being scared of going contracting, as they've always had a buffer in that their skills are never really exposed to the real world of commercial realities. If you don't think your skill set will match up in a contract, then don't do it, as people paying £10k a month for your skills are likely to jetison you the moment they think your CV is a work of fiction. If this is you, be wary of going contracting, as thigns in the public sector are normally very, very different when it comes to projects than it is in the Public sector.

However, if you have a good level of confidence in your skills, and how to apply them in the real world, then come contracting, keep the confidence up and if it does go tits up, have a strategy for getting some money in. An example would be being prepared to do data entry for £15 an hour if you've been benched a while. I am in a niche area, and I had a strategy to do support if it went tits up within a month or so, which luckily it hasn't. I have now built up a nice big war chest, but if I had 6 months bench time, I'd think nothing of data entry to keep the money ticking over.

Be confident, have a strategy and use your bench time well and you'll be fine.

[SupremeSpod]

What are you on about? They are all optional, but only a complete clown wouldn't have something in place for all of them. Plus the OP is not a contractor, and likely has no idea of the overheads involved, unlike the enlightened superheroes of General.

Stick to mud pies, leave business to the grown ups.

Membership of the PCG was mentioned as though it was a requirement and everyone knows that you're so far up their arse you can play with their tonsils!

£500k for web services, you might have swept it under the rug but it's a ******* great lump, right there in the middle.

[northernladuk]

What rate can you get?

[The Spartan]

What rate can you get?

The voice of wisdom speaks, that should have been among one of the first questions asked