Holidays vs invoicing

[NickFitz]

No AndyW option

This

If you don't have time to think up an Andyw option, you certainly don't have time to go swanning off on holiday.

Anyway, isn't holiday a permie thing? Contractors do a bit of work for clients now and again to subsidise their copious free time

[bobspud]

I have a contract that runs till October. Have told the wife that we will do 2 weeks somewhere very warm then. I have fallen for the temptation to take mid contact breaks in the past its just not worth it. It kills your focus and if the place is a hard place to work you waste your holiday trying to wind down / not wanting to go back.

[the_rangdo]

I take them when I want and factor the loss of income into my overall plans, life's too short to fret about it. At a push if it seriously impacts a project I'm on I will look at moving a holiday, only had to do that once though.

Just had a nice sunny week in Cornwall, now the loooong stint to October half-term and some Florida sunshine, with a couple of days here and there in between to break the monotony.

Work to live and all that

[TheFaQQer]

I take them when I want and factor the loss of income into my overall plans, life's too short to fret about it. At a push if it seriously impacts a project I'm on I will look at moving a holiday, only had to do that once though.

Just had a nice sunny week in Cornwall, now the loooong stint to October half-term and some Florida sunshine, with a couple of days here and there in between to break the monotony.

Work to live and all that

This.

I had time off in February, then at Easter, then for half-term, and I've got two weeks booked in the summer. I could have worked through all of these, but wanted to spend time with my family instead.

I work as a contractor so that I can earn enough to take holidays when I want to - my total take-home is about the same as my last permie role, but I work significantly less than I did as a permie.

[Pogle]

Yep, I take hols when I want them too. One of the joys of contracting is that I can have the hols I want.

[Pondlife]

You can either spend time with your wife and family or spend the money you save on a divorce lawyer.

[jmo21]

Don't fall into this trap of worrying about loss of billing days.

If you want to go on holiday, go on holidays.

If the wife wants to go, do it.

If it suits the kids best with school, do it.

Of course, make sure it won't affect your client with respect to delivery, give them plenty of notice, and inform them, rather than ask if you can take a break.

The only caveat to this for me is if you work in an industry/job function/tech where there is a high likelihood of long bench time after each role. In those cases, yes, I'd be saying to the wife we need to be more choosy about when we go away.

But then, we don't know your person life or skillset, so very difficult for us to advise.

Something else I often do, especially with longer roles, is aim to go away for a week right after the contract ends, and if an extension is forthcoming, happily accept while telling but I won't be in that week.

[proggy]

One of the reasons I started contracting was that I am not restricted to the 25 days a year permies get. If I want I can take a month off or 3. Of course it all depends on your warchest and how low your outgoings are. If you can have low outgoings each month and save hard while working you can easily take months off at a time.

Hearing permies looking forward to their 2 weeks off and then the deep depression when they are back just makes me more glad I went contracting.

[northernladuk]

Loving the tags on this thread... More where applicable please.

[SueEllen]

You can either spend time with your wife and family or spend the money you save on a divorce lawyer.

Hence my post about taking a week off.

No client will complain about that.