Reply to: Accommodation expenses and what I can claim

[Johndc30]

No point, it won't help with your situation because it's not the advice you are wanting to hear.

Glad we finally cleared that up!

[WTFH]

Great! Now tell us more about your friend of a friend who has a VW van. I'll get a cup of tea.

No point, it won't help with your situation because it's not the advice you are wanting to hear.

[Johndc30]

^ Haha!

[LondonManc]

[Johndc30]

The original question was "I want to work from a hotel, not from home, not from the client office, but I want to be near the client office. How can I expense it"


...except that wasn't quite how you worded it.

Great! Now tell us more about your friend of a friend who has a VW van. I'll get a cup of tea.

[WTFH]

Must be the same for everyone then.
Once again, the threads being hijacked. What was the original question? I'm lost.

The original question was "I want to work from a hotel, not from home, not from the client office, but I want to be near the client office. How can I expense it"


...except that wasn't quite how you worded it.

[Johndc30]

There's lots of things you haven't said until we've asked you questions.


I've got a couple of friends who are DPs. As such they work from home then travel to site when they need to work on site. They do not base themselves "near" a site based on the possibility of being called in.
Both also drive VW transporters so they can get their gear in.

Must be the same for everyone then.
Once again, the threads being hijacked. What was the original question? I'm lost.

[WTFH]

Have I? When did I say this?

There's lots of things you haven't said until we've asked you questions.


I've got a couple of friends who are DPs. As such they work from home then travel to site when they need to work on site. They do not base themselves "near" a site based on the possibility of being called in.
Both also drive VW transporters so they can get their gear in.

[Johndc30]

You've ignored my last sentence.

You've also ignored the full part of my previous post.

In short you have negotiated your contact by claiming you will be on-site all the time. If so then rent Monday-Friday lodgings. However don't expect to find a landlord with ease who will be happy for you to work in their flat/house day in day out all day.

Have I? When did I say this? You seem to be going off on a tangent Sue. I've taken your expert advice on why i need the monitors though, being the expert you are in digital editing

And regards to flexibility as long as people can contact you any time they are working and you/they can screencast then it's fine.

Ok, to answer your last sentence. I won't ignore it. When did you become such a expert in working contractors working environments and practices?

[SueEllen]

How so? So say I have to be in London short notice in the afternoon, I drive, at 45p per mile x 350+ miles, or get the train and risk paying a short notice premium as we all know the train service is really cheap. Then i pay for hotel cost at £80 per night. Then back. I then have to do this maybe 2-3 times a week including loss of time commuting. Roomshare near onsite would cost approx £200 per week.

You've ignored my last sentence.

You've also ignored the full part of my previous post.

In short you have negotiated your contact by claiming you will be on-site all the time. If so then rent Monday-Friday lodgings. However don't expect to find a landlord with ease who will be happy for you to work in their flat/house day in day out all day.

[Johndc30]

It's only slightly off topic as we're discussing most cost-effective ways for you to manage your accommodation from accounting and practical points of view.

Probably cheaper to flatshare and not claim at all than rent the place for yourself.

Yes I really appreciate your input. I was thinking just to take the hit and not deal with the agro now, just roomshare and pay for it myself.

[FrontEnder]

This still seems like an odd arrangement. Surely if you're working off-site, then there's an expectation that you shouldn't need to go to a face-to-face meeting at short notice? So if discussions are needed, email, phone, IM or even skype should be acceptable.

If this is going to be normal when you're offsite for the 3/5 days, then is it worth working off site this frequently, or at all?

[Johndc30]

It's not saving costs as I pointed out in my previous post.

And regards to flexibility as long as people can contact you any time they are working and you/they can screencast then it's fine.

How so? So say I have to be in London short notice in the afternoon, I drive, at 45p per mile x 350+ miles, or get the train and risk paying a short notice premium as we all know the train service is really cheap. Then i pay for hotel cost at £80 per night. Then back. I then have to do this maybe 2-3 times a week including loss of time commuting. Roomshare near onsite would cost approx £200 per week.

[LondonManc]

We seem to be going off course here. I'm not looking for advice regarding negotiations with my contract, I was just asking the question about what would be considered as an expense.
Hypothetical or not, but thanks for the interest/comments.

It's only slightly off topic as we're discussing most cost-effective ways for you to manage your accommodation from accounting and practical points of view.

Probably cheaper to flatshare and not claim at all than rent the place for yourself.

[SueEllen]

Good point. But it's primarily down to saving costs and flexibility at short notice for meetings and scrums. Granted you have Skype these days, but it doesn't quite work that way. If we need an emergency scrum or I require to use internal hardware for a job, I'm just down the road as opposed to having to book a train journey and get across London. That's the best part of a day lost.

It's not saving costs as I pointed out in my previous post.

And regards to flexibility as long as people can contact you any time they are working and you/they can screencast then it's fine.