Reply to: Travelling/staying over etc

[Antman]

Take the long term view on this.

Pros of new gig against losing time you'll never recover with your young family. (that's not the way I wanted it to come out!)

FWIW I did the stay away bit when the children were very young and I didn't miss THAT much compared to now where I'm able to interact with them a lot more (chats and playing etc.) and I was able to get a few clients on the CV and build up the warchest in that time.

BTW Current gig 4 miles from home

[vwdan]

FLC - So I see you did the long one in contract 4 every day. How long for? How was it?

I must admit Im probably not as young as some of you and Im not sure how'd I cope with 5am start every day and 4 hours driving.


Of course, one thing to think about is factoring in a little more time off for a gig like this. i.e. make sure you take the odd friday off to rest/family time. Dont think client would be happy with every week but surely once a month no-ones going to moan too much?

I currently spend a lot of my time in London and every now and again I'll commute by train for a week. Door to door is about 2:30 meaning I'm out at 6:30am at the latest and normally home at around 8:00pm -ish. In truth, it kills me - it's lovely to see the wife and sleep in my own bed, but I get very little else done apart from work and I'm generally glad to be back at the hotel where I leave at 8:30am and I'm sitting down for a relaxed dinner by 6:30pm (Or going for a run, or working on Plan B or whatever I want to do).

The thought of doing anything similar in a car is just not something I'd consider - 90 mins commute at the most is what I can handle. I may consider a little more if it's really short term or if the journey is particularly easy.

[Batcher]

Well known Clientco bank in Manchester wouldn't allow WFH but you could start at 10:30 Mon and leave 15:30 on Fri. They would prefer you to spend an hour travelling in, roaming round looking for parking and then spending an hour trying to find a spare hot desk in the office.

No wonder we used to spend 2 hours in the pub at lunchtime

[FatLazyContractor]

FLC - So I see you did the long one in contract 4 every day. How long for? How was it?

I must admit Im probably not as young as some of you and Im not sure how'd I cope with 5am start every day and 4 hours driving.


Of course, one thing to think about is factoring in a little more time off for a gig like this. i.e. make sure you take the odd friday off to rest/family time. Dont think client would be happy with every week but surely once a month no-ones going to moan too much?

DISCLAIMER - What works for me may not work for you. I am 34 and I don't have a family.

Well, the contract 4 was for 12 months. What I forgot to mention was that I worked from home every Friday.

Early starts work very well for me since I naturally get out of bed by 4 am, thanks to my medical condition. My priorities are totally different to yours as I don't have a family. I work for the money that helps me with my private medical care. Better to die in a private care home than in the sewer (NHS) !

[stek]

FLC - So I see you did the long one in contract 4 every day. How long for? How was it?

I must admit Im probably not as young as some of you and Im not sure how'd I cope with 5am start every day and 4 hours driving.

I'm 53 with a heart condition and I cope!

[paulinefowlersgrowler]

And yes, if it helps:

Contract 1 - Around 250 miles away. Drive to client site on Monday 3:30 am and drive back on Thursday 6:00 PM. WFH on Friday (after the first month)
Contract 2 - Around 200 miles away. Drive to client site on Monday 4:30 am and drive back on Friday 6:00 PM.
Contract 3 - Around 250 miles away. Drive to client site on Tuesday 3:30 am and drive back on Thursday 6:00 PM. WFH on Monday and Friday after the first 2 months.
Contract 4 - Around 100 miles away. Drive to client site every day. Start at 5 am from home and leave client site at 4 PM for a 2 hour drive.
Contract 5 - 20 miles away from home. Needless to say
Current contract - 130 miles from home. Drive to client site on Monday 5 am and drive back on Thursday 6 PM. WFH on Friday.

Priority - Stay in the beautiful North over the weekend

HTH.

FLC - So I see you did the long one in contract 4 every day. How long for? How was it?

I must admit Im probably not as young as some of you and Im not sure how'd I cope with 5am start every day and 4 hours driving.


Of course, one thing to think about is factoring in a little more time off for a gig like this. i.e. make sure you take the odd friday off to rest/family time. Dont think client would be happy with every week but surely once a month no-ones going to moan too much?

[FatLazyContractor]

And yes, if it helps:

Contract 1 - Around 250 miles away. Drive to client site on Monday 3:30 am and drive back on Thursday 6:00 PM. WFH on Friday (after the first month)
Contract 2 - Around 200 miles away. Drive to client site on Monday 4:30 am and drive back on Friday 6:00 PM.
Contract 3 - Around 250 miles away. Drive to client site on Tuesday 3:30 am and drive back on Thursday 6:00 PM. WFH on Monday and Friday after the first 2 months.
Contract 4 - Around 100 miles away. Drive to client site every day. Start at 5 am from home and leave client site at 4 PM for a 2 hour drive.
Contract 5 - 20 miles away from home. Needless to say
Current contract - 130 miles from home. Drive to client site on Monday 5 am and drive back on Thursday 6 PM. WFH on Friday.

Priority - Stay in the beautiful North over the weekend

HTH.

[FatLazyContractor]

Might sound like basics, I (personally) would look at why I am contracting in the first place.

If family life is your priority, then you know the answer. If your warchest isn't strong, stay where you are and build it up. If your warchest is good and if you think you can risk it, then you might consider what I was waffling on before.

Beauty of contracting

[kevpuk]

Currently about 85 miles from home, and elect to stay over during the week, usually WFH on Fridays, 9 months in, with an 8-month extension imminent. Drive takes me close to 2hrs, usually, but I do - on occasion - go home in the week, if needs be/want to.
Previous gig was only about 35 miles away from home, but would take an hour or so. Still, did always commute....And prior gig to that was about 90 miles away, and, again, made sense to stay over in the week.
TBH, I tend to weigh up the overall hours in a day, both working and travelling - adding 4hrs commute to a full working day is a bit of a stretch on a daily basis, I think. Still, YMMV

[stek]

Stek - You drive or stay over?

Stay over but WFH one day a week and travel out at this time actually, work late evenings and back fri affy

[MattZani]

I live just outside Glasgow, and it's easy access to Edinburgh too.

Edinburgh does not seem a bad area at all for contracting I guess.
Contracts there, Glasgow is pretty close, and if you don't mind 1h30mins of train you might get contracts in Newcastle too.

[paulinefowlersgrowler]

Not quite sure how those two statements work together! Going strictly by what you said, what service can you offer by not being on site?

Is staying close to the client site for the first month and then negotiating your terms a personal option?

Hmm. Thats just it - these days there seems to be no reason to be physically on site a lot of the times.

Yeh I could go for that but it might all prove problematic when it turns out the client insists on 5 days on site. Im stuck then.

[SueEllen]

Sure I heard somewhere about average commute times in the south east being something stupid? Nuts....

It can take me the same time to travel 17 miles by public transport as 70 miles by car on the motorway at the speed limit.

[FatLazyContractor]

Chance of a gig BUT its 100 miles away. Traffic wont be too bad I don't think - it'll be half motorway half A road and client is pretty much in a rural area. Google maps is saying 1hr 50 mins drive. Also, theres a few choices of route which take about the same time.

In terms of train, getting there is 2 hours with one change, bit longer coming home and times are not great. Train every day is probably not an option in ensuring I get the hours in. Also, nearest train is 3.5 miles from client (so taxi/bike here).

Rate is decent enough but not outstanding. I've done a gig 60 miles - 1hr 15 away and thats a fair distance so Im not sure about this one. Got a young family at home so staying away mon-fri is not really an option (I want to actually see my kids!)

Toying with the idea of maybe one night away and maybe train once a week. At least then, it breaks down into one train day, two days where I'm just driving one way (there or back), and only two days where I'm doing the long drive twice in a day.
Or stay over two nights (i.e. monday, wednesday) and train on friday. Which would mean only one drive per day and one day train.

But I am concerned that all the travelling is going to:-

A) Do my head in
B) Knacker me totally.
C) Completely screw my motor will all the miles.

Anyone else do similar? Do you get used to it?
Of course, another idea is to ask client straight off if there's any remote working possible. (Sadly not always with the type of work I do). Even one day WFH would make a HUGE difference.

I do sometimes wonder why clients arent more flexible with this.

Not quite sure how those two statements work together! Going strictly by what you said, what service can you offer by not being on site?

Is staying close to the client site for the first month and then negotiating your terms a personal option?

[paulinefowlersgrowler]

Living in London and SE is no guarantee commuting times are shorter even though the distance travelled is often shorter.

If 100 miles is going to take you 2 hours, then you should just stay over during the week and occasionally depending on work load go home mid-week as you may be able to leave early. Just make sure the kids' don't expect you to turn up as you are likely to disrupt their bed times.

Sure I heard somewhere about average commute times in the south east being something stupid? Nuts....