Reply to: Travelling as a contractor

[northernladuk]

WOW

It's a fair price to be honest.

[kingcook]

So my £10 daily rate is worked out on a (fair) 8.5 hour day , so if it takes 17 hours, its 2 days + the cost of the flight and then I apply VAT.

WOW

[Scoobos]

Personally, I dont let my client book anything for me - and if I was to ever do so, I'd make sure I'm billed for it.

When I travel:

1. I book the flight, so the type is mute
2. I charge for the flight
3. I begin the clock when I leave the house to go to the airport
4. I stop the clock when I arrive at the airport / hotel
5. All of the above is expressed on an invoice as "On-Site International Visit " with all the above rolled up into one sum.

So my £10 daily rate is worked out on a (fair) 8.5 hour day , so if it takes 17 hours, its 2 days + the cost of the flight and then I apply VAT.

I can't say it enough though, for me, EVERYTHING, everything goes through business expenses, not through the client. (you can also be cheeky and slip the extra few quid VAT in)

[bless 'em all]

I regularly hear people whispering "Nothing worse than common people in first class"

FTFY

[northernladuk]

Anyone know if you can steal the noise cancelling headphones from First?

Nothing worse than common people in first class

[Scoi]

All came to a happy conclusion (not a double entendre). Proj Man asked me to book travel, I emailed to get upgraded, he's on holiday, I ask my line manager and he says the budget is 5k. Business class flights 5.4k . First class 4.9k other line manager goes and check with Dir of Proj, too late, never mind.

Anyone know if you can steal the noise cancelling headphones from First?

[Ignis Fatuus]

Any travel I have agreed with client co; payment starts from leaving home. I do not get up at 3am to get a 6am flight for free. No other profession does that either.

Not so easy if you're on a daily rate though is it?

No problem: a daily rate is the rate for a "professional day". Getting up at 3am exceeds any reasonable criterion for a professional day, so the bill exceeds 1 day. And smile when you say "professional day" to them.

[Wanderer]

I have done this quite a few times. The reason for the >5 upgrade is on health and safety reasons.

Good old 'elf and safety. I've done over 30 flights of 11+ hours and if I'm paying then it's always in economy which hasn't killed me yet. I must admit that as I get older I consider business class but if I'm paying then it's just not worth the money. Economy class on the "One World" alliance airlines like BA is pretty sucky, but if you hunt around then you can find a decent airline and it's not so bad.

I agree that if the client puts their permies in business class then they are going to have to put me up there for a long haul too. Probably the kicker for them is that if they put me on a 12 hour flight in economy then I'll be wanting a day off at the end of the flight to get some sleep because I can't get any meaningful sleep sitting back there in steerage. And I don't rate that stupid premium economy as being any better than economy either.

[Mupps]

Book a day and go business class.

Be flexible, take the airmiles and the experience. But don't take the piss and don't let them do so in return.

[psychocandy]

Any travel I have agreed with client co; payment starts from leaving home. I do not get up at 3am to get a 6am flight for free. No other profession does that either.

Not so easy if you're on a daily rate though is it?

[Paddy]

Any travel I have agreed with client co; payment starts from leaving home. I do not get up at 3am to get a 6am flight for free. No other profession does that either.

[Scoi]

I'm all about the bottom line, can't handle the humidity out there. Maybe i can be a little less bothered about sitting in cattle if i can hear the bank account ticking over whilst eating rubbish food and watching movies. Still worth a shot, its the difference between a bronze and silver card as well.

[northernladuk]

On a slightly different note, what hours to book while travelling. 13 hour flight + 2 hours at the airport + 1 hour taxi this end + 1 hour to get out of airport and into hotel. 34 hours total, is that pushing it if I don't actually work on the flight?

6 months into contracting so its all new to me.

Personally, I enjoyed the travel and my client was pretty flexible with a bit of spare time at the other end to look around and not expecting me in the office before or after (depending on timings) to recover from jetlag and hassle. I didn't feel the need to bill him for all the extra time as we were able to come to a suitable agreement.

I would say think about what you want from this, bit of time exploring at your destination, some downtime after to relax or just cold hard cash for every hour spent. Take that to the client and see what he says. From my experience of travel the project understands the hassle and are pretty understanding.

[northernladuk]

I have done this quite a few times. The reason for the >5 upgrade is on health and safety reasons. The few clients I have travelled with all had this policy and it covered contractors as well. As they are sending you they hold some responsibility. I paid for the flights and invoiced as normal but they were all more than happy for me to follow the same process. It isn't about permie/contractor it is about the company asking you to do something and then imposing limitations that could leave them open to trouble.

If they want you to fly for 13 hours and won't let you upgrade they will be held liable if you get DVT for example.

[bless 'em all]

On a slightly different note, what hours to book while travelling. 13 hour flight + 2 hours at the airport + 1 hour taxi this end + 1 hour to get out of airport and into hotel. 34 hours total, is that pushing it if I don't actually work on the flight?

That sounds about right. You're not a charity, so why would you want to do all of that for free?

Be up front and tell your PM or whatever that this is the way it is. It's up to him to decide.