Reply to: Single day contracts ?

[TheFaQQer]

I think I'd be pretty wary of a 1 day contract for exactly this type of reason.

A myriad of things can wrong at their end, but also, you could get stuck with travel/sickness as well.

And yes, plenty of things can be done in one day, but a client then refusing to pay you in the scenario you describe just makes me think a "it'll be done in 1 day" request smacks of a client who wants the moon on a stick and want it as cheap as possible.

I guess I'd only be happy doing it for a previous client on a system I know, and also without a large commute.

On one of my first projects as a consultant, we got sent to a travel company to do a load of work. Pre-sales had told them that it would take a week at the most. In the middle of the week, they changed the database schema completely so nothing that we'd written worked any more. The client kept asking "why is it taking so long? What is stopping you from completing by the end of the week?" Eventually, the guy I was working with explained it clearly to the client:

"Imagine I'm in a room full of spuds, and you tell me that I need to peel them all by the end of the week. It's not that I can't peel spuds, and it's not that I don't know how to peel spuds. It's just that when the room is full of spuds, and you add more spuds in the middle of the week, the chance of me peeling all of them by the end of the week is next to nothing".

At the end of the week, the client told the consultancy that they would never use us again because we hadn't completed the work, and their DBA said that he could get it finished inside three days. Three weeks later, client rang my resourcer and asked if I was available to go back for three weeks to help complete the work.

I politely declined.

[jmo21]

I had a bad experience with a one-dayer once. It was 4 hours away but I though what the heck.

Turned into a bit of a nightmare. Contact on site had phoned in sick so I sat in reception for an hour, then they couldnt find the new hardware they wanted sorted (it was locked in a cupboard and no-one had the keys). Eventually, and it was 1pm by this point, because the guy was off, no-one knew anything about the work. Did my best to get it sorted, but, to be honest, it was a non-runner from start to finish.

The deal was end customer - consultancy company- agency- me. Of course, end customer didn't want to pay consultancy who didn't want to pay agency who didn't want to pay me.

In the end, took agency to small claims and they paid up. I'd turned up in good faith - not my fault that it had all gone wrong.

In future, I'd be wary because you're possibly going to have an end client who expects miracles done in one day.

I think I'd be pretty wary of a 1 day contract for exactly this type of reason.

A myriad of things can wrong at their end, but also, you could get stuck with travel/sickness as well.

And yes, plenty of things can be done in one day, but a client then refusing to pay you in the scenario you describe just makes me think a "it'll be done in 1 day" request smacks of a client who wants the moon on a stick and want it as cheap as possible.

I guess I'd only be happy doing it for a previous client on a system I know, and also without a large commute.

[NotAllThere]

For single day work I charge about double my normal day rate - to cover "overheads".

[psychocandy]

I had a bad experience with a one-dayer once. It was 4 hours away but I though what the heck.

Turned into a bit of a nightmare. Contact on site had phoned in sick so I sat in reception for an hour, then they couldnt find the new hardware they wanted sorted (it was locked in a cupboard and no-one had the keys). Eventually, and it was 1pm by this point, because the guy was off, no-one knew anything about the work. Did my best to get it sorted, but, to be honest, it was a non-runner from start to finish.

The deal was end customer - consultancy company- agency- me. Of course, end customer didn't want to pay consultancy who didn't want to pay agency who didn't want to pay me.

In the end, took agency to small claims and they paid up. I'd turned up in good faith - not my fault that it had all gone wrong.

In future, I'd be wary because you're possibly going to have an end client who expects miracles done in one day.

[TOSH1]

I did a contract for three days once and the client asked me to continue for another two weeks at a different location 200 miles away from home for the same amount. I declined the extension, the agency was not happy. Got paid a month later for the work that I did ad the agency have rung back and to see what I am doing at the moment and what rate I am on. I always told them that I on a much better rate then I was there.

[unixman]

Okay I did the 1 day contract. I succeeded in doing what the client wanted, was treated well on site, hopefully created some good will. An enjoyable day all round.

Jim

[evilagent]

Small agency I had worked with before, about 5 years ago.
A 2-day job, covering a previous contractors bugs!
Paid promptly.
Was local, so no big deal.
Since it was a specific task, no real opportunity to broaden the brief.

Very rare, these 1-2 dayers.

[BlasterBates]

Agent is chasing regularly. I wonder why ? They can't be making much out of it.

No I doubt they´ll make anything, admin overheads would be way over the top they probably just want to make a good impression on the client.

[unixman]

Sounds like "do it!" is the consensus. Good advice from all appreciated. Unfortunately the rate is low and no expenses! Success is uncertain, especially in one day and the client hasn't answered all questions so far. Guess I will set their expectations and do it, just to get some good will.

Agent is chasing regularly. I wonder why ? They can't be making much out of it.

[darmstadt]

I quite often do 1-5 day contracts and they've all paid off with return work. I do make sure that expenses are also included though. As for the CV, I never put down dates that I've worked a contract, just the months so if I did a 1 dayer then that would show up in my CV as something like March 2012 (it helps as I run multiple contracts at a time and none tend to be full working week ones.)

[d000hg]

I see no reason not to do a 1-day contract as long as the expectations are realistic... going in for a very specific task.

However I wouldn't do it for a low rate. I'd expect my top rate for what is essentially consultancy.

[Scrag Meister]

I did a code review for 5 days in Switzerland, with a LARGE pharma last August, nearly doubled my London rate to take care of expenses.

Took the week off from main London Banking contract, really enjoyed the change.

Was paid promptly, manager of the company I worked through was quite pleasant.

[TheFaQQer]

Same reason I wont accept anything under 3 months. Stupid agents always but always ask 'why did you leave early?' on anything between 4 - 10 weeks. So you try and explain it was a short contract and their next question is 'Well why didnt they extend you? Were you not very good?'!

Market it better My short-term roles are described as "troubleshooter" on the CV, and clearly explain that I was brought in on a short-term basis to fix a number of specific issues. If I discuss it with an agent, I tell them that they were the best gigs - knew from the start exactly what was wrong, no incentive to drag it out, fixed the problem quickly and left a happy client behind me.

[curtis]

I have done several short gigs (under 3 months) I actually quite like them for a change mixed in but then I don't really like very long contracts as I do get bored /fed up very quickly and like the variety.

If I'm not working I would never turn down a gig if it was a day/week/month, work is work for me and a weeks work is a weeks money in the bank if I reject it on that basis I may then still be out of work for a week when I'd rather have the money in the bank.

I've had a 1 week contract turn into 3 months and a 2 monther turn into 9 so you just never know either.

[GB9]

I've done 3 weeks that turned into 13 months. If you have nothing better to do and have got bored of w******* all day then go do it.

As for CV, nothing under 3 weeks appears on my CV.