Reply to: Question

[weemster]

Will be nice if it works out. I was lucky with my first contract (they would wait 4 weeks) - after holiday it only took 2.

[try-one]

"My current employer is going trough some "changes" and in the next weeks/months I should be getting an invitation to "voluntary redundancy"; I will use this (if not offered, I will resign possibly) and will move to contracting.
"

[weemster]

Have you handed your notice in yet?

[try-one]

I'm in a very niche area.....contracts offered are in the £500-£650 a day, if I manage to work 10 months a year, that would be a significant revenue.
Freedom? commute? Politics?....I work from home, home based work is common this days and it provides you with the same freedom, no commute and no politics.
I will do it for the money, plain and simple, I won't say no to a chance to earn 3 times more legally, the rest is just talking.....

[kramer]

Not for me. That's just a convenient side effect.

I like the fact I don't have to face the same crocks of sh1t for more than a few months at a time.

yup.... office politics floats by me.. the work is varied... i even have a small amount of professional respect... plus my mates all think i am a spy!

[Denny]

Thanks for the feeback, I learned a way back that asking a few questions may save a lot of money...
My current employer is going trough some "changes" and in the next weeks/months I should be getting an invitation to "voluntary redundancy"; I will use this (if not offered, I will resign possibly) and will move to contracting.

I understand based on the comments that day/hour is not really standard, each case would be different. I will try to have a good contract, short initially and then build the relationship with the customer trying to grow it. Also reading the clauses from the contracts to ensure any extra time can be charged, ensuring I can have a direct contract with the customer somewhere in the future and all the other critical areas.

Many of you have been contracting for 10-12 years; have you been able to save obsene ammounts of money??? You are easily getting 30-50% more than a permie, is this diluted on your daily living, taxes..... any feedback on the real financial benefits or do you loose part of that money due to empty time between contracts?
thanks in advance

Unless you contract as a de-facto employee for long stretches at a time for one client (putting you inside of IR35, then you won't be that much better off than a middle ranking permie in terms of financial benefits of contracting.

If you contract as a B2B, assignments are usually much shorter, you fit other client work in with your main source of fee income at that time, and you must expect to be 'resting' at some times.

Contracting is more about freedom, personal management, not being tied to the commuting conveyor belt, making your own luck than it is about riding around in Porsche's.

[TheMonkey]

Not for me. That's just a convenient side effect.

I like the fact I don't have to face the same crocks of sh1t for more than a few months at a time.

[Diestl]

You can make at least 2x as much and best case get 85% of this as net, that's the reality and that's why some permies want to become contractors.

[malvolio]

Ermm... perhaps you should stay permie?? You're asking the wrong questions.

You do not get to choose your gig if you are a brand new contractor, you take what you can get. It's not all about money, it's more about freedom and variety. We charge more gross, but not a lot more, if you work out all the things you have to provide for yourself or don't get paid for - certainly not 50%. You will find it hard to go direct unless you are in a very niche area or have a very rare client. If you go in with the intention of charging for time spent, you won't be working very long: you're supposed to be selling a service, not an invoicing machine. Yes, I've got money in the bank - but then I usually expect to be working around 7 months a year allowing for gaps between contracts, some time off and even the occasional sick day.

Now I suggest you start again... How about "Why do you want to be a contractor?"

[try-one]

info

Thanks for the feeback, I learned a way back that asking a few questions may save a lot of money...
My current employer is going trough some "changes" and in the next weeks/months I should be getting an invitation to "voluntary redundancy"; I will use this (if not offered, I will resign possibly) and will move to contracting.

I understand based on the comments that day/hour is not really standard, each case would be different. I will try to have a good contract, short initially and then build the relationship with the customer trying to grow it. Also reading the clauses from the contracts to ensure any extra time can be charged, ensuring I can have a direct contract with the customer somewhere in the future and all the other critical areas.

Many of you have been contracting for 10-12 years; have you been able to save obsene ammounts of money??? You are easily getting 30-50% more than a permie, is this diluted on your daily living, taxes..... any feedback on the real financial benefits or do you loose part of that money due to empty time between contracts?
thanks in advance

[Denny]

I don't know what planet all of you live on, but it's quite simple from where I'm standing.

I bill a daily rate, as agreed with my EB, and work however long I need to in order to meet my deadlines. Sometimes that's 8 hours, sometimes 14. I don't put in half days or 4 hours + 0000001 of a second and charge up a whole day.

If my work runs over to a Saturday, it's necessary to achieve my deadlines I just bill an extra day.

Not had any problems so far.

[malvolio]

No, bollocks. My time costs you £x00 a day, where x is my required mimum plus an uplift for distance, risk and seniority. How I work to deliver your requirement is my problem.

If you are in an environment where you are effectively doing piecework, then hourly rates or controlled time is appropriate to prevent exploitation or mickey-taking.

Both regimes have their place, so let's stop arguing about it.

[matmak]

Daily versus Hourly

In relation to your Daily rate versus hourly etc.

this really depends on the contract you are hired for and the requirements therein. there are scrupulous companies out there who will look to hire you on a daily rate basis knowing full well that there expectation is a twelve hour day.

Unless you are being hired directly by a client to say for example kit out there office, your initial proposal will have it's terms of reference and scope of work, with the facility of adding caveats to cover unforseen issues and those not included in you initial proposal.

I have yet to work on a contract where it ran to term, usually because the initial contract terms change, thus the original timescale becomes unfeasible.

This is also dependant on whether or not you contract direct or through an agency whereby with the latter you will generally be hired by a client for a specific length of time to carry out specific duties according to your skillset.

Both have their pro's and cons, and where you don't mind the lifestyle of searching for your next contract as required can have it's rewards.

If taking on a contract with a daily rate be sure that the daily rate only applies up to a maximum of forty-fifty hours per week and that any additional hours are billed on a pro Rata basis.

Regards

Matmak

[ratewhore]

DONT DO IT.

I dunno. Give the guy a break, he's run a business for 10 years so probably knows more than a lot of people on this board about how to do it (forgetting the fact it went down the tubes obviously). He's just after the intricacies of contracting, or, to put it another way, how a lot of people pretend to run a business...

[el duder]

Hello,
I have been reading the different guides to contracting and I think I got the basic messages right.... I used to run my own company from 1995-2005 (went broke) and I have been a permy for the last year and a half.
Now I'm thinking about moving to contracting, I have a few questions for the forum:
- I have seen daily rates, is it common for customers to ask for overtime and pay for it? (I work 60 hours a week now....would it be similar but with additional pay?)
- My current permanent contract has a 3 months notice.....should I resign now and apply for contracts in two months? Is it common to have agreements with employers to reduce the notice?


thanks
Try-one

DONT DO IT.