Reply to: Overtime for International Travel

[Pondlife]

But what do you do if you have to stay over a weekend....?

If I work, I charge. Otherwise (and it depends where you've been sent) I spend the day sightseeing a new city with the knowledge that someone else is buying lunch.

[Tensai]

I charge standard rate for each day (or part of) I spend travelling. So if I fly out on a Sunday and back on a Saturday that's 2 days, unless it's significantly more than 8 hours, then I charge 1.5 days.

BUT (as someone has already pointed out) this is something that needs to be agreed beforeyou travel. That way if they don't want the extra cost then at least you can travel on normal working days.

But what do you do if you have to stay over a weekend....?

[Orbit]

That makes sense - thanks!

[TykeMerc]

So would you charge for your time at standard rate for travel/ time away from home/ etc? (ie non working time) Or would you only charge for time spent actually working, and suck it on the travel and time spent away?

Travelling time outside of my expected normal commute is working time and billed at my standard rate. When I travel between sites for meetings I charge for that, time on planes and in airports is no different in my view as it's necessary effort expended on the projects.

Obviously it's a point for sensible negotiation and an easy one to win if you tackle it in a rational manner with the client in advance.

[Orbit]

I wouldn't expect an overtime rate for travel despite it being a pain in the nads and often taking ages, I would (and do) expect for my time to be paid for.

So would you charge for your time at standard rate for travel/ time away from home/ etc? (ie non working time) Or would you only charge for time spent actually working, and suck it on the travel and time spent away?

[TykeMerc]

I wouldn't expect an overtime rate for travel despite it being a pain in the nads and often taking ages, I would (and do) expect for my time to be paid for.

[Orbit]

[QUOTE=Turion;653516]So what if people on this forum get time off or double pay or extra monkey nuts for travel time incurred. The client will not give a jot if you try to justify it that way.QUOTE]

I'm not after justification of any kind, and if I was I cetainly wouldn't use content from a forum. I wanted some constructive feedback from people that already charge for travel time. This would then be useful to me in any such negotiations I may have with my client. eg if it's common place to charge for travel time, the client is less likely to question it.

Before looking for a new gig don't you investigate the market first to see how much you can charge and what is the going rate for your services?

[Moscow Mule]

Yawn

[SandyDown]

So what if people on this forum get time off or double pay or extra monkey nuts for travel time incurred. The client will not give a jot if you try to justify it that way.

You're in business. Tell them how you expect to be renumerated/rewarded for travel based work. They will agree or not agree. You can then decide your course of action based on their willingness to acceed to your request. You may need to negotiate an agreement, or just suck it. Finally, if it's that bad just leave the contract.

[BoredBloke]

I used to charge travel time at my hourly rate which worked out pretty well. I'd charge from the point when the taxi left the house, 2hrs waiting at the airport, 1 hour flight to London, 1 hour wait in London, 8 hours flying to North Carolina, 1 hour to clear the airport and arrive at the hotel. All in all I'd get about 13 hours paid each way. When I worked in California they wouldn't go for that and all I could get away with was a cr@ppy day rate.

[Turion]

So what if people on this forum get time off or double pay or extra monkey nuts for travel time incurred. The client will not give a jot if you try to justify it that way.

You're in business. Tell them how you expect to be renumerated/rewarded for travel based work. They will agree or not agree. You can then decide your course of action based on their willingness to acceed to your request. You may need to negotiate an agreement, or just suck it. Finally, if it's that bad just leave the contract.

[chef]

just because you fly concorde doesnt actually mean it takes -2hrs.. the journey is still around 7 hrs long..

the time difference is -2hrs, not the time taken

[KentPhilip]

You could just bill hours on the plane.

But that could backfire had you flown in the days of Concorde- depart LHR 10.30 arrive JFK 08.20 you'll end up owing the company...

[Moscow Mule]

Sounds sensible. However, things are really busy atm and I get the feeling they would rather pay extra than have people away from the project.

Anyone charged extra for a similar situation?

I charge for all travel time outside of UK at 1x normal rate. I might consider 1.5x for intercontinental travel but it hasn't come up yet.

I agreed this before I agreed to go though as foreign travel is not part of the contract.

[Orbit]

Sounds sensible. However, things are really busy atm and I get the feeling they would rather pay extra than have people away from the project.

Anyone charged extra for a similar situation?