Contractor day rates

[feef]

I might have a chance at a 6 month, contract much of it working from home...

primary skills required are MySQL (which I have in shedloads), linux adminy stuff, and a touch of perl..

no problem for me, so I'm going for it..

the agency has told me the suggested day rate is £200...

bearing in mind it's working from home, and I can expense travelling to the client's sites.. does this seem like a decent rate?

never having managed to win a contract before I don't know what I shoud be asking...

a
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[Suzuki]

Considering that you will have to get your own life assurance, and all the other benefits from working for a company, I'd probably be looking for £300 ish.
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[feef]

[tatters]

Don,t know if its an help but the going rate for a PLC programmer/electrical engineer is £360 per day (10 hour day) plus expensives/travel.
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[Kickstart]

Hi

Ages since I was contracting.

However there are extra costs. I was director and sole employee of a limited company (not worth doing anymore), but with that you are paying employers NI as well as employees NI, should have liability insurance, need to pay to get your accounts done, etc. Also working from home (which may not be allowed by the deeds of your house) will probably add to your house insurance if you are honest about it. Compared to being a full time employee you also will not get sick pay nor get paid for holidays.

When I went back to being a permy my theoretical pay (ie, 37 hours a week at whatever rate) halved. Put it another way, I would want to double my pay to go contracting again.

All the best

Keith
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[feef]

[RobB]

In my opinion.......

£200 a day seems pretty good for a work-from-home job. I've been paid less than that to work in central London before (although not for long). The lack of expenses for travel, food, and inevitable social drinks are a big plus.

I did the same thing last year, working for a packaging company that let me do 80% of it from home. Had to go on-site to take initial snapshots, but then everything else was telecommutable. Pay-wise, it was in effect something like a 60% increase on my previous permanent role. Also, the umbrella company I used managed to get me roughly 85% of my earnings, which was nice.

Only real negative I found working from home, was the lack of people to talk to. Bit weird being stuck in all day, although I found I was a lot more productive. I managed to do my days work, and then do housework and various other things. I found that the "stir crazy" aspect of working alone was quite easily transferred to mundane houehold tasks, and my house was much cleaner as a result. Not sure how well I would have coped with too much longer tan 6 months though. There's only so many shelves you can put up, and you always have to make your own tea.

I agree with Kickstart, in that a contractor should try and double the wage he/she can get in a permanent position. Include a month off, and roughly 5 sick days and see if it still seems like a decent salary. I've seen a LOT of contractors complain about not getting paid holiday, and how "unfair" that is. Just means they didn't think it through when they signed the contract (only relevant if you plan to stay for longer than 6 months).

If it was me, I'd take the job if only for the 6 months paid housework it will provide.

G'luck.
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[akaDAVE]

I don't know about going rates for what you do but it sounds pretty good for a 6 month contract working at home with no travel expenses.
Think of it as a 6 month contract and not the day rate. If it was only for one month it might not be a great deal but over 6 months could turn a decent profit.
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[Itchy]

£200 a day , sounds good but then anything sounds good on around £30 a day

[colin1]

damnit, i need to train for a well paid job or something
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[Annabella]

Get in touch with Gabem who are a really good Ltd company.


If you are registered with them as limited, then £200 per day is pretty good. However, if you are PAYE, then you will lose 8.21 (ish) % to 'holiday'.

Through the Ltd company, they will hold back certain amounts of your wages so that you pay less tax and take payment in dividends... (I'm not an expert so don't quote me!). You also can claim back any expenses, and can purchase 'work' products tax free (like a new computer etc).

£200 is a fair rate I would say, though I am sure you could push for more. If you are going through an agency, then undoubtably you will get more by pushing. It's worth a try.
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