Consultancy rate... No idea where to start!

pioneer2000 · 13 Jul 2010 at 22:12

I don't know if I should or not, but feel bit awkward sharing that... lets just say not a great deal over £30k basic.

Jonnycoupe · 13 Jul 2010 at 22:37

Even £30 an hour could double your take home then.

Morba · 13 Jul 2010 at 22:38

Would you be able to find another job should the contract end early or not?

burns · 13 Jul 2010 at 22:54

What is the software that you're training them on?

pioneer2000 · 13 Jul 2010 at 22:55

Morba, I'd be carrying on with my permanent position and effectively moonlighting via this temporary bit of consulting. I have been told that if a permanent position does arise I will be top of the list so seems a win-win in that respect.

An accounting package (don't really want to say much more than that).

Destination · 13 Jul 2010 at 22:55

Right in that case, triple what you get currently and use it as a starting base.
Its not a bad way to do it.

pioneer2000 · 13 Jul 2010 at 22:59

Hikari Kisugi said:
Right in that case, triple what you get currently and use it as a starting base.
Its not a bad way to do it.

That's what I had read but just wasn't sure if that was actually done or not!

Cheers for the advice - will have a think along those lines.

Morba · 14 Jul 2010 at 00:01

pioneer2000 said:
Morba, I'd be carrying on with my permanent position and effectively moonlighting via this temporary bit of consulting. I have been told that if a permanent position does arise I will be top of the list so seems a win-win in that respect.

An accounting package (don't really want to say much more than that).

Ooh good work! As it's extra time for you, get as much as you can

why so scared to say what package? It can't be that rare

oh, you'll probably need an umbrella company to run through. I recommend sanzar solutions

MiNxYyY · 14 Jul 2010 at 00:02

MiNxYyY said:
Are you doing this for a current employer?

So they will charge employers to use you and they take the profit?

Or when you say you charge £800 a day, does that go to you?

?

Hades · 14 Jul 2010 at 00:11

Look on Jobserve, Jobsite, Monster, etc and find similar contract positions. That will give an idea of market rate.

I had an agency call me about a role recently. It was an interesting job but it would mean I had to find accomodation during the week. So I worked out how much that would cost and then told them what rate I would take the job for. It was clearly too much for them and I didn't get it. But that was the minimum I would have taken it for and so it's no loss.

Ultimately, just decide what you'd be prepared to do the job for.

Morba · 14 Jul 2010 at 00:14

MiNxYyY said:
?

The op has said this is temp work, moonlighting at another company. So the money will be all his

pioneer2000 · 14 Jul 2010 at 00:46

Right, hitting the sack now but from looking at jobserve, monster etc anything over £40/hr / £300ish a day seems unlikely. Of course considering the possibility of future work I don't want to scare them off.

Would I be wiser to inform my HR before accepting or is this just going to cause more hassle than it's worth? I guess any income is going to flag up on my PAYE at the end of the year anyway so it'll eventually show. Is there any need for an umbrella when this is only potentially a short-term one off gig?

Hades · 14 Jul 2010 at 01:10

£250 to £300pd is generally considered entry level for IT contracting... having said that, the recession and massive 'rightshoring' has really depressed wages so I'm not sure if that's true anymore.

If you're working as a contractor then the income won't flag up as PAYE and you will need to work under an umbrella company or set yourself up as a company and declare your own tax. You should consider professional advice on tax.

I don't think your current employer will be notified but you should consider any clauses in your contract which may state you have to declare any outside work or directorships. Whether you do is a matter for you, of course

Useful site... www.contractoruk.com

Burnsy2023 · 14 Jul 2010 at 08:10

dowie said:
tis a bit fuzzy but:

http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/contracts/uk/hyperion.do

is quoting £450 per day with only 10% of contract advertised at above £575

Apparently that's in the ballpark of what is charged at the company I work for and we have more work than we have consultants.

Duff-Man · 14 Jul 2010 at 13:18

I'm not sure how useful this is, but I have an engineering consultancy (we mainly do simulation work; CFD, FEA modelling etc). We usually charge around 800 euro per day for consulting services, although ~20% of this will usually go straight on software licensing. Big jobs (more than 6 man-months of work) will usually get a discount, and if we're looking to build a long-term relationship with a client we might drop our prices by as much as a third.

What we do is fairly specialised work (all our guys have PhDs), but it's not "rare" per se... There are plenty of other companies out there that do what we do. If you're doing something niche then that will always significantly increase the value of the services you offer.

Sam098765 · 14 Jul 2010 at 13:26

The consultants / freelance staff around my place get £400 - 500 a day. Think it works out to an £80k salary with holidays.

Jonnycoupe · 14 Jul 2010 at 13:59

Duff-Man said:
I'm not sure how useful this is, but I have an engineering consultancy (we mainly do simulation work; CFD, FEA modelling etc). We usually charge around 800 euro per day for consulting services, although ~20% of this will usually go straight on software licensing. Big jobs (more than 6 man-months of work) will usually get a discount, and if we're looking to build a long-term relationship with a client we might drop our prices by as much as a third.

Out of interest is that onsite at the client or your own office?

I remember as a grad on £22k I was charged out to clients at £40 per hour and if done on our premises it would be an oncost of 100% so £80 per hour.

I also the director of an engineering design consultancy :cool:

..... okay okay, Im a contract CAD monkey

Duff-Man · 14 Jul 2010 at 14:34

Jonnycoupe said:
Out of interest is that onsite at the client or your own office?

I remember as a grad on £22k I was charged out to clients at £40 per hour and if done on our premises it would be an oncost of 100% so £80 per hour.

In most cases the work will be done at our office. We have our own setup which is suited to CFD simulation, so it makes sense to do it all in-house. Besides, these jobs usually take between 1 and 6 months, and the client is only really interested in the end result; they don't really want you hanging around their offices for months. We will usually have a number of progress and discussion meetings during the course of a project though, and these usually take place at the client's offices. They pay for the travel expenses though!

Seems odd that you were charged out at double the rate for staying on your own premises! If anything I would have expected it to be the other way around...

Jonnycoupe · 14 Jul 2010 at 14:39

Duff-Man said:
Seems odd that you were charged out at double the rate for staying on your own premises! If anything I would have expected it to be the other way around...

Why?

Working onsite at the client means no seat overhead costs. So the building rent, electricity, license fees etc all come out of the oncost aspect. You can charge that as the client does not need to provide you with those to deliver a work package.

Duff-Man · 14 Jul 2010 at 14:50

Jonnycoupe said:
Why?

Working onsite at the client means no seat overhead costs. So the building rent, electricity, license fees etc all come out of the oncost aspect. You can charge that as the client does not need to provide you with those to deliver a work package.

I suppose it depends on the nature of the work. If the employee needs a permanent position at the office anyway, then sending him out to the client on odd occasions will not reduce the site-related overheads. I guess that if you can hire someone who will spend the vast majority of their time away from the office, you can start to see some savings.

In our case, anybody we hire will require a desk and computer etc. Any time the guy is sent to the client it only incurs additional expenses due to travelling. An un-occupied desk costs just the same as an occupied one!