Contracting VS Permanent Contract

Hi Christopher
There is no general rule, because it depends on your personality, on your opinion towards risk.

Basic differences are (for Germany but should be similiar for other countries):
- Times are good: Contractor gets much more than permanent; times are bad: contractor gets less or nothing --> what are your expectations for the future of planning?
- You’ll be sick: Contractor: nothing or on his own insurance, Contract: gone, maybe penalty; permanent: payed for some time, then insurance
- Taxes: Contractor always will pay less taxes.
- Social benefits: Contractor: nothing, permanent: depends on company.
- Tasks: If there is a job in the mid of nowhere with big risk and another in a good location and two persons available - one contractor one permanent - in most of the cases the permanent would get the good location.

Maybe, you’ll create you own list of criteria and then evaluate.
By the way we are currently looking for a planner/scheduler. Our preference is a permanent:
- Long term --> stability
- New staff have to be trained
- Company’s knowledge
- Reliability
Good luck with your decision
Dieter

To work for yourself or someone else??????

I spent many years working for someone and then decided to go self employed. Now looking back I wish I had done it earlier but it’s not for everyone.

Depends on how risk adverse you are: if you want a steady income, the money arriving in your bank account every month, (maybe you have familly and other responsibilities), then maybe contracting is not for you. It takes a while to get a regular client base so that work keeps coming your way although I know some people that go from job to job and don’t worry too much about getting client base - which is ok when things are good but risky when there’s a downturn.

On the upside, the money is generally better and you have a degree of control over what you do and when. There’s lots of reasons for and against, that said, if I had only only 1.5 years experience I’d probably keep employed for abit longer until I had more experience. Just change jobs, you don’t have to jump into being self employed.

If I was going to employ a contract planner, I’d be looking for someone with at least 5 years experience, preferably 10, aged 30 plus, preferably over 35 - experience counts, I know it’s the chicken and egg situation but there are too many contract "planners" out there that haven’t really got the experience required and as they have to pay for it, are not going to do much further training to improve themselves. Some will, but most won’t.

I have to say I do agree with Andrew. There are a lot of ’Planners’ out there on a contract basis that can drive the software and may know a bit, but when placed in a situation where they take control over Planning a job and using Project Managers, Engineers, QS’s and Estimators to build a programme, most have no idea where to start and are not interested in furthering themselves as they are probably being paid a good rate to do what they do now.

That said, a lot of companies view contractors as a necessary evil and some permanent employees do dislike contractors as they see us as money grabbers.

However, I personally wouldn’t have it any other way. I have been planning for over 10 yrs now 4 of those spent freelance. You do build up a client base and it does take time but I think its worth it in the long run, but probably best after more experience is gained.

In my opinion once you feel you can plan projects by gaining information by asking the right questions, not necessarily by knowing the discipline, and produce robust workable programmes fronm this, then it will be time to take a contracting role.

Good luck, there is always plenty of work for good Planners.

Steve

Well, I believe it depends on the contract role you intend on moving too. There are positions for Junior Planners or less experienced planners available. These come up because some companies refuse to pay market rates for planners.

Like others have said experience is very important but you can gain experience working on projects as a freelance contractor. Permanent positions will give you training courses etc but both types of employment will give you experience in the project environment and communication with project teams. Learning how to extract information out of people is a key skill planners require.

As previously said there are a lot of contract planners out there that aren’t very good. They earn a lot of money and can be very poor. They work in a contract role for a period and then before their poor handy work is discovered they move on leaving a new or existing planner a big mess. In my experience this occurs across a wide spectrum of planners - planners with minimal experience and in a lot of cases planners who have been doing it for years.

It is important to know the basics very well and be confident in your ability. Good Luck!

You can learn a lot from working for different companies.

So go for the money, travel etc

And do it before you get married.

Dear Glenn,
You r 100 % correct.
U can roam anywhere around the world as free bee before marriage only.

N also last but not the least with good money in the A/c at the end of the month.

Cheers,
abhi

i can’t agree more, as a man who has been married since one month and now back to work, 700 km from home, it is really frustrating.( i keep crying like a small baby all the nights alone)

so my friend as long as you are single, do what you love.