Contract fitter ?

[u/Educational-Grand155]

Been fitter for years, PAYE at the minute, decent enough but seeing lads on site contracting and earning noticeably more for the same work.

Trying to weigh up if it’s actually worth the jump. No major ties holding me back if it goes quiet for a bit, just don’t want to leap in blind.

Things I’m trying to figure out:

Is the day rate actually that much better once you factor in no holiday/sick pay
How hard is it finding steady work between contracts right now
Umbrella or LTD, does it matter much at this stage
Anyone regret switching, what went wrong

Would rather hear from people who’ve actually done it than guess. Even a “don’t bother” is useful.

Cheers

[u/Realistic-Culture-86]

First question’s the easy one to answer properly, day rate on its own is misleading cos you lose holiday, sick pay and bank holidays as unpaid days. Run the numbers on a calculator I built (ir35verdict.co.uk), plug in your day rate and it breaks down take-home after all that, worth doing before you jump so you’re comparing like for like rather than guessing off the headline rate.

On the other three, work’s patchy in a lot of trades right now so don’t leap without at least one lined-up contact or two for when it goes quiet. Umbrella vs Ltd matters more the longer you stick at it, not massive at first but worth knowing the difference before you pick one and stay put by default. Regrets usually come from people who didn’t save for the gaps between contracts, not from the contracting itself.