Declining contract for better offer?

[simplicity]

If you got a better offer a few days before you were due to start a new contract what would you do? Tell the truth or decline last minute with an excuse? Works out about £150 more per day? Both 6 month contracts. Slightly longer commute on higher paying gig but option for a day working at home.

[Pat Phelan]

If you got a better offer a few days before you were due to start a new contract what would you do? Tell the truth or decline last minute with an excuse? Works out about £150 more per day? Both 6 month contracts. Slightly longer commute on higher paying gig but option for a day working at home.

It all depends on a number of other factors.
Simple answer is take the second contract, why would anybody knock back an additional potential £19,500 over six months?
BUT, which gig has the most long term potential / extensions?
Which looks like the better working environment, decent people, nice office setup, flexible hours, gym on site, best canteen?

[BlasterBates]

If the client is convenient, think about how important that is. As a contractor you usually end up travelling and living in hotels, having a satisfied client around the corner is worth a lot in the long run. In 3 or 6 months time you can go and get a better rate. As a contractor you need to get new contracts every 12-18 months so you will need a base of clients.

[northernladuk]

150 a day is a very big difference. I'd be wondering why and bearing in mind I'll be a very expensive resource to the that client i.e. a first option for the chop when money get's tight. You should be able to gauge the size and duration of work from the interview. If it looks like a short piece of work I'd be considering the longer term gig regardless of extra money. A couple of weeks on the bench after a higher paying gig will very quick write off any gains.

Whatever you decide to not go in making excuses. Be upfront with the agent. He's gonna be really pissed and give you a hell of a lot of grief, probably including suing you for breach so making rubbish up won't help. You've got a better gig and if you tell him how much more he'll know there is nothing he can do. Telling him your mother is sick or something will just cause more arguments.

[Old Greg]

If the client is convenient, think about how important that is. As a contractor you usually end up travelling and living in hotels, having a satisfied client around the corner is worth a lot in the long run. In 3 or 6 months time you can go and get a better rate. As a contractor you need to get new contracts every 12-18 months so you will need a base of clients.

True. It also depends on how big your client base is. My set of potential clients is very small, so I can't afford to unnecessarily piss them off. If I was working in a large market, I would be inclined to take an extra £150 pd.

[1manshow]

No matter the other factors, go with the £150 extra a day. If you're getting paid that much more, you'd hope that means you are doing more meaningful work - if not at least it sets you up for future roles with being able to get similar or higher rates.

As for which has potential for extension etc, all of these are non-guaranteed either way so I would just go with the one which pays more (unless the amounts were trivial, then I may factor in other factors).

As for what to tell them, I guess you may as well be honest. Not like they will try plead for you to take a £150/day pay cut, nor would a client want someone who doesn't want to be there. I'd also not worry about any breach of contract suing.

[Old Greg]

No matter the other factors, go with the £150 extra a day. If you're getting paid that much more, you'd hope that means you are doing more meaningful work - if not at least it sets you up for future roles with being able to get similar or higher rates.

As for which has potential for extension etc, all of these are non-guaranteed either way so I would just go with the one which pays more (unless the amounts were trivial, then I may factor in other factors).

As for what to tell them, I guess you may as well be honest. Not like they will try plead for you to take a £150/day pay cut, nor would a client want someone who doesn't want to be there. I'd also not worry about any breach of contract suing.

If there's any breach of contract talk, offer to send in a sub...

[northernladuk]

No matter the other factors, go with the £150 extra a day. If you're getting paid that much more, you'd hope that means you are doing more meaningful work

I think that's a pretty poor assumption.

- if not at least it sets you up for future roles with being able to get similar or higher rates.

As a blanket statement I don't completely agree with this either. In some cases with mitigating factors about technology and uplift in the type of work maybe but for doing the same role there can be a wide range of rates. Just because one client paid top end it doesn't mean another will.

[Glencky]

It's a tough call. To be honest, and not to have a go at you, I think it's the kind of situation where it's almost pointless asking for advice (though I get that reading the responses will help you think it through) because it's so specific to the clients and your and their situation.

I'm a PM and my rates can vary easily by that much and more depending on location, and there really isn't always any direct correlation between content and level of role and rate a lot of the time! so what I'm prepared to take depends on multiple factors. Similarly in this situation what I would do would depend a lot on the specifics, but in general I think I'd be looking for reasons to make myself OK with the lower rate I'd already committed to, as I don't like breaking commitments and I think if you get a reputation for that, you're screwed. But then, financial services is a relatively small world in the UK, and that's where I work.

If it was £150 a day more AND a lot more convenient AND appeared to be 'safe' (though no contracting role is safe...) that would make it almost a no-brainer for me... but by the sound of it, it isn't that so it's a tricky call!

There are worse problems to be faced, but it's still a dilemma! You have to bear in mind that if you dump the first client in particular you'll likely be blacklisted for at least a period either from the client or the agency or both. I once failed to get a role I was very well qualified for after what seemed to me to be a near-perfect interview, because I think somebody who had taken agin me for complicated and boring reasons (that weren't a lot to do with me or my performance) in a past life, I think blackballed it after the interview. I won't go into the ins and outs of it here, not least because I could never be certain, just 'pretty sure' - but it does happen.

You need to think about not just one contract, but your whole future revenue stream.

[1manshow]

I think that's a pretty poor assumption.

As a blanket statement I don't completely agree with this either. In some cases with mitigating factors about technology and uplift in the type of work maybe but for doing the same role there can be a wide range of rates. Just because one client paid top end it doesn't mean another will.

Nothing is ever guaranteed either way, so I'd take the £20k uplift.