Housing Allowance For Temporary Engineering Assignment 3

[EngMark]

I am a mechanical engineer with a P.E. and decades of experience in varied automotive and machine design positions. For the last 7 years I've gone out on my own in private practice doing engineering, CAD, fabrication, prototyping (I have access to an awesome shop). For the last few months business has been very slow and I'm exploring going back to a "regular job" but it won't make me very happy if I do so. An intermediate solution has come up. I've been approached to take on a 6-8 month project working for an employer in another city. It would finish and I'd return to doing what I'm currently doing and by then hopefully my clients would have more for me to do for them. If I do this I'd be responsible for my own housing in this other city (Cleveland) and for transportation (a 3 hour drive). I've given the company a rate for my work (the standard rate I usually charge, which didn't seem to meet any resistance) but then the question arose what would be the hourly rate if housing were to be included. This is outside of my area of knowledge. How should I price housing and other costs associated with being in Cleveland for months and probably going home on the weekends (which they seemed to suggest many of their people do)? This seems to be a 40 hour / week organization.

Thanks,

Mark

 

[EngMark]

25 is exactly the increase I applied. I used the logic that the official number is figured on short hotel stays and all restaurant food but over 6-8 months I would have been in an apartment doing much of my own cooking.

 

[aap2]

I had an arrangement similar to this where I was given $200 a month to live.

 

[MikeHalloran]

I worked in New Orleans for a while.
The first year, I worked through a job shop, and took half of my rate as per diem, which happened to work out to the dollar value that the IRS allowed for that city. I lived in a motel and mostly ate in restaurants and it worked out okay.
... but the IRS only allows per diem for a year.

After a year, I went direct, and got permission to live in a company- owned trailer, for which I paid the lot rent. That worked out okay.

Then the company downsized, a lot.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[thaidavid40]

If your work is in any way is related to state of federal government work, be sure to ask the hotel manager (ask directly, not over the internet) for the reduced government room rental rate!
Dave

Thaidavid

 

[ScottyUK]

$200 / month to live - were you sleeping in the works van? I haven't done that in a lot of years - but at the time it was nice to put the per diem straight in our pockets. The stupidity of youth.