New to contracting, complicated situation, need advice

privilegue

Hey guys, I will try and keep this short.

So quick story, I am currently the IT Director of a company that is closing shop in Dublin, as we have been bought by another company in England. Now I have been made redundant towards the end of August, which is no problem.

I have been told however that they want me to keep the systems running, I have architected, designed and developed 90% of these systems and there is about 6mil people using them on a monthly bases. The UK company wants to take most of these customers over by the end of the year with their own system, until then however I have to keep things updated and running.

Note: They have no qualified staff in the UK to maintain these systems (I have built the platform on C++ / PHP / Python and systems like Jenkins, Ansible, Docker etc -- their devstack is purely Java)

So my questions are the following:

1) Do I need to setup my own company to do this? I have read about Umbrella companies that might help me and take the work away? I would prefer my own company since then I can redevelop the tech into a much nicer and neater package and then resell. I believe in the product that I have built and would like to continue enhancing, defining it (with the ultimate goal of selling it ofc )

2) How much should I charge as an hourly rate? I was playing with the ballpark number of 143EUR / h for a retainer of 20h a month min.

3) Also the company has stopped paying pension contributions in December 2009 even tho it states in my contract that they would. Am I owed these contributions? And if so can I claim them somehow without the use of a lawyer?


Thanks a lot in advance,

davo10

privilegue wrote: »

Hey guys, I will try and keep this short.

So quick story, I am currently the IT Director of a company that is closing shop in Dublin, as we have been bought by another company in England. Now I have been made redundant towards the end of August, which is no problem.

I have been told however that they want me to keep the systems running, I have architected, designed and developed 90% of these systems and there is about 6mil people using them on a monthly bases. The UK company wants to take most of these customers over by the end of the year with their own system, until then however I have to keep things updated and running.

Note: They have no qualified staff in the UK to maintain these systems (I have built the platform on C++ / PHP / Python and systems like Jenkins, Ansible, Docker etc -- their devstack is purely Java)

So my questions are the following:

1) Do I need to setup my own company to do this? I have read about Umbrella companies that might help me and take the work away? I would prefer my own company since then I can redevelop the tech into a much nicer and neater package and then resell. I believe in the product that I have built and would like to continue enhancing, defining it (with the ultimate goal of selling it ofc )

2) How much should I charge as an hourly rate? I was playing with the ballpark number of 143EUR / h for a retainer of 20h a month min.

3) Also the company has stopped paying pension contributions in December 2009 even tho it states in my contract that they would. Am I owed these contributions? And if so can I claim them somehow without the use of a lawyer?


Thanks a lot in advance,

Sounds like you are in a really good position to negotiate with them so if I were you I'd decide on a good hourly rate then double it.

You don't need to set up a company to be a self employed contractor, just make an appointment with an accountant and he/she will explain the benefits of forming a company.

Regarding the pension, if it was removed unilaterally without consultation, you need to talk to a solicitor.

privilegue

davo10 wrote: »

Sounds like you are in a really good position to negotiate with them so if I were you I'd decide on a good hourly rate then double it.

You don't need to set up a company to be a self employed contractor, just make an appointment with an accountant and he/she will explain the benefits of forming a company.

Regarding the pension, if it was removed unilaterally without consultation, you need to talk to a solicitor.

Thanks Davo, much appreciated.

ohnonotgmail

privilegue wrote: »

Hey guys, I will try and keep this short.

So quick story, I am currently the IT Director of a company that is closing shop in Dublin, as we have been bought by another company in England. Now I have been made redundant towards the end of August, which is no problem.

I have been told however that they want me to keep the systems running, I have architected, designed and developed 90% of these systems and there is about 6mil people using them on a monthly bases. The UK company wants to take most of these customers over by the end of the year with their own system, until then however I have to keep things updated and running.

Note: They have no qualified staff in the UK to maintain these systems (I have built the platform on C++ / PHP / Python and systems like Jenkins, Ansible, Docker etc -- their devstack is purely Java)

So my questions are the following:

1) Do I need to setup my own company to do this? I have read about Umbrella companies that might help me and take the work away? I would prefer my own company since then I can redevelop the tech into a much nicer and neater package and then resell. I believe in the product that I have built and would like to continue enhancing, defining it (with the ultimate goal of selling it ofc )

2) How much should I charge as an hourly rate? I was playing with the ballpark number of 143EUR / h for a retainer of 20h a month min.

3) Also the company has stopped paying pension contributions in December 2009 even tho it states in my contract that they would. Am I owed these contributions? And if so can I claim them somehow without the use of a lawyer?


Thanks a lot in advance,

how can you do this if you dont own the source code?

privilegue

privilegue wrote: »

Hey guys, I will try and keep this short.

So quick story, I am currently the IT Director of a company that is closing shop in Dublin, as we have been bought by another company in England. Now I have been made redundant towards the end of August, which is no problem.

I have been told however that they want me to keep the systems running...........

2) How much should I charge as an hourly rate? I was playing with the ballpark number of 143EUR / h for a retainer of 20h a month min. ............,

Surely an IT director would command a decent 6 figure salary?

To hang around on a contract basis short term I'd think you'd want to be charging them €150/hour ish but you'd want to be making it worthwhile and be getting the guts of €6k/week off them.

privilegue

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

how can you do this if you dont own the source code?

But I do you see This was never part of my contract that the code I developed would be theirs. I was not hired as a developer originally and the company never amended my contract to adjust for said fact.

privilegue

Augeo wrote: »

Surely an IT director would command a decent 6 figure salary?

To hang around on a contract basis short term I'd think you'd want to be charging them €150/hour ish but you'd want to be making it worthwhile and be getting the guts of €6k/week off them.

Thanks in a perfect world such person would indeed but I am not in that perfect world... I was going for 150 as well now.

ohnonotgmail

privilegue wrote: »

But I do you see This was never part of my contract that the code I developed would be theirs. I was not hired as a developer originally and the company never amended my contract to adjust for said fact.

Did you develop the source code while you were in their employment? if so then the company owns the source. no amount of winkey faces will change that.

lawred2

privilegue wrote: »

Hey guys, I will try and keep this short.

So quick story, I am currently the IT Director of a company that is closing shop in Dublin, as we have been bought by another company in England. Now I have been made redundant towards the end of August, which is no problem.

I have been told however that they want me to keep the systems running, I have architected, designed and developed 90% of these systems and there is about 6mil people using them on a monthly bases. The UK company wants to take most of these customers over by the end of the year with their own system, until then however I have to keep things updated and running.

Note: They have no qualified staff in the UK to maintain these systems (I have built the platform on C++ / PHP / Python and systems like Jenkins, Ansible, Docker etc -- their devstack is purely Java)

So my questions are the following:

1) Do I need to setup my own company to do this? I have read about Umbrella companies that might help me and take the work away? I would prefer my own company since then I can redevelop the tech into a much nicer and neater package and then resell. I believe in the product that I have built and would like to continue enhancing, defining it (with the ultimate goal of selling it ofc )

2) How much should I charge as an hourly rate? I was playing with the ballpark number of 143EUR / h for a retainer of 20h a month min.

3) Also the company has stopped paying pension contributions in December 2009 even tho it states in my contract that they would. Am I owed these contributions? And if so can I claim them somehow without the use of a lawyer?


Thanks a lot in advance,

Sounds like you're in a strong position to negotiate a cracking daily rate however I can't see how you can resell what has just been sold to someone else..

lawred2

privilegue wrote: »

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

how can you do this if you dont own the source code?

But I do you see This was never part of my contract that the code I developed would be theirs. I was not hired as a developer originally and the company never amended my contract to adjust for said fact.

I don't think that's how it works...

You would need a contract to explicitly state that it was yours otherwise the assumption is that anything you produce while under employment is the property of your employer..

Sure it would be anarchy otherwise..

privilegue

lawred2 wrote: »

Sounds like you're in a strong position to negotiate a cracking daily rate however I can't see how you can resell what has just been sold to someone else..

Its a different white label solution using a lot of the tech that I had to already build. Its not the same product, its a different product using similar, or rather much improved technologies that I have been working on privately for the past 5-6 months now.

lawred2

privilegue wrote: »

lawred2 wrote: »

Sounds like you're in a strong position to negotiate a cracking daily rate however I can't see how you can resell what has just been sold to someone else..

Its a different white label solution using a lot of the tech that I had to already build. Its not the same product, its a different product using similar, or rather much improved technologies that I have been working on privately for the past 5-6 months now.

to perform the same function(s)?

It all sounds a little complicated.. Do you have legal advice?

privilegue

lawred2 wrote: »

I don't think that's how it works...

You would need a contract to explicitly state that it was yours otherwise the assumption is that anything you produce while under employment is the property of your employer..

Sure it would be anarchy otherwise..

I see your point. Like I mentioned already I have been privately working on an improved and enhanced version of said product that has features the current one does not. So that would be the product I would sell not what is currently in deployment, even tho it might have similarities.

sozbox

privilegue wrote: »

Thanks in a perfect world such person would indeed but I am not in that perfect world... I was going for 150 as well now.

175/hr + VAT. Set up an LTD and use something like Bullet to handle the invoices for the few months you're at it. Can use the LTD then to re-sell your application.

privilegue

lawred2 wrote: »

to perform the same function(s)?

to perform similar functions but also newer features that the current live product does not have. Meaning lots of features added etc, a complete overhauled new product that might have similarities to what I have already built but has enough new and exciting features to be its own thing.

Pro Hoc Vice

privilegue wrote: »

Hey guys, I will try and keep this short.

So quick story, I am currently the IT Director of a company that is closing shop in Dublin, as we have been bought by another company in England. Now I have been made redundant towards the end of August, which is no problem.

I have been told however that they want me to keep the systems running, I have architected, designed and developed 90% of these systems and there is about 6mil people using them on a monthly bases. The UK company wants to take most of these customers over by the end of the year with their own system, until then however I have to keep things updated and running.

Note: They have no qualified staff in the UK to maintain these systems (I have built the platform on C++ / PHP / Python and systems like Jenkins, Ansible, Docker etc -- their devstack is purely Java)

So my questions are the following:

1) Do I need to setup my own company to do this? I have read about Umbrella companies that might help me and take the work away? I would prefer my own company since then I can redevelop the tech into a much nicer and neater package and then resell. I believe in the product that I have built and would like to continue enhancing, defining it (with the ultimate goal of selling it ofc )

2) How much should I charge as an hourly rate? I was playing with the ballpark number of 143EUR / h for a retainer of 20h a month min.

3) Also the company has stopped paying pension contributions in December 2009 even tho it states in my contract that they would. Am I owed these contributions? And if so can I claim them somehow without the use of a lawyer?


Thanks a lot in advance,

You need to speak to any consultants in the business to get an idea of your worth and the job in hand and taking into consideration H it's short term and they need you.

Yes of course you may be able to claim your pension contributions which could be very large covering as it does 7 years. In relation to the lawyer question. I have no idea of computers and I want to maintain a critical computer system that could make me a lot of money, am I advised to design implement and maintain such a critical system my self or do I have to go to one of them computer it nerds who will charge me money and sure they only went to college and worked in the industry for years. I know I'll do it my self sure this DOS can't be difficult.

ohnonotgmail

privilegue wrote: »

to perform similar functions but also newer features that the current live product does not have. Meaning lots of features added etc, a complete overhauled new product that might have similarities to what I have already built but has enough new and exciting features to be its own thing.

except the current product has been sold to the new company. it is their product to do with as they will. not yours.

privilegue

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

except the current product has been sold to the new company. it is their product to do with as they will. not yours.

Like I said, completely re-branded and new product that was never released under the current company. Something I have been working on in MY free time, hence MY product. From a front-end perspective there is nothing even remotely close representing what the current product looks like.

privilegue

sozbox wrote: »

175/hr + VAT. Set up an LTD and use something like Bullet to handle the invoices for the few months you're at it. Can use the LTD then to re-sell your application.

Thanks a lot I do however know that there is a little more involved with running your own LTD. Invoicing is sorted, but then there is the insurance bit that I have sorted as well. But what about accounting? This isn't something I would be comfortable doing myself, since I am not anywhere near being a qualified accountant - So I am guessing an accountant would suffice for this matter?

Thanks in advance.

sozbox

privilegue wrote: »

Thanks a lot I do however know that there is a little more involved with running your own LTD. Invoicing is sorted, but then there is the insurance bit that I have sorted as well. But what about accounting? This isn't something I would be comfortable doing myself, since I am not anywhere near being a qualified accountant - So I am guessing an accountant would suffice for this matter?

Thanks in advance.

I've run 2 so far and it's not all that complicated. I hate accounting, haven't a notion about it but both times I just hired a decent accountant to prepare the annual returns.

I kept good clean records and paid a few hundred once a year for the accounts.

Any VAT returns or PRSI can be submitted online these days, an up to date excel sheet is all you need. I did those myself.