Contract employment vs Full-time

[SteveTheGeek]

All,
Because of a non-employment-related geographic move, my company is considering offering me a three-month contract to do remote support (with significant travel to sites as well) company-wide versus my previous single-site-support full-time employment.
My question is, can anyone offer suggestions regarding what to make sure is covered in the contract, what kind of rate to ask for (in order that medical and taxes are covered), etc?
-Steve

 

[mhw]

Steve,
Your going to have to provide a little more info - what kind of work do you do, what state are you in (this determines the cost of living thus the payrate you are eligible for), are you being laid off versus a temorary 3 month contract?. A little more info and then I can reply back. I've been contracing for almost 11 years now so I can give you the pros and cons, dependnig on the kind of work you do.
MHW

 

[SteveTheGeek]

Mhw,
I've already submitted a proposal to them and I should hear back tomorrow (so any advice at this point might not be usable), but:
I do M$ networking (MCSE-type LAN/WAN stuff), moving to Florida (it's me moving, not the company), I resigned because I was moving, and the parent company is considering contracting with me to do remote (and occasionally on-site) project support and backup/security/anti-virus auditing/fixing at their various national (not Florida) and international sites. Thanks for any advice you might have.
-Steve

 

[mhw]

Steve,
Take a look at

http://www.salary.com.

This will give you a rough idea of your worth for the area you are working in. Your situation is a bit complicated becuase you work different places but live in another so the 'billing' rates may vary. This website is just a guidline and my experience with it is it varies by how many people are after the same kind of position in the same area, the general state of the market (pretty poor these days but looks like it's getting better) and unemplyment rate at the specific time you are looking in that specific area. I don't know often the website is adjusted for the local economy. Anyway, Good Luck...