4 ms·

I used to work in a position that had many things like you describe. My per diet was $250, but hotel in the middle of oil field nowhere was $140/night, I could

I used to work in a position that had many things like you describe. My per diet was $250, but hotel in the middle of oil field nowhere was $140/night, I couldn’t get breakfast for less than $15, lunch about the same, and any dinner that wasn’t a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store $25. Now you’re at $225/250 of your per diem, you’re covered in concrete, and you get $25 “bonus” for the privilege of living away from home out of back eating whatever you can find in the middle of nowhere. A lot of the smaller contractors would bring in a 5th wheel, break out the bbq after work, and pocket the hotel money to make work better. And maybe they make $100k but they work heavy overtime, away from home, and 3000 hours a year to make it happen. And they still have to spend 12 hours actually doing the physical work to make the job happen. It’s not a glamorous life.

bratgpttamer 3y ago
Yeah, there's definitely lots of variability in both the per diem rates and how people spend it. I'd work 4 weeks on/2 weeks off (and travel some more), which I valued more than being back in my apartment every night. We rented a 3BR for practically nothing and ate out just about every night (food was cheaper there than at home). I basically lived off of the per diem and put the actual salary away for the off-season. Most of the people I worked with, myself included, were young and (more importantly) single and traveling all over the country was a plus. One of the electrical foreman used to work in Antarctica, and I forget what insane amount of money he made there, but I'd definitely have jumped on that even for half the pay. Re: Hourly vs. Annual - I'm speaking more to the fact that it's non-linear, because of the per diem and lots of overtime. I'm not sure I'd call it glamorous, but I'd definitely do it again if I didn't have a family to consider. (My wife used to do commercial fishing, which is perhaps even more un-glamorous, but there's something satisfying about coming home after a few weeks with more money than you know what to do with - at least in your early/mid 20's.)

bratgpttamer 3y ago

Yeah, there's definitely lots of variability in both the per diem rates and how people spend it. I'd work 4 weeks on/2 weeks off (and travel some more), which I valued more than being back in my apartment every night. We rented a 3BR for practically nothing and ate out just about every night (food was cheaper there than at home). I basically lived off of the per diem and put the actual salary away for the off-season. Most of the people I worked with, myself included, were young and (more importantly) single and traveling all over the country was a plus. One of the electrical foreman used to work in Antarctica, and I forget what insane amount of money he made there, but I'd definitely have jumped on that even for half the pay. Re: Hourly vs. Annual - I'm speaking more to the fact that it's non-linear, because of the per diem and lots of overtime. I'm not sure I'd call it glamorous, but I'd definitely do it again if I didn't have a family to consider. (My wife used to do commercial fishing, which is perhaps even more un-glamorous, but there's something satisfying about coming home after a few weeks with more money than you know what to do with - at least in your early/mid 20's.)