At least in the UK day rates are extremely common, much more than fixed price for individual contractors. I actually prefer fixed price with the right client –

At least in the UK day rates are extremely common, much more than fixed price for individual contractors. I actually prefer fixed price with the right client – as sometimes the actual work ends up being say 2-3 weeks stretched over a couple months but you get paid £50-100k because the project is fixed cost. What I would say away from is fixed price for anything under £15-20k – it's just not worth it and they will often try to extract as much time as possible