advice on hiring contractors living out of London and paying for travel

I am aware that contractors charge more in London. As someone based in the capital, couldn't I hire someone from outside of London, pay their travel costs and save money overall? Or are contractors required to work within their own region?

Asked by Karen on 18th Aug 2020
Expert Trade Answers
"Personally, it would not matter where the contractor is coming from buy trying to save money and hiring a contractor for outside of London and does a bad job it will cost you more money because you will need to get a new contractor to amend the job all ways do your research"
Answered on 14th Feb 2022 - Member since Nov 2020 - report
"Yes you can , what do you want done. As a builder and electrician I can do.
No restriction on anyone as long as you observe the Covid rules!

Paul Rup- Rai"
Answered on 18th Aug 2020 - Member since Feb 2020 - report
"It will be just as cheap to hire local tradesmen. If you're hiring people who are travelling then they will charge for travel or diggs"
Answered on 6th May 2021 - Member since Apr 2021 - report
"Contractors are not required to work within their own region. They usually are advised to select an area to work within, for example in TaskRabbit, you can mark out your region or it is automatically calculated for you. Personally speaking as a handyman for hire, I would be happy to do a job further a field if my expenses for travel are covered and is an appropriate job size/ scope. I.e. I would not travel excessive miles using my personal vehicle to fit a couple of shelves. Hope this helps."
Answered on 14th Jun 2023 - Member since Jun 2023 - report
"There is no restriction on where contractors work but most will not want to travel for anymore than an hour to a job site. At the most.
You could pay for people’s travel time but I don’t think that this will actually save you any money, as rates between nearby areas do not vary that much.
Your best bet is to try and get a well established local tradesperson"
Answered on 11th Nov 2020 - Member since Oct 2020 - report
"By the time you pay hotel costs/travel time it would work out about the same"
Answered on 20th Apr 2021 - Member since Mar 2021 - report
"There are no legal reasons that a contractor must live in London to work in London.

How ever travel time / fuel cost can average will add to the contractor cost to work in London"
Answered on 18th Aug 2020 - Member since Feb 2020 - report
"Most or all on this site will be self employed so can work anywhere in the country.
If you find somebody out of London it would be cheaper yes.
You could ask a tradesman if he could stay at yours, this is something i have done in the past.
You could employ somebody from say Reading, you would need to cover fuel and travelling times.
There are tradesmen/women that are prepared to travel, make sure to post this in your advert.
Regards
Neil Griffin
Griffin Property Services"
Answered on 18th Aug 2020 - Member since Jan 2018 - report
"The short and sweet answer is of course you can do this just depends on how much they will charge for travel so might be best to get a quote and go from there"
Answered on 26th May 2022 - Member since Oct 2018 - report
"Hi Karen
You can use anyone with the right skills, from anywhere.
They should factor in travelling time and fuel in the price of the work quoted!"
Answered on 18th Aug 2020 - Member since Feb 2020 - report
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