Even if you bill by the day, that is still a certain number of hours to you.
What he is talking about is how difficult it is to work enough "hours" when you are contracting. If you work for a company they pay you to be at your desk 9-5, sure. But in that environment 10 minutes talking to a co-worker as you get a coffee, 15 minutes trying to get the damn printer to work, 5 minutes dashing up to the next floor because the toilet on this one is busted... doesn't matter that much.
When you work as a contractor targets are much more immediate - and if you don't get a days work done on a project that starts to pile up. It's crazy how little things can stack up; I didn't get "enough" done today, really, because the coffee machine in my kitchen was playing silly buggers first thing, and I got distracted fixing it (I know...). That took half an hour off my day and meant I had to try and make it up this evening... but with one thing and another...
What he is talking about is how difficult it is to work enough "hours" when you are contracting. If you work for a company they pay you to be at your desk 9-5, sure. But in that environment 10 minutes talking to a co-worker as you get a coffee, 15 minutes trying to get the damn printer to work, 5 minutes dashing up to the next floor because the toilet on this one is busted... doesn't matter that much.
When you work as a contractor targets are much more immediate - and if you don't get a days work done on a project that starts to pile up. It's crazy how little things can stack up; I didn't get "enough" done today, really, because the coffee machine in my kitchen was playing silly buggers first thing, and I got distracted fixing it (I know...). That took half an hour off my day and meant I had to try and make it up this evening... but with one thing and another...