Going Solo....

[Bier Keller]

Sick of the crappy wages, not moving up the ladder because I won't kiss arse and imminent laying off have prompted me to consider doing it for myself. I reckon that a smaller operation, concentrating on DTA's and WB's should be able to undercut the players. What should be my first moves? Apart from telling the Revenue what I am doing, who should I inform? The county mountie? My Oma? Horace the cat? I am not looking to make a fortune overnight here, I have my eyes wide open, it's just that I am sick of constantly, literally, having to count the pennies. A chap can surely make a better wage and be able to hold his head up?


Just give me a cold Becks

[BAJR Host]

Definately let the Counties know about you... even though many do not have approved lists as such. keep your eye on planning lists and be proactive in getting jobs... they don't come to you. Put yourself on the BAJR contractors list... make sure you are known to planners and builders

Another day another WSI?

[1man1desk]

Make a proper business plan.

In planning your business, recognise that to begin with you will be short of fee-earning work.

Forecast your expected costs and income as far as possible ahead, and make sure that you have finance in place to keep you solvent until your business is in the black.

Plan your cash flow. Even if you are making profits from day 1, you can go bust if you can't pay your bills while you are waiting for clients to pay up.

Make sure you have the resources to do the work you accept. If you are going to do intrusive fieldwork (e.g. watching briefs) - do you have somewhere suitable to process/store a material archive?

Until you have all the above in place, don't go freelance.

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished

[Bier Keller]

Thanks for the advice, it's good to get this from people who understand the sector, rather than someone who deals with any number of business ideas everyday, none of which will be heritage related. How does UK law stand on hiring students? I think that if I had the offer of real commercial work when i was studying, it would have been quite beneficial to me, not only finacially but also professionally. I have a couple of former work colleagues who I fancy I would use for specialist work should it be needed (eg Osteo) but for everyday stuff, in the trench, I would need a No.2.
Comments?

Just give me a cold Becks

[drpeterwardle]

Sorry in my view you are not ready to set up on your own given you asking about the law on hiring students. Before you set up do some research you need to know about:
UK planning law
UK employment law
Health and safety law.

There is no legal difficulty in hiring students but if you have to ask about this I suggest you have to acquire all the other skills neccessary to be an employer. I think you are asking an ethics questions rather than a legal one and this was an issue I addressed at the conference.

The most difficult thing is getting your second job, the second most difficult thing is affording food till you get paid. Expensive beer like becks will be out of the question. You need to draw up your personal survival guide. I hope there are still free training courses. It took me many months to get things going and actually get paid. For starters you will need say UKP1000 for insurance purchased before you do any fieldwork. You will also need PI insurance.

Above all else ignore advice people who have not set up and run their own business for at least three years.

50% of new businesses go bust in the first year largely because of cash flow. It will take circa four months from being asked to do the first job to be being paid. The book talk and grow rich is a very good guide to setting up in business.

Best of luck.

Dr Peter

[BoneGirl]

If you are really keen on going freelance, your local tax office should run courses on starting a business, book keeping tax returns etc.. which I am told is really handy.
I've done a little freelance specialist work, in my experience payment is always late, and months after the work is completed. Tax return forms are written in some form of gibberish. Make sure you have everything well planned and prepared before taking the plunge. If I didn't have other work on top of freelance work, I would have gone bust after my first job. Be warned and good luck.

[historic building]

Curators cannot retain an 'approved' list of contractors. This would imply that the 'approved' can actually complete the work and may open the council, or organisation supplying the 'approval' to legal remedies if work is not completed or conditions not discharged. Most council lists are open to those who can demonstrate the suitable knowledge and experience, as required by PPG16, to undertake the various types of work and who are willing to agree to the relevant local standards.

I would talk to your local curators and find out the likely level of work you can quote for. Where I work, despite it being a relatively large county, I doubt we issue enough specifications for DBAs to keep the wolf from the door for anyone on them alone. So you would need to cover a couple of counties at least if you are only taking on small scale work such as WBs and DBAs. The vast, overwhelming majority of DBAs come in as unrequested EIA chapters, rather than from recommendations from planning lists so for a small company there would be little to pick up. A good start could be to call around environmental consultancies in your area to find out what they do for archaeological inputs. If you get an opening, get a smart suit on and go and see them.

[Bier Keller]

Many thanks for the input. I feel though (from reading the first line of his reply above)that Dr Wardle is of the opinion that I intend to set up shop tomorrow, which is not the case. If it were otherwise then I would not be on this forum asking for advice.
It is always better to learn from other people's mistakes than your own - this is why I am asking these questions now. However, Dr Wardle is bang on the money when he writes that my question regarding students is more of an ethics question.I admit that I could have phrased it better. My point was that my degree did not prepare me at all for the workplace and that some real practical experience would have been very beneficial.

I have been doing my reading and doing my free courses as Bonegirl suggests. Very illuminating it has been as well, although she is quite right when she states that tax return forms are written in gibberish. Something to be endured.

Historic Building, your comments on the quantity of DBA's and WB's were most useful. I thank you, Bonegirl, One man One desk and Dr Wardle for your views and answers to my questions. Your insights have been very useful.

[historic building]

I have also discovered that at least one of the organisations in my county do DBAs for free in the hope of picking up other work afterwards to pay for it.

Is this a general practice? I have not encountered it previously.

[geodan]

If that's true it makes me despair although we all know that the quality of DBAs varies massively. I've never heard of anyone doing a DBA as a loss leader - be interesting to see how one of those free ones stands up.

A free DBA prior to a smallish evaluation surely isn't worth the trouble. This company must do this only for large infrastructure projects and be very well established?

[monitor lizard]

quote:Originally posted by historic building

I have also discovered that at least one of the organisations in my county do DBAs for free in the hope of picking up other work afterwards to pay for it.

Is this a general practice? I have not encountered it previously.


Hi HB

Yes, have had this, and also once or twice sites with the twist that if the DBA does not write off the condition, the evaluation will be free. Mind, these few sites wouldn't have gone to fieldwork anyway, so almost certainly a crafty ruse making it appear to the developer that they were getting better value, or having one over on 'the man.'

Although rather unsavory to my mind, this is a commercial arrangement, and as long as the DBA is to accepted standards once submitted, the contractual circumstances are beyond our remit....

ML

[beamo]

Doing a DBA as a loss leader can make sense for the bigger units as it puts them is a good position to get the contract for the more extensive (i.e. lucrative) evaluations and excavations that might follow.

As ml says, this is a commercial decision and so long as the DBA is up to scratch does it really matter what it costs - that is between the client and the contractor.


Beamo

[historic building]

One case comes to mind where the results were particularly over-egged on a site where we probably would have not recomended any work. I later discovered that this was a free job.

[Unitof1]

I wish I had gone solo from day one. All people are born self employed archaeologists; I can’t see how you could consider yourself an archaeologist and not be self employed. BAJR appears to be anti- suggesting there are specific qualifications for being self employed. I suggest otherwise. It’s attitude. For the peculiarity of self employment start by saying “I am going to earn money from being an archaeologist”. After informing your status to your local Inland Revenue office step out in the world and get on with it. Take it as it comes. I should not worry about having to be an expert on the law or business plans. You are the business.

You could write books, guides, newspaper stories, make maps, sell pictures, objects, teach, give advice or get involved with developer funded where you will come up against people trying to earn money from archaeology (not the same as being an archaeologist). More than you imagine will have a civil service pension and live in a perpetual self congratulatory fugue. As you have probably experienced, some of these and others earn their money by controlling other people, in a facade sometimes called a unit or an RAO. They are mutual protection rackets where responsibility and the word archaeologist are obscurely shared never to be pinned down (take note that the word archaeologist is not used to describe any of the grades propounded in the BAJR pay scales). Developer funded is unstable, massively overpriced and its key is political.

Anyway if you set your mind to it you can be up to your eyeballs in archaeology within a day and should land your first contract within a week -any longer and you are giving too much respect to the competition. I could tell you exactly how to go solo but nobody else on this forum has and I am new here. If you want- for a percentage of your first few years take or a fee I could set you up.

[vulpes]

I would comment on this, if only I could escape from my self congratulatory fugue! :D Well done chap. ;)

Not really a 'pot person'.

[BAJR Host]

Nothing like a good solid Hello there Unit of One.

BAJR is anything but anti Self employed (hey... I am with my illustration and archaeology company) I fear you may have got confused about Diggers being employed as self employed, which is very different. In fact this week I have been advising some people that they should consider the big bad world of 'out there'

If you wish to let people into the secret... go for it... I congratulate you on going for it.... the biggest problem is the final step.... actually doing it...

So damn glad you did... If you want, give me an email (info@bajr.org) and I will send you the form to get you onto the Whos Who section....

(strangely, I am actually going through the BAJR grading system as we speak.... trying to convince... er... others.... that a 3% increase in April is not really where we should be heading) But no... there is no such grade as archaeologist... as it is too encompassing... ie a Digger is an archaeologist just as much as a supervisor, just as a Surveyor is one, or even a Project Officer... I am a Curatorial DC Archaeologist. etc.... Archaeologist would now really work in the pay system ... but you can call yourself what you want now...

One of the best feelings is to be your own boss... one of the worst is to realise the buck stops with you... ;) Good luck and get in touch...

(I really am an archaeologist you know!)


"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Unitof1]

What’s the pension then Fugue-didn’t the IFA forgot to include pensions in its pay review- oops.

BAJR break out of the unit system mentality, a bad example for the children. It grew out of sideways promotions in the 70s council civil service system sponging on education and museum budgets. Sometime in the eighties its final solution was the Manpower Services Commission scam. It has never had a hay day and its not going to either. Since peepeeG {written with units in mind) they have held on as trusts and charities bleating fully about their contributions to education (does anybody out there when not reading the COSMIC report go through the charity commissions web site reading the accounts of their local archaeological stitch ups
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/first.asp

You do-Do you have a favourite account-Does the AUP allow us to discuss a few? How many have a few at the top on council pensions and nothing for the workers? Have any of you asked to see the services level agreements?

Anyway for you going solo I suggest that you take the yearly turnover from one of these accounts and divide it by the number of employees. The figure you will find would not gear a business model and sadly neither a charitable one nor yank a chain - suggestions on a postcard...I suggest they look like sitting ducks and should be treated as such.

Find another way

[troll]

What an extraordinary performance! Sad thing is, the unit system is now so deeply entrenched in the commercial world that change even at a basic level is likely to be resisted. A goodly few of us would heartily agree with you- ppgs are simply not good enough. What has been happening over the last few years is the propogation of interest groups around the UK and in Europe.This has resulted in open and frank debate amongst workers across the industry and across all "grades". BAJR has been and will continue to be a central hub as a heritage resource. The forum has been a place where for once, workers can get together and discuss the things that need to be discussed.A rare thing in archaeology outside of the site hut:D How do we as an industry make changes? What changes?:face-huh:

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)

[BAJR Host]

quote:What’s the pension then Fugue-didn’t the IFA forgot to include pensions in its pay review- oops.

er....(unless you know something I don't) read:


quote:The changes will come into effect on 1 April 2007.

Changes to the IFA recommended pay minima

Increasing rates of pay for archaeologists is still very much a priority. However, it is recognised that access to other important benefits such as sick pay, paid holidays and pensions is variable and these benefits make a significant contribution to the employment package.

We proposed a model whereby the minimum salary is taken to include an employer?s pension contribution, a minimum number of days of paid leave, a sick leave allowance and a defined average working week. Following the consultation, Council has agreed the following package as a minimum standard, from 1 April 2007

> 37.5 hour average working week
> Employer pension contribution of 6%, subject to any reasonable qualifying period
> 20 days annual leave excluding statutory holidays
> Minimum sick leave allowance of 1 month on full pay, subject to any reasonable qualifying period


You do have very strong views on this subject obviously, so do remember the AUP.... if people want to see for themselves they can look as you suggest.

To suggest that I should break out of the Unit model mentality is to perhaps miss what BAJR does. Remember that these sitting ducks emply real people with families and houses and so perhaps the best way is to allow both your dynamic Unit of one... and the others to exist. If there is room for both (and the conditions are acceptable) then lets have a place for different folk.
Not everyone want to be a unit of one. Not everyone want to be tied into a dead company either. Change.. its a coming... but as I learned at the BAJR conference, it may come from high above (DCMS and beyond) and be a stiff steely boot in the groin... perhaps that will help the change, perhaps it will wipe us out.... [xx(]


"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[troll]

Anyhoo, Greetings Biery. I was tempted to go it alone only once.The saying "when you fail to plan, you plan to fail" is one that still rings in me earoles. I took on a monster of a job that meant five-years work after spending time working as resident archaeologist for a consultancy.To take the job I had to go self-employed so verily thats what I did.Took out business loans and set-up a small unit. I lasted less than two years. Being self-employed can work well but that depends largely on just what you are selling but most importantly, take good long looks at potential clients and projects before taking anything on.As an aside- any tender that doesn`t include a from and to in the price should be binned and, finally.....hireth a good reputable accountant from day one.:D

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)

[1man1desk]

Not quite sure where Unitof1's anti-unit tirade comes from, and I can't see why you have to be self-employed to be a real archaeologist.

From my perspective (not in a unit), a unit is simply a company that provides archaeological services. The majority of archaeological jobs require a team of people, and a company with a number of employees is better placed to provide that than an individual self-employed person.

That isn't to say that the units are all well-managed - often they aren't - or that I agree with the charitable status that some of them maintain.

Not quite sure how the bit about 'civil-service pensions' stands up either - only a minority of archaeologists are employed either by local or central government, so most of us are not getting civil service/local authority pensions.

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished

[Paul Belford]

I don't really see what the problem is at all. No-one in the private sector is on a civil service or local authority pension.

For better or worse I did what Unitof1 suggested which was quite interesting. Not having all the time in the world I looked at three units. The latest accounts on the website were 2004, so I looked in the IFA yearbook to see their employee numbers for that year.

Example 1 - 200 employees, income per employee £38,384
Example 2 - 160 employees, income per employee £37,985
Example 3 - 42 employees, income per employee £37,210

Sounds about right to me. No doubt someone will sound off about only being paid £15,000, but the costs of employing you are getting on for twice that. Some are paid more, some less so.

Self employed on-costs are likely to be higher. In a unit of 200 people (or even eight) there are efficiencies of scale for light/heat/power/stationery/servicing/equipment etc. This would not apply to a one-man band.

[kevin wooldridge]

Thanks Paul for the 'maths'. The average figure of between £37000-£40000 'earnt, per person per year equates to a daily charge out rate of circa £160-170 per day which also seems to me about right. However, for units that tender at day rates significantly below that level, one has to wonder where they are making their money or what is being 'left out' to make their tender so 'competitive.

Perhaps a campaign should be started that emphasises that comprehensive archaeological work, proper employment conditions, Welfare, Health and Safety cannot be achieved for a charge out rate of less than £160 a day.

[Unitof1]

IFA are going to introduce a recommended model in 2007. Pull up the hedgerows that’s next year. The last time I was involved was prior to stake holder pensions about 1999. Have they done a pay review since then and included pensions?

For those going solo remember that you do not have to register for VAT until your expected turnover for the year exceeds £61000 although your first mill stone will be earning your personal allowance- £5035 this year.

Does anybody know if the Charity Units have to charge VAT? Or if they get an 8o% reduction on the business rate? I cant work it out from their accounts?

Is it a bird, is it a charity
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/showcharity.asp?remchar=&chyno=288399

is it dead, is it a vat scam http://www.molg.org.uk/English/AboutUs/ how are their pensions paid- restricted funds or unrestricted funds -

[BAJR Host]

Yes they have...

please see this page.

http://www.archaeologists.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=45

I am also not sure what you are getting at with the Charity thing...

I susopect you feel they have an unfait advantage because of the tax breaks.. however there are downsides to being a charity to.

Please remember the AUP.... so far so good.


"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Unitof1]

BAJR reach deep inside yourself what is an archaeologist if its to go solo. Charity worker out reached non departmental governmental body trust thing RAO care in the community(points for anybody giving talks to students) or some mug that pays taxes which are then given to the completion to come around here and take our partners from us. The more than one county units, those from the smog, the student fiddlers appear regularly in my wood take the easy money and then disappear-no two names are ever the same.

Which brings to another suggestion for those going solo-.... <<--------Edited by BAJR ------------>> ...Expect and ask for it in return.

I cant find a survey about pensions paid to directors on the ifa thing and the site made my pointer look like a eeerr.... I see that the 6% employer contribution qualification for RAO is due on April fools day and that they are doing things with lines with local government pay scales. The directors are going to reduce their contributions to that level? yes its that old civil service – are they still using some local gov job grade test, sounded something like spline or spleen, which brought janitors down to the level of a digger.

[BAJR Host]

Breach of the AUP ... please see your Private messages. I have copied the full message and deleted the offending sentence.



"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[BAJR Host]

Now returning to the point.

Being a self employed archaeologist is more than possible, though you will have to fulfill certain criteria... legal criteria that the tax man sets. Being a self employed digger is hardest, as to fulfil the SE categoy.. you must provide your essential equipment, be able to replace yourself, charge a rate that includes the tax, NI, insurance etc etc that you are required to pay. Be part of the process of descision making etc.... Being a self employed surveyor, illustrator, draughtsman, etc is easier... consultant .. yup.... plenty of opportunities.

One interesting concept that Unitof1 raises is the ability to act as an individual without the need for 'Units'. Does this work when you work a pipeline? Concept....

As with all things... a degree of horses for courses, of flavours of employment are needed, from Unit to Individual. Neither can function satisfactory without the other imho.

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Unitof1]

How about-I consider my context sheets copyright to me. The context sheet is based on a deposit which now no longer exists. The context sheet is the integrity of the digger. The identity of the self-employed digger should be based around this right. The establishment has tried for years with “standards” and tick box context sheets to break this concept down and obscure it although the signature box has always made me smile. The charities/RAOs are anti identity and instead sell archaeology as brands. Its a whats in your contract thing. A self employed digger should look for contracts where they agree to licence out their copyright, in good faith etc in return for a fee. They could also take a tip from peepeeG. The derivatives of the word consider is used in it a lot (x19). Thats what your day rates, or any other formula are for–doing considering- as to what you are going to put in your context sheet. Dont hand your contexts sheets in until you see the whites of their eyes.

For those going solo Note to self find out about copyright law


Put a context in pull an invoice out
Whoa-o the Hokey Cokey

[1man1desk]

The logic behind Unitof1's approach appears to suggest that any excavation site can be manned by a group of self-employed individuals. Quite apart from the archaeological drawbacks and management nightmares involved in that approach, there would be significant legal and moral obstacles.

Unitof1's model has been tried in the past (mainly in the late 80s/early 90s), both in archaeology and in other businesses - I myself worked as a 'self-employed' person on this model for a couple of years.

Unitof1 might be surprised to find that some employers liked it, on the basis that it enabled them to avoid such pesky things as employment rights, employers' NI contributions, etc. Most of the workers concerned (at least in archaeology) hated it, but went along because the alternative was unemployment.

I oppose the system because it leaves the individuals concerned very vulnerable and open to exploitation; the Inland Revenue cracked down because it was used principally as a way of avoiding tax.

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished

[Paul Belford]

This is an interesting turn in the discussion, to say the least!

However I suspect you might be on rather dodgy ground with context sheets. There is a well-known court ruling (the details of which presently escape me) where copyright in a photograph, taken by an employee on a work camera in work time using film provided by work, was deemed to rest with the employer. The employee unsuccessfully argued that he owned copyright to the image because he was the originator of the creative act. He happened to be driving past a newsworthy event and his photograph was used a lot in the media, so lots of money was at stake.

The UK Patent Office has a useful section on copyright (http://www.patent.gov.uk/copy.htm). It says...

Copyright applies to original written work such as novels, newspaper articles, lyrics for songs, instruction manuals and so on. These are known as literary works. Copyright in a literary work lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years...

A work can only be original if it is the result of independent creative effort. It will not be original if it has been copied from something that already exists. If it is similar to something that already exists but there has been no copying from the existing work either directly or indirectly, then it may be original.

The term "original" also involves a test of substantiality - literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works will not be original if there has not been sufficient skill and labour expended in their creation. But, sometimes significant investment of resources without significant intellectual input can still count as sufficient skill and labour.

My own feeling is that filling in a form as part of your job does not count as an original creative act. If you think that your context sheets do fall into this category then perhaps archaeology (in the sense of being an attempt to objectively record past events) is not for you.

[BAJR Host]

I refer the gentleman to this clear advice from the Tax Office.

and whether Diggers can truely be self employed was for me... firmly put into context (pun intended!) when the tax office made it very clear to an employer (who shall remain nameless) that no matter what they or the diggers thought... they were employed.


Ask a digger these questions...



As a general guide as to whether a worker is an employee or self-employed; if the answer is 'Yes' to all of the following questions, then the worker is probably an employee:


• Do they have to do the work themselves? (YES)
• Can someone tell them at any time what to do, where to carry out the work or when and how to do it? (YES)
• Can they work a set amount of hours? (YES)
• Can someone move them from task to task? (YES)
• Are they paid by the hour, week, or month? (YES)
• Can they get overtime pay or bonus payment? (YES)

If the answer is 'Yes' to all of the following questions, it will usually mean that the worker is self-employed:

• Can they hire someone to do the work or engage helpers at their own expense? (NO)
• Do they risk their own money? (NO)
• Do they provide the main items of equipment they need to do their job, not just the small tools that many employees provide for themselves? (NO)
• Do they agree to do a job for a fixed price regardless of how long the job may take? (NO)
• Can they decide what work to do, how and when to do the work and where to provide the services?
• Do they regularly work for a number of different people? (YES)
• Do they have to correct unsatisfactory work in their own time and at their own expense? (hmmmm.... moot point)


you see.. as far as Tax man thinks... you are employee.. and with that comoes all the rights you get..

As self employed, you have all the risks... As a Consultant, yes you can be self-employed. but a site with 19 self employed diggers, all providing their own jcb, shoring, dumpy levels, permatrace, record sheets, helments, boots, insurance, portacabin, toilet, Risk assesment, etc etc etc... er.... I think not.

As 1man rightly said, many of us 'thought ' we were self employed... but it is illegal and was (perhaps by accident) used by companies to hide from paying the readies out.

It looked good... cash in hand, at above the rate for employee archaeologists... Whooo-Hoo However you had to provide your own insurance, NI, you had no sickness rights, no hoiday pay, no equipment .... basically you were worse off. (and that was before the tax man caught you.... !)


"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[drpeterwardle]

IR35.

I agree with David & HMILCE there are strict rules about if a person is an employee or a contractor although I thought that if you answered yes 3 or more of the key questions then you were employed.

Full details can be found on
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/bulletins/tb45.htm

which deals with situation where a service company has been set up.

Peter Wardle

[Unitof1]

So a filled context sheet cannot be copyrighted?

[BAJR Host]

If you are working for someone... then yes your context sheets 'belong' to the employer... and indirectly to the client.

as we have established that a digger can't be self employed then no a context record sheet is not copyright the person who wrote it... as you are being paid to create it.. so it belongs to person who pays the piper.

though I have this feeling you are going to say.... ah ha.... :D

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[BAJR Host]

Just to ensure this is clear... this is from the UK copyright advice site

http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law


quote:Who owns a piece of work
Normally the individual or collective who authored the work will exclusively own the work. However, if a work is produced as part of employment then it will normally belong to the person/company who hired the individual.

Freelance or commissioned work will usually belong to the author of the work, unless there is an agreement to the contrary, (i.e. in a contract for service).


"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Unitof1]

Ah ah

I dont think that copyright belongs to the employer or the client unless the solo digger agrees that they do. If the employer and client agree that they belong to the solo digger, can the Inland Revenue say that they dont hold it? Although it seems that there are automatic positions in copyright law and the guidance that BAJR HOST quotes seem contradictory surely they are over ridden if definitions are made and agreed by contract.

Which introduces

Wouldn’t IFA Code of Conduct 4.7 be best served for the solo digger if they held on to their copyright and let it out on licence? :


quote:
An archaeologist shall respect contractual obligations in reporting but shall not enter into a contract which prohibits the archaeologist from including his/her own interpretations or conclusions in the resulting record, or from a continuing right to use the data after completion of the project.
Or do you argue that a digger is not an archaeologist, that when they go peefa or aieefa that they are really paying to be a witness for the archaeologist (if they can spot who that is in the unicharities ) or that the codes do not apply to them as they dont play the role of archaeologist-so why did they join.

How low? solo

[voice of reason]

Where is this 'debate' going? Let's be frank - the issue of self-employed individual 'diggers' (non-perjorative use) is a non-starter for all the reasons explained by the various contributors. Can we move on?

[1man1desk]

Well said, Voice of Reason.

One last point on copyright. The idea that individual diggers can have copyright of their context sheets is just silly. They have not designed the pro-forma or provided the materials, and they fill in the sheet under supervision. Also, many context sheets may be completed in part by different people.

The convention is that if you are an employee, copyright in anything you write belongs to your employer. I write long reports, with far more control over the content than any digger filling in context sheets - but I don't have copyright, my employer does.

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished

[BAJR Host]

I am leaving the building ................... I can't take it :face-confused:


<<a single shot rings out from my service revolver >>>>>>>>>>>>>.

BLAM [xx(]

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[the invisible man]

Clearly you have to leave the building yourself, you cannot hire someone else to leave the building for you. Did you set the time for leaving the building though, or were you told to go? Did you decide how and when to use the revolver?

And of course, who provided the revolver (and the bullet)?

Was the leaving of the building satisfactory, or if not, did you yourself have to go back in and come out again in your own time? The fact that you reported the incident suggests that the intended (albeit tragic and deeply regrettable) use of the firearm was not satisfactory.

Who owns the copyright of the loud bang, is it you, the employer, the manufacturer of the revolver, or the manufacturer of the bullet? What would the legal position be if you had used a silencer?

We need to be informed. I suggest a BAJR guide to Leaving the Building.

We owe the dead nothing but the truth.

[Paul Belford]

:D

[vulpes]

Aren't we jumping the (ahem) gun a bit here? How did he get in the building in the first place?

Not really a 'pot person'.

[BAJR Host]

In fact I am now wondering why I even went near the building... I should have been warned by the sound of heads banging gently against the walls [:0]

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[drpeterwardle]

I think Unit of 1 has actually raised an interesting point about contracts by suggesting that the IFA contractual code applies to a site worker employed or selfemployed.

"An archaeologist shall respect contractual obligations in reporting but shall not enter into a contract which prohibits the archaeologist from including his/her own interpretations or conclusions in the resulting record, or from a continuing right to use the data after completion of the project."

This code of practice was written to regulate the growing private sector in the late 1980/early 1990s.

Consider the last sentence in the context of SMR licences where not only can you not use the data after a specific period you have to destroy you copies of the data.

Dr Peter

[kevin wooldridge]

quote:Originally posted by drpeterwardle

I think Unit of 1 has actually raised an interesting point about contracts by suggesting that the IFA contractual code applies to a site worker employed or selfemployed.

"An archaeologist shall respect contractual obligations in reporting but shall not enter into a contract which prohibits the archaeologist from including his/her own interpretations or conclusions in the resulting record, or from a continuing right to use the data after completion of the project."

Consider the last sentence in the context of SMR licences where not only can you not use the data after a specific period you have to destroy you copies of the data.

As suggested this clause may have come about in response to the prevailing wind in 1988/91. The IFA admits itself (in a rider to Code of Practice point 4.7) that there could be a conflict of interest with section Code of Practice point 1.10. So maybe it is time that this point was clarified for once and for all.

I, as an IFA member, would be happy to propose a variation in the wording of this section ahead of next years IFA AGM and liaise with the various IFA persons that need liasing with. Can anyone suggest a variation to the wording that encompasses the intent of the by-law? Or is this such a potential minefield that perhaps a new clause should reflect the complexity of the issue e.g a clause that reads something like,

'An archaeologist should use caution and consider potential implications, before entering into contractual arrangements that prohibit him/her from making and recording interpretations or conclusions as part of the record arising from their archaeological work and/or from a continuing right to use the data after completion of the project."

I'd be happy to hear from anyone on the matter and as I mentioned will take it forward if a reasonable solution can be arrived at.

[Unitof1]

Do I smell coordinated spin?

The ability to go back and edit the past (a facility also available on this forum) has started to make me doubt my memory. The other day I went looking for the “sole responsible archaeologist” statement which I thought was in the ifa codes-although it might still be there maybe it never existed. I did not find it-am I the only one left?

I have undertaken work for three different units as what they would consider a self employed digger in the last two years (by far not my main source of self employment). It was not painful. I approached them. It suited me. I negotiated a rate. I took care of my expenses. I sent the invoices in. I gave them credit. They paid up. I didn’t get rich. I paid my own NI. I filled my self assessment in. Paid NI on the profit. I did not go to their unit offices or Christmas parties. I dont think that anything illegal occurred- I sold copyright produced from a consideration out of my qualifications and experience. Honest gov. I dug as an archaeologist (undefined). I also got experience from them of “my” area.

Which is something else that I would like to proffer up to those going solo. In the main I have become self employed from “working” an area centred on where I live. Start small. I call it placeisum –as opposed to periodisum which is what they do in academia. The two digging jobs occurred within 20 miles of my home (base) and one ten (two of the units were from out of county). Works for making a business plan-you can analyse the types and frequency of conditions, you can mail the local architects, groundworkers and the builders. Put yourself in the Yellow pages, under archaeologist- its free for a one liner. Hand out business cards. Put them on the builders merchants notice boards. I picked up a job recently from a builder remembering that I had been snooping about foundations he was working on three years ago-start your library, typologies, relevant research agendas, local plans-policies, archives, museums HERs associations blah blah blah. I dont own this area but then nor does anybody else-dont be shy in getting out there even if there is an establishment. It does not help much with the condition(ing)s that originate from out of “town” but I am slowly starting to spot them and bite back (sorry Host- strange language).


quote:They have not designed the pro-forma or provided the materials, and they fill in the sheet under supervision. Also, many context sheets may be completed in part by different people.
Sad bunch -I have designed- could be made into a yearly BAJR design competition- my own context sheet (I got rid of all the little tick boxes) but on mine like everybody else’s there is a great big space for “interpretation” for those requiring obvious copyrightable creativity.


quote:The Convention is

Thats all it is.

Voice of Reason

We could have a discussion about objectivity in archaeological recording – do we have to start by embracing post-processual subjectivity, recursive hermeneutics and multivocality aka Ian Hodder (what if he is colour blind?- think about it).

http://www.assemblage.group.shef.ac.uk/3/3chad.htm.

Now get the gun

[Unitof1]

What is a SMR licence. I have lost the plot here with the change to HER

[BAJR Host]

You seem to be confusing being a small contractor carrying out a job for a small business or company.. and being a digger as part of a team.

If you are able to define your own conditions, define how you intend to carry out the work, provide your own equipment, - then fine and dandy, you are just like many other small one/two/three person mini archaeology companies.

Quite right in that case.

However if you are meaning a digger who is told where, when and how to dig... and is provided with the equipment... thats something v different.

We are all archaeologists - different flavours..

You were perhaps contracted to carry out a task for a company... which is not the same as a digger - (who are skilled employees when working for someone)

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Unitof1]

Isnt yours confused thinking-what team? or did you mean establishment charity, trust, non departmental guango. Why make diggers into some slave of them

quote:You were perhaps contracted to carry out a task for a company... which is not the same as a digger - (who are skilled employees when working for someone)
I have two trowels- and I employ a krafser and garden weeder
http://www.wolf-garten.com/public_uk/produkte/prod02a.hbs?article_id=1079542727&produktgruppen=a949572175e&themen=alle&monate=alle and use old LandRover spades. I dig. I am contracted to spot a context like everybody else. I would like to say that I am good at it. I was back home by 10 this morning with two trays of it and I dropped the kids off at school before starting work. Although I have to admit as a result I have to miss rugby training this evening. We got thrashed last weekend.
Basically I am past it

[BAJR Host]

So let me get this right...

you pop into a site... whe you feel like it... dig a few contexts, with your own tools, on your context sheets, you take the finds(?) trays home? and only work till 10am...

Now that is one intersting digging job... Got to admit... you are like no 'digger' that I have ever met.


quote:Why make diggers into some slave of them

er... You underestimate diggers.. skilled workers, (as discussed at the BAJR conference) but employed workers...

I expect then that as a self employed digger/archaeologist your reports/copyrighted contexts will be available for public viewing.

The start of this thread was about how to become a self employed sole trading archaeological operation. Contracted to complete jobs - however you seem to be a unique individual who suggests that a digger can work when he/she feels like it.. and provide all the equipment... I take it you have insurance? 10 mill public liability perhaps? Do you provide a risk assesment? what about a contract with the employer/client.. How does your H&S fit in.. or are you covered?

You can be

a)a self-emloyed contractor, providing a service within you own criteria of service OR

b) an emloyee who works for a company.

You seem to be trying to be both..

Who contracts you? a client? a builder? If you work alone (like many of my friends (but will employ extra staff when needed) then you are just that a clear and simple small sole trader... able to do watching briefs and the odd house plot... not pipelines...

[?]



"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Unitof1]

I responded to an invitation to produce a spec after a condition had not been adhered to. Just trying to make the best of a dud situation where the Enforcing or if you like the Authorising Authority, after a compliant from the public, had decided that this was the best policy and I decided that my first response in the situation was to undertake a site visit. From it I have started to create an archive, record, at no expense but my own although in good faith that a considered mitigation after a written scheme of works will be established.

Day to day stuff really.

It was a nice day and I meet some nice people who were appreciative of my endeavours to find a solution for their archaeological problem. My trays were mainly filled with cbm. Expensive stuff actually.


If you want to know about pipelines you have come to the right source

[BAJR Host]

Not a digger then... ini the strictest terms...

You are a contractor... with all the relevant requirements that entails... more than jsut a context sheet in the back pocket and a trowel in the hand.

You are a small unit/contractor/whatever.. competing in a market, with tenders and overheads.. tax bills and VAT (who knows) etc..

At least we are geting there.

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Unitof1]

Yes but

I was establishing that people do and can “dig” in a self employed capacity but as HOST has pointed out it does require the establishment of criteria for the tax man.
So establish a definition of digger which satisfies the conditions required –which possibly does not originate from your strict definition. Its getting circular.

On ifa code oddies I have always thought that the bribery clause very peculiar.

1.8 An archaeologist, in the conduct of his/her archaeological work, shall not offer or accept inducements which could reasonably be construed as bribes

On one side it is nice to know that I am being protected from blackmail and there is so much ...but I cant help feeling that they are letting the murderers get away with it. It seems a strange route to go down selecting laws of the land to reiterate- wouldn’t a general bringing the profession into disrepute suffice. Presumably bribery in archaeology was rampant once. I have heard of people paying to dig -another digger definition.

[BAJR Host]

The definition of what you call yourself... whether Archaeologist, Digger or Grand High poobah

What you actually do is the thing... you are a sole trader. - and thats what the concept is about.

Can a lone archaeologist as a contractor.... YES... but only if they abide by the criteria.

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Unitof1]

I think that "diggers" should call themselves archaeologists and sup at the same table as the all for meefas and that the peefas and aieefas should be edited out -something to do at the next meeting whato. Copyright law demands it

[1man1desk]

I think diggers do call themselves archaeologists, because that is what they are. The informal term 'diggers' is just convenient shorthand for the specific function they perform within the broad church of archaeology. Their contract of employment won't use that term.

Unitof1, self-employment may work ok for sole-traders doing one-man archaeological jobs, or taking overall responsibility for a whole project. But do you advocate self-employment for each individual working on large projects, which might have 10, 30 or 100 site staff?

If everyone on a big team like that is working in a way that allows them to qualify for self-employed status, how could you organise/ coordinate their work, meet deadlines, get a report written afterwards, etc?

If they all have copyright over the records they prepare, how do you create an integrated archive? Particularly if that allows them to use their own self-designed pro-formas, which means that no two features would be recorded the same way.

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished

[Unitof1]

Site Assistant (assistant to wat?)

The nature of commercial field archaeology is volatile, random and constantly shifting focus. What “unit” can set up a permanently employed field staff of 100, 30 or 10 with cosy pensions, career development, training..when the likely hood is that once the site is finished they will be fighting to clean the units tools. (I was in a unit once that made no redundancies for four years- whats the record).

Why would anybody attempt to create a permanent labour force in this environment? Restrictive practises or purely the criteria of employment law? Team of a hundred –-I remember cashing the county council pension contributions a week after.

Without clear precedent from the tax man I suggest that the archaeologist agrees to work on contexts from a site during a given period and produce a publicly accessible archive made up of said contexts and graphics and photos and samples and to then donate the archive and copyright under licence and good faith to a named sole responsible archaeologist in order to prepare a report to satisfy the condition (whilst keeping the right to use their data-might build in access to all the data). I liked to see that if the report was not produced that the diggers had responsibility in ensuring that it did ie they are part of the contract with the owner (who).

And the unit gets to develop a realistic number of perms and the odd trainee.

The proforma is not relevant- the interpretations and signatures are.

[AchingTrenchHeadAtADesk]

Bier Keller,
Have you actually gone solo yet?

[drpeterwardle]

Unit of 1 said

"on contexts from a site during a given period and produce a publicly accessible archive made up of said contexts and graphics and photos and samples and to then donate the archive and copyright under licence and good faith to a named sole responsible archaeologist"

This idea appeals to me - a tender competition held on site with diggers bidding on the cost of the excavation of an individual feature. Just think of the paper work this will generate.

Peter Wardle

[Cautionary Tale]

quote:Originally posted by Unitof1


The proforma is not relevant- the interpretations and signatures are.


Without wishing to appear picky and go off at a tangent (and repeat 1man’s point), the proforma is relevant to following an approved procedure which is transparent and understandable to anybody who later reviews the project archive, which goes towards ensuring that the interpretations and descriptions are given in a consistent/comparable way. Many authorities require to at least have seen recording manuals to back up the proforma sheets too (had to review my last unit’s set so I know full well how turgid and long winded they are) - writing them essentially from scratch is a major pain to be overcome if you start up on your own [xx(].

Quanto legno potrebbe un mandrino della marmotta nordamericana se una marmotta nordamericana potesse bloccare il legno nel mandrino.? (www.rathergood.com//)

[historic building]

As a curator if I was being asked to agree to a recording system where each individual digger was using a different format of context card I can see no way I could ever agree to this. The most basic point about excavations is that the archive can be understood and are consistent across the whole site. One simple point would be that contexts are comparable across the site employing different formats of card or recording system guidance can only entirely defeat this most basic, responsible purpose.

Having a group of separately self employed people working on a site is a delusion. This fiction would become apparent at the first insurance claim or investigation by the Inland Revenue.

[BAJR Host]

Peter is right.. come on Unitof1 don't be a brake on a free market. Daily bidding for contexts should take place - and everyone on site should be allowed to write context sheets in the way they feel best represents their freedoms.. perhaps some could even prepare a small performance where they explain recut post-holes in the medium of dance...

Or perhaps not... :face-huh:

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[historic building]

I am off this is all getting a bit too Ian Hodder.

[1man1desk]

Posted by Unitof1:
quote:And the unit gets to develop a realistic number of perms and the odd trainee

But I thought you opposed the whole concept of units, and of archaeologists who are not self-employed?

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished

[drpeterwardle]

It could work you know - it would be great for increasing productivity - everybody would need blue tooth lap tops though to ensure the volume of contracts etc were properly exchange and individually exchanged.

The project manager could issue the brief to the digger -they could all respond with their bids and the specifications which could be instantly forwarded onto the curator to approve. The contract could be issued and the digger could respond with his risk assessment.

So what am I bid to excavate this post hole?

Peter

[kevin wooldridge]

quote:Originally posted by BAJR Host

Peter is right.. come on Unitof1 don't be a brake on a free market. Daily bidding for contexts should take place - and everyone on site should be allowed to write context sheets in the way they feel best represents their freedoms.. perhaps some could even prepare a small performance where they explain recut post-holes in the medium of dance...

To use the right terminology on your last point David, that would be 'through the medium of dance'.

As we are nearing the season to be merry, a more interesting concept than the daily auction of contexts, might be to introduce the idea of self-employed diggers dressed as pantomime animals to the proceedings. Arse end of a horse, the funny chicken/ostrich thing with human legs a dangling, women dressed as cats in thigh length boots. Just one of many mediums through which we could express our 'individuality' on site.... ;)

[Unitof1]

Dear Barnesy et al. What are you on?


quote:The proforma is not relevant- the interpretations and signatures are.

As I said. Have a common proforma on site. ifa might like to suggest one or the sole responsible archaeologist- what a nice person- by agreement or imposition or your mum-it will not takeaway (prefer chinese) copyright –my proform is based on a single register index- oooh

[BAJR Host]

Still sounds like a Contracting Unit..

Is everyone paid the same rate... who decides which toilet to get... what portacabin? the sole responsible Archaeologist?

hmmmmmmm

Anarchy driven excavation don't work.



"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Paul Belford]

'women dressed as cats in thigh length boots'

Hmm...what sort of pantomime is this?

I would hope there is a 'claws' in the relevant performance and copyright legislation to cover this eventuality. :D