[ErrantX]

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...