Where the crew sleeps is a cost line and a performance issue. Get it wrong and you have a 90 minute commute, no kitchen, nowhere safe for the van, and people arriving tired.

There is no single right answer. It turns on how many nights, how many people, how firm the programme is, and whether you pay by card or on a purchase order. Here are the ten routes contractors actually use, and where each one lets you down. We run one of them, so we have said where we fit and where we do not.

Wins: a bed tonight. Published rates, a two minute booking, clear cancellation, and a corporate account that makes expenses painless.

Falls down: no kitchen, so a four week job is four weeks of eating out. Priced per room per night, which climbs fast for a crew of six, and rarely anywhere secure for a van of tools.

Wins: a kitchen, a washing machine and separate living space with a front desk. Weekly rates are normal, parking is often on site, and it books like a hotel so your finance team accepts it.

Falls down: supply sits in city centres and large hubs, so a site on a bypass or near a substation may have nothing within 40 minutes. Conference weeks wipe out availability and a crew of eight gets split across buildings.

Wins: coverage. Whole houses, annexes and cottages in towns no hotel chain has built in, with a kitchen, a washer, a drive, and photographs and reviews before you commit.

Falls down: built for leisure travel and it shows. Card up front, awkward on purchase orders. Cancellation terms vary by host, a host can decline after you have planned around it, and a Sunday boiler failure means negotiating with an individual.

Wins: the backbone of contractor accommodation in small towns, and underrated. Many are run by people who have housed trades for 20 years: early breakfast, a key if you are in at 11pm, somewhere to dry your boots, the same room week after week.

Falls down: shared bathrooms, rarely a usable kitchen, and a breakfast time that does not suit a 6am start unless you ask. Rooms are sold by the head, and two to five rooms means a team of eight is spread over several addresses.

Wins: often the only thing within ten miles of a coastal, rural or infrastructure site. A static or lodge sleeps four to eight, with a kitchen, a shower, parking at the door and nobody to annoy at 5am. Out of season most parks will block book a crew cheaply.

Falls down: pricing follows holidaymakers, so July and August can be impossible and many parks shut over winter. Heating in older statics is poor.

Wins: on a job of six months or more this usually gives the lowest cost per bed and the most control. You pick the location, you hold the keys, and nobody checks you out every Friday.

Falls down: deposits, referencing, an inventory, council tax, utility accounts in somebody’s name, and a fixed term that does not flex when the programme slips. You also take on the condition of the property. Finish early and you pay for an empty house.

Wins: the cheapest way to put one person near a site, and industrial towns have plenty of this stock. Bills are usually in the rent and terms are often monthly, so you commit to a room rather than a property.

Falls down: you do not choose your housemates. Shift patterns clash, one kitchen between six gets ugly, and the standard varies widely. These properties sit under licensing rules that not every landlord follows.

Wins: somebody else has done the work. On large sites, and especially on shutdowns and major civils, the main contractor or site agent often holds a list of local landlords and guest houses, or has block booked before mobilisation. Quick, local, and usually sensibly priced.

Falls down: you get what you are given, and if you mobilise late the good addresses have gone. The arrangement sits between your client and the provider, so you have little say over standard or duration.

Wins: this category exists because the leisure market does not fit shift work. A specialist sources whole houses and apartments set up for crews: a real bed for every person rather than a sofa counted as a double, a kitchen big enough to cook in, a washing machine, room for a van, and broadband that carries a call. The commercial side suits business too, with purchase orders, VAT invoices and somebody to call when something breaks.

Falls down: sourcing takes time, so this is not the route for a bed tonight, and for one night in a city centre a hotel is quicker.

Wins: one brief, several options, and somebody else chasing availability. Relocation agents, serviced apartment agents and travel management companies hold supplier networks and can place people across several towns at once.

Falls down: in a true agency model the contract for your stay sits between you and the property or operator, so when something goes wrong the agency passes the problem along. Fees may be charged to the property or to you, and it is not always obvious which.

• One to three nights, one or two people. Hotel. Do not overthink it.
• Up to two weeks, small team, city or large town. Serviced apartment or aparthotel.
• Two weeks to three months, a crew. A whole property: a short let platform if you can pay by card, a specialist if you need invoicing and one point of contact.
• Six months or more, firm end date. Rent direct.
• Rural or coastal, nothing on the map. Caravan park, guest house, or a call to the site agent.
• One person, long placement, lowest cost. A room in a shared house.
• Thirty people a month, several regions. An agency or managed provider.

The common mistake is booking for the programme you were given rather than the one you expect. If the end date has already moved once, book something you can extend.