Portnahaven, Scotland • Scotland
Portnahaven is a small fishing village at the southern tip of the Rhinns of Islay, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, PA postcode, where whitewashed cottages cluster around a sheltered harbour. When work takes a crew to this end of the island, KrewBase houses them in whole serviced properties nearby — bills, Wi-Fi and parking in, and one monthly invoice going straight to your company.
Portnahaven itself is rows of fishermen's cottages around the harbour, with bungalows and farmhouses scattered along the single-track roads of the Rhinns. Large houses are scarce at this end of Islay, so the earlier a job is flagged the better — but we would rather tell you honestly that a six-bed is unlikely than put four people in a cottage built for two.
Everything we let is the whole property, so a crew is never sharing walls with a permanent resident who did not sign up for six o'clock starts and slamming van doors. We check heating, hot water capacity and phone signal in person before shortlisting, and we favour places with a bit of outdoor space for kit, boots and overalls that never quite dry indoors.
Work at this end of the island centres on farming, fishing and the support trades — boat repairs, pier maintenance, fencing, buildings and distillery upkeep — along with the council and healthcare rotas that cover the whole of Islay. Much of it is short-burst subcontract work, which is exactly when a hotel room stops making sense and a crew house starts to.
Visitor accommodation out here is limited, seasonal and geared to holidaymakers, not to people on a three-week job with wet gear and a 6am start. We hear the same story from crews every season: they either booked late and paid over the odds for what was left, or they stayed so far from site that the commute ate the evenings and the crew was tired before the job even started.
The Rhinns roads are mostly single-track with passing places — beautiful for a Sunday drive, but not fast behind the wheel of a loaded van. Port Charlotte is the nearest village for shops and fuel, and the main island road through Bowmore links this end of Islay to the ferry port at Port Askaig. We plan around real journey times, not miles on a map, and we always ask exactly where the site is before suggesting anywhere for your crew to sleep.
Islay's airport at Glenegedale sits on the eastern side of the island with regular flights to Glasgow, which is often the quickest way to swap people mid-contract. If your crew is flying in, tell us the arrival time and we will make sure the house is warm, lit and stocked with the basics — tea bags, milk, washing-up liquid — before the hire van pulls up in the dark.
With KrewBase the crew gets the whole house and your company gets one monthly invoice: rent, gas, electricity, water, council tax, Wi-Fi, TV licence, weekly cleaning and fresh linen, all paid by card with no booking fees and no deposit games. Nobody on your side spends the end of the month chasing five separate utility bills, and nobody on site spends it arguing about the heating.
Wi-Fi is speed-tested before check-in, parking is checked against the vehicles you list, and a house sleeping five or more gets two bathrooms as standard. Maintenance during the stay is our job, not yours — one call and we deal with the boiler, the leak or the lock. The same setup applies whether the booking runs two weeks or six months, and the size of the crew makes no difference to how welcome they are.
Send us the requirement — town, dates, headcount, vehicles and any shift pattern we should know about. We come back within 2 hours with a shortlist from property we already hold, not a search we have just started. You pick, we confirm, the crew moves in, and we stay on it for the length of the job. One monthly invoice, card payment for limited companies, no booking fees.
We aim to return a shortlist within two working hours of your enquiry, though housing at this end of Islay is genuinely limited. Give us as much notice as you can — a few weeks' notice transforms the options compared with a couple of days.
Most cottages here have little or no off-street space, which is exactly why we check parking first and description second. We only shortlist properties where your listed vehicles actually fit — and we will say so before you commit, not after the crew has arrived.
Pricing depends on the property, the crew size and the length of stay, and we quote one all-in weekly or monthly figure rather than a rent-plus-bills puzzle. Everything lands on a single monthly company invoice paid by card — no booking fees, ever.
Yes — we cover Portnahaven itself and the surrounding Rhinns villages, along with the rest of Islay where stock allows. If the right house sits in Port Charlotte or further along the road and the drive to your site is honest, we will propose it and explain the numbers.
Usually, yes — extensions on the same terms are fine when the house is free beyond your dates. Island stock is thin, so tell us the moment you know, and we will either extend or find an equivalent property and handle the move so the crew does not have to.
Us — one number covers everything from a blown fuse to a burst pipe. We arrange the trades, we pay them, and your crew stays on the job. Repairs on an island can take a day or two for parts, but chasing them is never your problem.
Contractor accommodation in Aberdeen Contractor accommodation in Strathdon Contractor accommodation in Golspie Contractor accommodation in Lochgoilhead Contractor accommodation in Bishopbriggs Contractor accommodation in Alva
Contractor accommodation Construction workers accommodation Workforce accommodation How it works Sectors we cover Available properties All locations FAQs
Need beds in Portnahaven? Send us the dates, the headcount and the shift pattern. We come back within 2 hours with a shortlist from property we already hold.
Request a quote