going on my own.....

[adzberry]

As long as the bills get paid and the kids get fed that's all that matters to me

 

[Andy78]

Good man. It can be done on a shoestring though. I am going that route myself right now. Like you I had some subby work to form my main bread and butter, and am picking up customers along the way.

I already had my tools and am working out of my car until I have some pennies for a first van. My start up money was about a grand. I got a new battery drill, tester, insurance, scheme membership, branded workshirts and leaflets for that. I keep minimal stock, just buy for each job. I work from home so save on paying for a small premises. My biggest overhead is fuel (in the form of petrol, coffee, and bacon sandwiches)

 

[ratkins]

You need to be prepared for the periods off no work. I've been self employed for over twenty years and trust me these periods will come. But if you can ride it out and handle the paperwork its well worth it in the end. Oh yes and of course get a good accountant.

 

[logan1875]

After a year of wondering if I should set up myself I have decided to go for it too. Finish up my work on Friday and have van tools testers insurance etc sorted all for around about £1500. It's a exciting but also nerve wracking time but if I don't try it now I never will!! I have some sub contracting work and a builder to give me some work hopefully the rest comes from word of mouth etc.

 

[Dcf]

Cash flow.
make sure there is enough money coming in to pay your bills and abit for you too.
i started out with 2 k of my own money in the bank and it was gone in a flash ifi remember right.
do not underestimate overheads more like 8-10 k than 5 or 6 grand
thats £200 before you kick a ball every week.
that has to be factored into your pricing .
Best of British!

 

[Welchyboy1]

best thing i ever did, theres never a right time to make the leap, sometimes youve got to just do it!



Believe me when i say there are plenty of 'electricians' BUT a real shortage of GOOD electricians in the UK and even less with a good business sense!, so its really not hard to shine(not around these parts anyway)

once you get and keep a good client base, and build a decent reputation, you can charge good money and as long as your providing an A1 service then people will pay it and keep on coming back to you

don't ever be a bottom feeder either, stick to your prices and don't try and beat all the other quotes as there will always be someone prepared to quote lower than you

its normally not solely the price that wins the job, despite what others say on here

its what you do and say and the first impressions you give when you turn up to quote
if you appear more professionally confident, polite, punctual and make the customer feel at ease(especially the lady of the house, as she will likely be the one whose at home whilst your doing the job) then 90% of the works done for you, and as long as your price isn't silly money then you should be in with a good chance

the customers that look straight at the bottom line price are also the ones to avoid, these are the type who are on cowboy builders, who paid some clown £20K to do a £50K job and wonder why it all went wrong

just remember though it wont happen overnight, it takes time and hard work and you will only get out what you put in.........oh one last thing, steer clear of trust a trader sites and the like, keep your dignity and after a while your good name will get you the work for free and you wont have to pay a bunch of vultures to fight over scraps

 

[Paulgwat]

Cash flow.
do not underestimate overheads more like 8-10 k than 5 or 6 grand
thats £200 before you kick a ball every week, that has to be factored into your pricing.

I am interested in the comments on overheads as I am working on a finnacial plan for once i become a practicing electrician later in the year, so far I have come up with the following annual fixed overheads

My current situation is that the van is owned outright by the business and has a paid up front servicing contract so this is outside of these costs, I am also assuming a set of tyres will last 2 years so splitting the cost per year.

Van Insurance £500
Tyres £325
Scheme Mebership £450
PLI £200
Tools replacement £1,000 - I have been slowly building a range of Makita power tools and also fluke test equipment etc over the past 6months knowing my plan so I think this figure is somewhat high but using as contingency as not sure how long things will last when used every day
Internet / Telephony £400
Mobile Phone £400
Clothing £250
Tester Cal £75
Advertising £250 - Mainly going to be Leaflet drops and mail shots via other established businesses
Ongoing training £500 (EM Lighting or Alarms etc etc)
Accountants fees £500
Stock Losses and Sundries £400 - Stuff that either gets damaged, faulty, unused, or sundry items such as nuts and bolts, grommets, screws etc that I won't itemise on every invoice

Alot of these are rounded up and I am still only getting to ~£5K so my question is what have i missed if overheads for other people are running 60% to 100% higher??

Cheers

Paul

 

[telectrix]

does your van service contract include repairs as opposed to servicing? if not, then allow £500+ P.A. for that. HMRC allow 45p/mile for total van costs ( for the 1st 10,000, then it's down to 25p ) so if you do 10,000 miles p.a. thats' £4,500. that includes depreciation etc.

i'd up your estimate by £2,000 for annual overheads.

 

[Octopus]

I am interested in the comments on overheads as I am working on a finnacial plan for once i become a practicing electrician later in the year, so far I have come up with the following annual fixed overheads

My current situation is that the van is owned outright by the business and has a paid up front servicing contract so this is outside of these costs, I am also assuming a set of tyres will last 2 years so splitting the cost per year.

Van Insurance £500
Tyres £325
Scheme Mebership £450
PLI £200
Tools replacement £1,000 - I have been slowly building a range of Makita power tools and also fluke test equipment etc over the past 6months knowing my plan so I think this figure is somewhat high but using as contingency as not sure how long things will last when used every day
Internet / Telephony £400
Mobile Phone £400
Clothing £250
Tester Cal £75
Advertising £250 - Mainly going to be Leaflet drops and mail shots via other established businesses
Ongoing training £500 (EM Lighting or Alarms etc etc)
Accountants fees £500
Stock Losses and Sundries £400 - Stuff that either gets damaged, faulty, unused, or sundry items such as nuts and bolts, grommets, screws etc that I won't itemise on every invoice

Alot of these are rounded up and I am still only getting to ~£5K so my question is what have i missed if overheads for other people are running 60% to 100% higher??

Cheers

Paul

Your advertising needs to be £100 per month for the first year.

Stocks and loses - add a couple of pounds for consumables to each invoice and don't detail your estimates/ invoices unless explicitly asked.

 

[Paulgwat]

telectrix, thanks for the comments re van - it's brand new and under warranty so I am hoping that it won't need repairs that i will need to fork out for, but fair point for further down the line.

As the company owns the van to my knowledge AMRA's don't apply - I thought they only apply to vehicles owned by the individual and used for business - will need to check with my accountant again. I will get personal use and free fuel via my personal tax return as a company supplied vehicle - the use of the vehicle will be discretionary for me based on whether i have work coming in so will be accounted for seperately as variable costs.

Murdoch, intrigued as to what you would recommend in advertising terms that would come to £1,200 a year? the van is sign written (freebie from friend) and a website is being built for me ( professional web developer who i am doing some other work for so again essentially free).

My aim here is to get an idea of the actual costs of having the company exist if i were to have no money coming in.

Cheers

Paul

 

[Octopus]

telectrix, thanks for the comments re van - it's brand new and under warranty so I am hoping that it won't need repairs that i will need to fork out for, but fair point for further down the line.

As the company owns the van to my knowledge AMRA's don't apply - I thought they only apply to vehicles owned by the individual and used for business - will need to check with my accountant again. I will get personal use and free fuel via my personal tax return as a company supplied vehicle - the use of the vehicle will be discretionary for me based on whether i have work coming in so will be accounted for seperately as variable costs.

Murdoch, intrigued as to what you would recommend in advertising terms that would come to £1,200 a year? the van is sign written (freebie from friend) and a website is being built for me ( professional web developer who i am doing some other work for so again essentially free).

My aim here is to get an idea of the actual costs of having the company exist if i were to have no money coming in.

Cheers

Paul

OK, so reduce it to £600.00 - I've no idea where you are based nor how much competition there is locally to you....

 

[Dcf]

I am interested in the comments on overheads as I am working on a finnacial plan for once i become a practicing electrician later in the year, so far I have come up with the following annual fixed overheads

My current situation is that the van is owned outright by the business and has a paid up front servicing contract so this is outside of these costs, I am also assuming a set of tyres will last 2 years so splitting the cost per year.

Van Insurance £500
Tyres £325
Scheme Mebership £450
PLI £200
Tools replacement £1,000 - I have been slowly building a range of Makita power tools and also fluke test equipment etc over the past 6months knowing my plan so I think this figure is somewhat high but using as contingency as not sure how long things will last when used every day
Internet / Telephony £400
Mobile Phone £400
Clothing £250
Tester Cal £75
Advertising £250 - Mainly going to be Leaflet drops and mail shots via other established businesses
Ongoing training £500 (EM Lighting or Alarms etc etc)
Accountants fees £500
Stock Losses and Sundries £400 - Stuff that either gets damaged, faulty, unused, or sundry items such as nuts and bolts, grommets, screws etc that I won't itemise on every invoice

Alot of these are rounded up and I am still only getting to ~£5K so my question is what have i missed if overheads for other people are running 60% to 100% higher??

Cheers

Paul

Paul the biggest cost I have apart from materials is fuel .
off the top of my head it was 3.5k last year plus all the rest of the motoring costs.
years ago everyone worked their own locality probably a hangover from the shop bike/bus days,now it's a bit further afield than that.
remember that you can turnover £100000 quid and still make no money believe it or not.
i wish there was a forum like this when I started out.
i wouldn't have had quite so many harsh lessons maybe....harsh lessons don't happen twice tho .
good luck to the boys taking the plunge anyway.

 

[lloyd1980]

Firstly keep every receipt you can.
secondly draw up a list of tools and equipment your introducing into the business.
So a ball park fig for the tools, test equipment etc.
this is tax deductible, then there's office equipment laptop. Ms office software, anti virus etc, stationary, doesn't matter if you have this stuff already, if you are introducing it into the business then you can claim the total off your turnover.

Turn your spare room into an office and you can claim a portion of your house hold bills, gas electric and mortgage payments, (an accountant will advise you of the oercentage) if you can justify a cleaner for the (office) then do so, as long as you have an invoice.

Basically anything that can be explained as business related r business use is claim able. Mobile phone bill , mobile insurance, pens, sat nav, you name it, as long as its related to your business then claim it off your turnover.

Remember on paper you will make a loss in the first year which means no tax due.

Also remember a good accountant is worth their weight in gold, even if it costs you slightly more they can save you £1000s.
be smart about things and good luck.

 

[lloyd1980]

Van, van insurance, sign writing, workwear , ppe, public liability , professional indemnity, niceic reg fee or whoever, the list is almost endless mate, be organised and you will be a happy guy come April.

 

[Octopus]

Unless you can understand and manage your business over heads you'll never work out how to make decent money.