Looking for helpful advice from Self Employed electricians. Setting up on my own.

[Chris Ward]

Hello,

This is my 1st post on here so will give you all a bit of info first.

My names Chris and im a fully qualified electrican. I did a JTL apprenticeship from about 1999 and have worked for various companies over the last few years expanding my knowledge throughout the domestic & commerical sectors.

However, as you all more than likely know its a harsh land at the minute, and the company I was most recently working for went into liquidation in Feb, leaving me and many others without a job.

I feel as if its the kick I needed in order to set up and start trading on my own. And this is why im here.

Im looking for any decent information from you guys that are already sucessfully trading.

Im looking to register as self employed at the start of May aiming for the domestic market & looking to expand to commercial work. Im going to be working out of my car to begin with, untill I can afford a van. I have a new tester I bought from Test-Meter.co.uk, and am looking at getting £5m public liability cover. I have done some business training with business link, and am now looking at tightening my business plan up so when I start, I will have everything in place.

And so, I have some questions I would like to ask you:

*Obviously im looking into getting registered with a Competant Persons scheme. I have spoke to the NIC, & NAPIT, but there is also Elecsa? Who have you chosen to go with? What are the reasons? What do customers look for? Im swayed towards the NIC purely because its who companies I have worked for have been with. Im open to suggestions.

*If I do get asked to do some commercial work i.e offices, small businesses etc, how do I go about certificating the work? Can it be done via the competant persons scheme, or do you have to become a 'full' NIC EIC/similar registered installer?

*Whats the standard sort of hourly charge for an electrician? I need this info for my business plan so I can see how I can fit into the market.

*Do you work to a certain payment structure, or is its just labour cost + materials?

*Does anyone have any advice on charges/payments to and from customers?

*Do you have any advice in general to helm me get off the ground?



I know its a bit of a crazy post, but any help would be greatfully appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Welchyboy]

Re: Looking for helpful advice from Self Employed electricians. Setting up on my own

Hi Chris

heres my opinion on ur questions ive been trading around 6 years sole trader so far;

1. i went with elecsa first they are good and do what they say on the tin but i later went over to NIC as love em or hate em that badge on the side of your van does help.

2. you dont have to be registered with anyone to do comm/ind work just deemed legally competant and qualified, some companies will insist on nic/napit membership, i plan on upgrading to nic app contractor this year but until then i use the green certs that the nic do they look professional and you can put ur bus. name and logo on them

3. as for hourly rates it depends on so many factors but if your like me and just a sole trader you have to work out what you need to earn to make the job worthwhile, at first i was on the cheaper side to get my name about and win some work, sometimes doin small jobs for next to nothing - but dont underestimate this as the small jobs allways lead to bigger things and word of mouth is by far the best type of advertising, go that little bit further to please your customers and they will use you for life.

4. Few bits on what i did, get ur part P thats paramount! get some ads in the local papers/parish magazines then if you get some work from it try and fit them in around your regular job first before you take the plunge, i have found the following advertising to be a waste of time or very little return for effort/cost

yellow pages
leaflet drops
internet

oh and get a load of bus. cards made up and give them out like confetti!

i know this may sound obvious but customer relations and service is sooo important, try to be as professional and tidy as possible

good luck anyway its a bit tough out there at the moment!

 

[zsoltimatrix]

Re: Looking for helpful advice from Self Employed electricians. Setting up on my own

Gumtree is a good place to advertise. You can start from free and see what happens. Ideal for start.

Good luck mate, you will need it!

 

[PC Electrics]

Re: Looking for helpful advice from Self Employed electricians. Setting up on my own

Tell EVERYONE you know that you're starting out on your own and need some leads. Always give people at least 2 business cards - one for them one for a friend.

No matter how small a job might be, do a good job. The small jobs are like 'tests'. People are trying you out to see if they like you to use you again.

Use worksheets and clean up after yourself.

Wear clean workwear and shave each morning.
Don't swear or use coarse language.
Be polite at all times.

Be free and easy with help and advice.

Good luck

 

[Dcf]

Re: Looking for helpful advice from Self Employed electricians. Setting up on my own

get your payment terms on your invoices ie 14 or 30 days from date on invoice.get your cards out
avoid yellow pages- you will get bombarded by time wasting chancers
buy a hoover-amazing the impression a bit of a tidy up does
good luck

 

[VMan]

Re: Looking for helpful advice from Self Employed electricians. Setting up on my own

don't look desperate, if the customer asks 'when can you start', never say immediately, tell them that your booked up most of this week and you will be able to start beginning of next week. even if you have no work, if i asked a tradesman to do a job and he said he can start today i would ask myself why he's got no work!!

 

[BLBelfast]

Re: Looking for helpful advice from Self Employed electricians. Setting up on my own

Been on my own for 5 months and the best bit of advice I have been given is be patient. Dont start panicking every day you dont have work as it ALWAYS comes along. And so far it has. Weeks here and there with nothing but the next week I am snowed under and thats the way it has been.

 

[Welchyboy]

Re: Looking for helpful advice from Self Employed electricians. Setting up on my own

don't look desperate, if the customer asks 'when can you start', never say immediately, tell them that your booked up most of this week and you will be able to start beginning of next week. even if you have no work, if i asked a tradesman to do a job and he said he can start today i would ask myself why he's got no work!!

Yeah thats exactly right DONT look like you need the work! but if you do need to fill in an empty day or two, or if they need the work doin on the quick and there going to go elsewhere if you cant fit them in, then say '....ooohhh i dont think i can get to you that quick, err let me just check my diary, i might be able to swap somebody around, let me just make a quick call......' give it 5 mins and call him back and say ok i can squeeze you in! that way it looks like your doin them a favour allready and points in the bag before you even get to the job!

 

[telectrix]

Re: Looking for helpful advice from Self Employed electricians. Setting up on my own

another good one is when asked can you start tomorrow ( or next day ) say, funnily enough, i can. held up waiting for plasterers to finish on a main job.

 

[Chris Ward]

Re: Looking for helpful advice from Self Employed electricians. Setting up on my own

Thanks for those replys guys! Some real helpful info in there!

Got lots of cards made up, been and done some flyering and free advertising.

As for the website - I found a totally free business set-up with a company called 'Getting British Business online' Totally free website, I can edit it, looks quite simple, but i feel its effective enough. have a look and tell me your oppinions:

Chris Ward Electrical Services

As for the certifying of commercial jobs. How would I go about doing that now, before im registered with anyone? Just use certs out of the Kewtech books you can buy at wholesalers? I would class myself as a competant electrican, but with no backup from NIC i could just write them on a printed off sheet with a carbon copy for my own files?

**Im still not totally understanding of how commercial jobs fit in with ther certing. So if anyone has any advice on that issue, it would be appericated**

As for PP scheme, I have decided im still going with the NIC, so when I have £500 sorted, I will be putting in for assesment.

Cant wait to get the whole thing rolling!