Number of sparks in U.K

[Marty48]

ok 25,000

no

i mean 50,000

who knows, and what context is the question being asked?

and why have you narrowed it down to such a particular question level ?

And what about people who are qualifeied but currently 'out of trade', i.e. unemployed, retired, pushing trolleys in tesco's car park

the question, as it was presented, is meaningless

Shakey i have a tool for stripping armored cable, a working prototype.
when i go and see the suits with the cash the 1st thing they ask is "what is your market size" I know not all sparks will buy it and i predict that it will be mainly bought by firms with 5+ workers or self employed who cant afford time off cos they just took a couple of fingers off with the stanley.

Again i thought that this site would be the best place to get the info as its for sparks, regardless of their level of qualifications . hope you can help the city and guilds lot will not give me any help

 

[wayne]

so in fact you require a clever, intelligent answer to the question .
asking how many sparks wont give you your market size, knowing how much swa terminations there is on a job (most commercial /industrial jobs use swa to a degree) will help .stand by for some witty answers

 

[sparkyork]

ive got an offcut of 3 core 2.5mm swa in me garage

sorry just got the idea of the thread, you have a working prototype of a swa stripper tool, if youre off to see the dragons or somebody else then theyll also ask if you have intellectual rights to this etc? or if anybody else can go ahead and make one, to which you would have to respond with "you can buy a swa stripper tool, from any good wholesalers"

on the total number of sparks in the country thing, not sure how you could arrive at a realistic figure? (office of national statistics or..?) or like wayne said find out how much swa is been bought in the uk, compared with hacksaw blades?

all the best matey,
rich

 

[Marty48]

so in fact you require a clever, intelligent answer to the question .
asking how many sparks wont give you your market size, knowing how much swa terminations there is on a job (most commercial /industrial jobs use swa to a degree) will help .stand by for some witty answers

sorry wayne but the number of sparks is the only way to assess the market place as they are the ones who will be buying it(hopefully). this tool is similar to a conduit bender in the number used, that is to say most firms have one, but there not used everyday. last job i had involved s.w.a cable every week (lighting grids) so i obviously would have bought this.
have spoken to bussiness advisors who repeatedly ask "how many" .doesnt mean they will all want one but its a start point.

 

[sparkyork]

id of thought there must be some way of finding out some info, but youre gonna need to have a minimum qualification level to base results from? which is a can of worms as not all sparkies have the same quals. have you tried google?!
how big is this tool, is it literally as big as a conduit bender?, like you say is it not just gonna be aimed at big firms and the odd self employed chap, rather than something that all sparks may wanna buy and pop in there tool bag?

rich

 

[wayne]

sorry wayne but the number of sparks is the only way to assess the market place as they are the ones who will be buying it(hopefully). this tool is similar to a conduit bender in the number used, that is to say most firms have one, but there not used everyday. last job i had involved s.w.a cable every week (lighting grids) so i obviously would have bought this.
have spoken to bussiness advisors who repeatedly ask "how many" .doesnt mean they will all want one but its a start point.

and every sparks got a knife and hacksaw

 

[Moog]

If I was after the number of punters for your tool, I would look to electrical wholesalers. Anyone in the trade that would use your product would need to be registered with at least one materials reseller. You might even be able to convince them to quote the number of people who have order SWA.and also provide advertising for your product at the same time. I would also look in to who does so much SWA that they would pay for a new tool (yet to be proven safe), does the use of your tool mean a de-skilling of the fitter? This could be a selling point but might leave you open to being dragged into court and hence higher insurance costs. Are you willing to guarantee your product will A) never cut the wrong insulation B) work with all sizes and types of SWA

 

[spark-doctor]

Sorry to burst your bunnle Mr B but there are a couple of SWA strippers on the market allready. I use one allmost everyday and they are available from most wholesalers. I use the one fro Kew Technik.

 

[Shakey]

. Anyone in the trade that would use your product would need to be registered with at least one materials reseller.

erm.....why?

Hi everyone, does anybody know how many electricians there are in England , Scotland, Wales and Ireland? The minimum level is City and Guilds installation A. Not required to have part P or N.I.C registered etc.
Waddya think?

Ok, now i know what context the question is asked in, you have really gone off kilter

You seem to be implying:-

A. The minimum qualification for stripping SWA is C&G installation A.

and

B. Part P or NIC registered people do not/cannot strip SWA

Fella, it seems the questions you need the answer to are:-

A. How many people install SWA in the UK

and

B. How many of those people would want to buy a dedicated stripper (that havent already bought a dedicated stripper)

Unfortunately, the questions you DID ask bare absolutely no relation to the ones you would NEED to ask

Something is tingling on the back of my neck as to why you think it is neccessary to narrow potential customers down to a certain qualification bandwidth????

I teach domestic installers, and teach them how to strip and prepare SWA, but you have excluded them from your potential market?

ah well, you are the business man, I guess you know what you are doing

good luck

 

[Dinosaur]

Hi Guys and Gals,

Just a quicky - when i started in the electrical game the "sparks" was the sad sod that sat in a dark room all on his own sending messages in morse code!

Strange people they where as well. I was known as the "Lecky" and was responsible for everything from the generators on the ship to the captains wifes iron!

Four hours on - eight off for nine months at a time - plus stacks of overtime (unpaid) whilst in port.

Take my word for it the life of a domestic installer is soooooo easy. Who really cares how many "Lecky's" there are - the general public say there ain't enough and the tradesmen reckon there is too much competion! Does it really matter as long as we are all making a living?

 

[LukeScotty]

hi mbarret, I see where your coming from, because your marketing this product at those who use SWA, AND electricians who don't use SWA but could potentially go into using SWA alot. Maybe you need the range of figures, of

how many electricians there is
how many use SWA
how SWA has increased/decreased in the last few years?
as for how many electricians there is, I wouldn't know where to start.
theres a website i came across which sed the shortage: came up with 36,000 across the uk. You could ask the registering bodies like niceic, napit etc, of how many they have.

Well I'll be the first to try it out, and show support to you matey, can send one over if you like

whats the estimated cost? size? life of the product?

Regards,

Luke

 

[Marty48]

thanks for the input gents,
the tool is hand held, 8" tall and weighs about 1kg. it cuts the outer insulation and steel strands on cable from 8mm to 50mm safely and accuratley as you control the depth of cut. unsure of cost but hope to be sub £50 mark. have found 4 other strippers for s w a ,the kew technik blade runner is the cheapest but is not in the same league and i would not buy one.
when trying to establish the market size it seemed logical to think that only electricians would work with s w a ,as insurance and regulations would prevent others from doing. another question i have to ask is does s w a get used elsewhere in the world? again this would reflect on market size and reduce the cost of the tool as its cheaper to make 100,000 than 1,000.
gonna try some of your suggestions and thanks for your thoughts

 

[Shakey]

when trying to establish the market size it seemed logical to think that only electricians would work with s w a ,as insurance and regulations would prevent others from doing. [/quote]

here we go again

so what has your C&G installation A got do with it?

and why would 'insurance and regulations' prevent 'others' from using SWA

your market is clearly people who use SWA

and that is most defintely NOT limited to people who fit into your tightly defined box

Domestic installers?
Electricians mates?
maintenance electricians?

Under Part P, there is nothing to stop joe bloggs running SWA up his garden to feed his shed, but he is not a potential customer of yours?

Sorry, but i am not convinced that you actually know your (potential) market at all

most 'electricians' would strip SWA using traditional hacksaw and stanley knife anyway, so the chances are your market could well be the 'less qualified' end of the spectrum

good luck mate, i think you are going to need it

 

[montybaber]

maybe you could ask members on the forum to try the product and answer a questionaire or maybe write a report on how it compares to traditional methods.

I'd be willing to give it a go

 

[Bane]

He just wants to know if anyone has any idea how many electricians there are in the UK.

Simple.

Why so many people trying to sh*t on his idea?