starting up my own business

[kelly82]

hi everyone i am a female electrician just qualified up to part p i have 17th edition exam on 27th august and was wondering how i go about starting up self employed im new to this forum thing too

 

[stef]

Hi Kelly,

welcome to the forum - you'll enjoy it

and good luck going self employed - you'll need it

 

[kelly82]

i dont know how to go about it wat i need etc all i know is i need liability insurance

 

[stef]

Just read through the forum's past posts and I'm sure you'll find all the answers there.

You need calibrated test equipment, hand tools, power tools, van, PPE, a tax code and a lot of patience
(not to mention thick skin, money for rainy days, GOSH, a member of a scheme if you are doing domestics)

 

[kelly82]

thanks im gonna do some searching today

 

[topquark]

Public liability ins and prob professional indemnity insurance as well.

You'll need to consider how you will trade as well, limited co, partnership etc (prob worth having a chat to an accountant re that ... most will give you an hour or so for free). You'll also want to consider VAT and whether to register or not. That kinda depends on the type/volume of work you intend to do.

The next goal should be to get yourself on one of the competency scemes, either NICEIC, ELECSA or NAPIT. Elecsa seems to be favourite if you just doing domestic stuff.

Welcome and good luck!

 

[devon1]

Hello and welcome! Call national insurance in Newcastle and tell them your NI number then register to pay class 2 NI, it's about £11 a month, also you'll have to pay class 4 (payed at 8% of income) NI , but that will be deducted at the end of the tax year in April

 

[cookie1408]

Kelly, I know what you are going through and am in the same position ie wanting to start on my own. I have managed to find a contact in the trade who has a good client base and is also well over 60 and beginning to fell the strain of 45 yrs plus in the trade. He is after someone who is reliable and not afraid of hard work to keep his clients happy.
Perhaps you could look for someone the in the same position. Failing this it maybe fruitful to do some unpaid work (if Hope this helps and best of luck.

 

[kelly82]

i will do i have a seminar to attend 3 times next week and also i have an appointment with a careers advisor so hopefully they will put me in the right direction as for looking for people like that guy you mentioned i wouldnt know where to start one thing that will help me at the moment is that the elecrtical company i am doing my course with has ongoing exams i have already booked on to do my 17th edition and there are other ones all part of the course i paid for so at least i wont be just stuck with part p what infuriates me is that companies say you need to be time served just to be an apprentice but where does the experience that you would have time served come from in the first place i told this to my local job centre and they recommended phoning around to see if i could get work trials for 2 weeks at a time at the end then at least i could say i have had some experience but where these companies are that allow this thought is i dont know theres so many self employed they are not lookin to take on and there are so many more such as the council who have too many

 

[caterhamboy]

Hi Kelly, it's very hard out there at the mo. i have just finished my 2nd yr on the 2330 and half of the people on it have lost there job this yr. So they are in similar position that they will have plenty of quals but no experience . makes you wonder where this country will end u in 10 yrs time, when most employers will only give yo a job on quals and experince, yet you can't get experince because you have none.( and even domestic you need plenty in the real world) I have myself thought about moving on to something else whislt i am still young with no comments because everyone you work with has nothing good to say about the game. Wages are low,and the only real money is in industrial. The guy i work for pays his domestic sparks £80 a day now. what future is there in that?

 

[BluSparx]

Hi Kelly,

welcome to the forum have you tried business link Business support, information and advice | Business Link

 

[kelly82]

thanks for the info im gonna keep up the course im on to complete it coz it goes beyond domestic but i will be looking around whilst in my current employment which is a cleaner it dont pay much but its better than nothing