starting up on your own.. where do you start???

Blackout · Jan 2, 2012

Hi All.

As title states im an approved electrician worked mainly on airports but decieded to give it a go alone. I know its tough to do but you only live once so feel the need to try, Or ill be thinking what if all my life.

so where do you start? is the a site that can give me good information?

what insurances will i need?

do i need PART P?

who to join... nappit? NIC EIC? etc... etc...

as you can imagine so many questions..

Octopus · Jan 3, 2012

There are a number of threads on this subject, plus if you're in England or Wales (not sure about NI) Part P is a real consideration, especially if you are starting off. Elecsa or Napit seem to get the "new" guys plus based on my own experience my only gripe with Elecsa is the poor marketing of Part P to joe public.

The only thing I would say that its tough out there at the moment, especially straight after Xmas so if you have a job I'd be sitting tight and doing the planning etc.

Good luck

malcolmsanford · Jan 3, 2012

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can only really add to that ..............good advice and seconded

Good luck with new start

Richard Burns · Jan 3, 2012

The businesslink website has some good and easy to understand information about starting a business in general.
Business support, information and advice | Business Link
You have to go through loads of pages but it does gives links to other useful sites.
As Murdoch says lots of pages on here about starting up, if you look at the bottom of the page when on this thread there are similar threads listed (just be careful of the dates some are old).

You will need to plan advertising, HMRC registration, customer area, expected income, cash flow, capital costs, etc. Do a basic business plan.
To start you will need public liability insurance to at least £2m. If you are doing industrial contracts then you may have additional requirements on health and safety, JIB, etc.
Basic tools that will be used all the time (again have a look at threads on here), build up the rest as needed.
Keep good records from the start and plan your record keeping beforehand and modify later to suit.
Agree with everything Murdoch has said, but the poor marketing of part P to the public is for all schemes.

Still lots more to plan and implement, but good luck with it!