i am twenty four years old and am looking at becoming a self employed kitchen and bathroom fitter. i have my own van and tools and a resonable amount of experience of fitting. can anyone give me afew pointers and tips on how to suceed whilst beilg legite??
Have you tried talking to your local Business Link - they can give you business advice on becoming self-employed etc. and being legal. You can even try for grants.
You should have Public Liability insurance in case you knock over a customer's Ming vase.
You must inform Inland Revenue immediately you start earning income not taxed at source. Remember to keep receipts for everything you spend so you can claim it back later.
If you want to do electrics in kitchen and bathroom you will need Part Pee.
Owain
You should ask them to remove it before you start work.
Remember also that if you are registered for VAT, you can claim the VAT back on things you buy. VAT is a real pain in the *rs*.
--=20 Dave Fawthrop
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That'll give them confidence... "can you remove anything breakable from the area please
1) Do an excellent job, go the extra mile. 2) Look smart (inc van), smile, be polite. 3) Don't work cheap!
Dave
I never said he wasn't.
It's entirely necessary to insure yourself before setting foot in someones house to work. However if the house indeed does have items of value that may not be replacable it's probably a good idea to ask the owner to shift them while the work takes place. That's presuming the owner was stupid enough to not move them.
Excellent suggestions. 2 is important.
Seriously, if you avoid sounding like and looking like a pikey ;-> , you get a make a much better impression and it can quite easily swing a job your way even if you quote a bit higher than the other blokes. People like someone they think they can trust to work in their homes and who they perceive isn't telling them porkies. Unfortunately tradesmen get a poor rap in this country, with programs like Watchdog and Rogue Traders and you have to get over this hurdle until word of mouth ensures your future work.
Another suggestion: offer a range of options. My shower tiling just started falling off (done by non tiler when place was built, no tile spacers used!) and the grout's gone, leaking water into the ceiling below. As it's a rented house, I offered to find someone for the landlord (who's paying of course). Took a recommendation from the bloke two houses down.
The chap that turned up was clean, polite, 20's. He offered two basic options - cheap fix, not guaranteed to last, but enough to make it serviceable for a couple of years and he was totally up front about it. Or fix it properly, ie replace bowed plasterboard and retile. Landlord in his good judgement took the better option - but he had the choice. Some people can't afford the best at any particular time, so being able to offer a viable alternative is useful. Having done tiling myself I could see that he was not inventing work and that he knew his job.
Good timekeeping is important too. It's a difficult balance, but try to leave a bit of recovery time in the schedule for when you're delayed by things going wrong. People hate it when you knock their job 2 weeks into the future at the last minute. They hate it even more if you turn up for an hour, then disappear not to be seen for another week.
There's a downside too, which you should be prepared for. You'll quote for jobs you don't get. Some people are awkward and change their minds half way through. Put the job in writing for them and make sure they understand what they are getting and that they are happy.
Don't forget to plan your holiday time in to the dairy too or you'll be knackered.
Good luck :)
Tim
PS
Get an accountant lined up and keep all your receipts. A good accountant can save you money, especially if your office is also your home.
Don't milk the customer ?
;-)
Paul.
Good advice I forgot to mention. A good accountant is better than Harry Potter!
First year I started my part time business as a magician I didn't have an accountant, did my own tax return & got a bill for £1800 I didn't have.
Got a gifted accountant, she got me a tax refund of £1900 and that year my part time business managed to make a 'loss'!
These people have magical powers :-)
Dave
Within 3 months of start of trading, whether making a profit or not. Any losses can be offset until next year. Failure to register within 3 months will land you a £100 fine.
If you think your earnings will be low (Less than ~£4000) you can apply for NI exemption.
sponix
Absolutely. People round here are scared (for good reason) of being taken advantage off by tradesmen. Do a good job for a fair price and they will be recommending you to their friends in short order and you should be making a very good steady income.
The things I have seen people like you do wrong are (amongst others)
You also have to charge VAT on all your sales, which increases the price to the consumer customer. If, by getting the customer to buy their own units and sanitaryware direct, turnover is kept below the VAT threshold, that means that the labour charge to the consumer is nearly a fifth less than a VAT-registered firm. Of course, VAT can't then be reclaimed on expenses.
Having the customer buy their own units etc also means you don't have to provide any sort of warranty on them. You are supplying labour only.
Depends if it's a quarterly VAT payment to make, or a quarterly VAT cheque received :-)
Owain
4) buy a Henry and always clean up after you
5) never leave the customer without water or a working loo
Owain
Take all your rubbish away, unlike some on this list.
MBQ
I heard it said that if you're getting your pricing right you should lose about half the jobs you quote for!
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