Handyman

[Doctor Evil]

"nightjar .uk.com>"

reprimanded,

You have totally missed it.

[mike ring]

It would depend - how long to decorate a room; for me 3 weeks and never finished. One reoom I had altered about 5 years ago and it's still plaster! But I'm beginning to look at my bank balance, life expectancy, only indirect relations waiting to pounce and wonder what a lifelong skinflint tendency has got me.

My main problem is fear; of making a mistake, getting screwed, getting a crap job, but I'm so aware of the deficiencies in my own work it sneers at me for ever after! The fact my plumbing and wiring could be tidier doesn't matter, I know it's sound.

For folks like me, word of mouth is the killer app; I look at ads in papers, shop windows etc, and think "I dunno, might be another gyppo". I hear about someone's handyman, and think "great, wonder if he'd come here".

If you can get past that, I think you've got it made, so to get a customer base, you need a customer base. But I'm sure it snowballs if you can get it going.

North of Basildon...pah

Anyhow, if you proceed with it and put a crafty ad here, I'll give you a bell - good luck

mike

[Tony Bryer]

A new van on lease is going to cost £300 per month or less - £15 per working day - with the only other expenditure being routine servicing, tax and insurance. An ageing Transit may only lose £500 per year, but factor in the repairs and replacements and the cost of the time spent organising these and the saving over running a new van on lease may be a lot less than first appears. I commented to the driver of the skip firm I last used (New Bharat) that I was surprised to see such a new vehicle being used for such work: his comment was that they couldn't afford to run old ones.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If it's returned in reasonable condition at the end of the lease - which the average builder's truck won't be. It will be wrecked.

Commercial vehicles don't depreciate as quickly as cars, but a jobbing builder's van will get a hammering. It will be used to collect materials and to dispose of waste. A spark's van or plumber's one *might* have an easier life, but I wouldn't bank on it.

A skip delivery vehicle is rather different. It's a specialised vehicle. Which doesn't collect or dispose of materials - apart from in the skip.

[Geoffrey]

That is far too cheap unless you intend this to be a pocket money hobby. I would have thought £250 per day, £150 per half day or £50 per hour would be minimum for a startup business south of Watford. Once you've got a bit of experience and know better how long things will take you, you can quote all-in prices.

It sounds a lot but the likelyhood is that you will not have all your days filled and you'll have expenses (tools/van/petrol/accountant etc.). Don't forget tax/NI/PLI. Get sick, no money. Go on holiday, no money. Van breaks down, no money. Popping round giving quotes, no money. You WILL encounter bastards avoiding payment or delaying payment, prepare for it. If you are any good and get a reasonable amount of business, you'll have to register for VAT - be prepared to spend time in the evenings doing the books. Always be on the lookout for contract work - steady money paid on time.

Don't forget to have the Screwfix Direct catalogue clearly visible in your back pocket....

[David Lang]

Hi Geoff

That may be what I'd like to charge, but would I get it?

Dave

[Geoffrey]

In Kent? Yes.

If you are good and reliable you will always have steady work - people talk - especially if you put in a full days work, don't spend ages over drinking the copious amounts of tea you will be given and don't add anything on for the odd 10 mins over.

You could give the little old lady living on a pension a bit of a discount but make sure the little old lady living off hubbys £100,000 a year pension pays every penny.

[Pete C]

My fathers plumber keeps his tools in a bucket, is that a good thing or not?

Yes, they charge accordingly though, £75/hr IIRC

A lot of good tradesmen never have to advertise and probably don't want to, as you're more likely to get a bad customer.

cheers, Pete.

[Pete C]

For me it's a starting point, just because someone's wearing a smart boiler suit it doesn't mean they're a good mechanic or whatever. It can be part of the 'BBB' thing ;)

IMHO shirt and tie looks smart but works best in an airconditioned office, outdoors it's too cold in winter and too hot in summer. Even the japanese prime minister is going tie-less to encourage energy saving on air conditioning.

Stobart used to sack drivers who took their tie off at work, however lost a tribunal for sacking a driver took his tie off on a boiling hot summers day.

Yes, because they now consider the tie 'old-fashioned'! It would be a tad hypocritical for sacking a driver who wore their own branded clothing...

cheers, Pete.

(*BBB - bullsh*t baffles brains!)

[Doctor Evil]

If anyone came into my house with tools in a bucket he would be told to leave. I would have no confidence in him. A good tradesman is clean, tidy, has clean and proper tools that are well looked after in proper professional tool boxes. .

Every tradesman who does what I have described, that I have ever come across, has been top notch. It goes with the territory. If you want a full order book and top rates do what I suggested and you will not fail. Most UK tradesmen would have to go through major culture change.

With quality accordingly. They were also in central London, so would charge more than a Yorkshire village.

Even better if you don't advertise.

[Stuart Noble]

Come on, I can get a gas fitter for that in the South East.

[Stuart Noble]

For certain tools it is quite the most convenient container. Make sure it's a clean bucket though.

[Mary Fisher]

Also, the poster was talking about his dad's plumber, presumably before those plastic boxes were imported from China but after his bass had worn out. Times were different then - and it saved having to find a bucket forother uses.

Canny folk, plumbers, in those days.

Mary

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But surely he'd need the bucket to put under your leaking pipes where you've jointed them using your famous hacksaw?

[Doctor Evil]

Not plumbing tools. If he was a plasterer and he came in with a few tools and the bucket then fine. Plasterers don't have many tools.

[Geoffrey]

You know a registered gas fitter who will work for less than £50 an hour working on the up? Is it your brother?

[nightjar]

If you look back, you will see that I am an advocate of looking professional. I was simply disagreeing with the view that the only thing you needed to do for the business to work was to look good.

Leasing is a horribly expensive way to own a vehicle and the lease companies want the vehicle back in good condition, which a builder's van won't be. It is probably cost effective to buy a second-hand, but not very old, van and to keep replacing it every few years. When I worked for an electricty board, they calculated that, even with almost constant use, it took four years before the cost of repairs and maintenance became significant on their fleet vehicles.

Skip lorries have an expected working life of about three years according to a chap I know who runs a waste recycling business. They have a hard life, particularly when people overload the skips, and wear out quickly.

Colin Bignell

[mike ring]

Geoffrey wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Can't quite see where this makes sense; an 8 hour day at 50 per hour would seem to me to be 400/day.

Unless you seriously think an artisan would work a 3 hour morning and a 2 hour afternoon.

Come to that, there might be vacancies for mature teachers!!

I know a traffic cop who became one and achieved his abition to be an even bigger waste of space.

mike

[Geoffrey]

If you were going to charge £50 per hour regardless you would not have a daily rate. The hourly rate is for small fast jobs. The daily or half daily rates are for longer jobs.

If you can find and cram in 4 2 hour jobs in a day (don't forget travelling time) then good luck to you but I'd guess you'd be completely burned out inside a month.

[Tony Bryer]

It's the difference between hours worked and billable hours