Just transcribed my Handyman accounts from an extremely over complicated software package to Excel, which has enabled me to do some quick & simple analysis.
Since Feb 2006 I have been to B&Q on 182 occasions with an average spend of £13.05 per visit.
I've been to Wickes 172 times with an average spend of £27.86.
Homebase scored 13 visits @ £10.80 which reflects their prices to be fair.
Eleven Screwfix orders at an average of £43.
So, in 18 months I've been to B&Q & Wickes 354 times and spent £7K!
So, 354 visits in 468 working days means I visit DIY stores far too often!
No point to the post, just thought it might interest some.
I no longer live in the UK, u when I did the local Wickes used to drive me up the wall. Maybe I was just unlucky with that particular branch (Boreham Wood). It got so I would do almost anything to avoind going there.
Are there any common purchases that you could hold a small stock of to avoid making so many visits?
Next step would be to work out how long it takes to make a visit on average. Obviously this depends on where you are and there is traveling time and shopping time. Let's say it's an hour a time. At your rates, that's about £50 per hour and you lost £17,700 doing it.
Potentially you could halve the number of visits by stocking more of the commonly used items. For the less expensive ones, you could even buy more in and if they are not used in several months, throw them out. If you are only spending £7k on materials, even throwing out a quarter of them is 10% of what you are losing now. Using on line suppliers more could take out half of the time per shopping expedition - you still have to do the shopping.
I could easily see another £5k that you could have without trying too hard, more if you try harder or invest more in stock.
My consulting fees are very reasonable - 10% of what you save :-)
What you haven't taken into account Andy, is that most of the time I'm being paid by the client to go shopping. I carry pretty extensive stocks of screws, fixings, sealants, adhesives, hardware, plumbing fittings, cable, electrical fittings etc on the handy van.
Most of these I buy online because of price & convenience. 1000 x 6mm plugs for example are around £6:30 from Screwfix instead of £2:30 a 100 in Wickes.
But I have limited space on the van - a Renault Kangoo.
My policy is that if I should know in advance that I'll need a certain item, I don't charge for the shopping time, I'll buy it on the way to the job. If I couldn't know in advance, I charge my normal hourly rates for shopping. Seems fair to me & the client.
However, I no longer carry things like washing machine hoses, toilet siphons, ball valves etc. Although I can buy them online much cheaper & earn a margin, I'm better of going out to get one.
So, if I'm called out to 'toilet not working' I will arrive, diagnose its say, the diaphragm, advise the client that for what it costs its better to change the complete siphon (which IMO it is) & nip out to get one for them. That way I can earn more in labour than the mark up I could get on the parts. I also mark up such parts by 20% to cover the cost of the short term funding & fuel.
Now, if the call was 'fit new siphon' I would buy it in advance. If I advertised myself as a 'plumber', I would carry them. The client would expect a plumber to carry such parts, but not a handyman.
In the above scenario, the customer would still pay me less than a plumber would have charged - always assuming they could get a plumber interested in doing the job in the first place.
Always open to suggestions - do you mind being paid in plastic plugs?
Ah. That's rather different - you didn't mention that bit. If it's largely billable time it doesn't really matter provided that the punters are happy and will pay.
Remember that Dave structures his pricing such that the customer is paying for a proportion of this time - so the reality is probably not as bad as the raw stats alone suggest.
Agreed. You need some decent trade accounts. I only visit DIY stores as a last resort, which usually means if I need something urgently at the weekend.
Even Spouse, who isn't a tradesman, always goes to the trade counter of specialist stores. He wouldn't dream of going to the sheds unless it's unavoidable.
I don't really like accounts - I was offered a B&Q trade card the other day. One of the things I wanted when I started this was to keep things simple. I keep books obviously, but I can run the day to day business in my head.
I know on a daily basis how much is in the bank, how much has cleared, what if anything is outstanding (I don't 'do' monthly accounts), what I have spent etc. Adding trade accounts or cards would simply make my life more complicated.
I'm not much of a builders merchant fan either to be honest. I use one local independant one mainly for decking timber, but my nearest Travis Perkins seems expensive & has surley staff.
Absolutely. They also seem to price things off the top of their head. Asking for discount sometimes works but WTF should you have to? You don't in places like TLC - one price for everyone apart from negotiated bulk sales.
I'd love to overhear a conversation between the usual surly TP assistant and a 'Soviet block' builder. ;-)
It always puzzles me why there are so many online suppliers apparently aimed at trade customers. To receive goods purchased online, you pretty well have to guarantee that you (or somebody) will be at one address continuously between about 8am and 6pm - unless he has a manned office, what tradesman can do that?
I actually don't think I've ever come across a single tradesman who buys online (though occasionally if I've had one working with me, and they've seen my Screwfix catalogue, I've added an item to an order of my own as a favour!)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.