becoming self employed

mattmk6

i currently work for a big company who deal with central heating repairs and breakdowns

i've been looking into working for myself for a while but its very difficult to find out whats acceptable in terms of what you charge.

a rough figure i have in my head is £30+vat call out that gies you 30 mins then a minimum hourly charge of £45+ vat thereafter.

daily rate of £200+ vat

20% up mark of all materials to cover time taken sourcing and collecting

is there anybody around that could help me out with charging?

corgi registered gas
plumbing
energy efficency compliance
lpg

schneckster

Hi,

There are several ways to do this.

First of all, work out how much you want to pay yourself, how much your tools and equipment costs are, how much insurances cost, van payments, tax, etc., etc. Do this over the course of a year and then divide it by 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year.

From experience, you know how long typical jobs take, so you'll soon see if you make the right sort of money from various rates.

The other, more sneaky way is to ring your local competition with a ficticious plumbing problem. They usually tell you then how much for call out and time.

As for parts, 20 to 25% mark up is the usual, as long as that price comes out to around retail price. In other words, find good trade prices!!

One last tip... learn to use Excel!! It's amazingly useful for things like this.

Schneckster

brandguru

Pricing strategies will also depending on how you market your business - if it looks extremely professional with the right branding, professional service etc you can expect to charge more than someone calling themself "Mr X the plumber"

Make sure you have a good business name, logo, website etc.