Help and advice with a simple business idea.

motorguy

pitkin2020 wrote: »

In fairness though this is a very low cost start up business (a van, license and some advertising) so should it not work out you will recoup some capital back on the van alone.

Spaceboyted you need to come down from the clouds, like Sue has rightly pointed out you don't need to dip your toe, you can work out most things with a pad and a pen. Trouble is people only look at the positives when working a plan out and don't take into account the negatives. Yes this business idea has the potential to earn a decent wage, but it also has the potential for the OP to be earning far less than NMW!!

Its ok borrowing £25k to test the water but if you get it wrong, badly wrong that £25k won't last you very long but it still has to be paid back

Couldnt agree more.

motorguy

terryw wrote: »

Go with your dreams OP. This might not work but it might! You are not going to lose fortunes giving it a go.

SO, lets just put this in perspective.

The O/P will need to give up their job to do this. Ideally they need to allow six months to grow the business into something useful. Assuming £5 per hour, 40 hrs a week, thats £200 a week the O/P wont be getting. multiply that by 26 and thats £5200.

Lets also say they buy a van at £3K, and its worth £2.5K after six months.

Lets also assume that insurances, etc cost £1500.

You wont see £100 a week in fuel in a van these days driving about, so theres another £2600 in fuel.

So after six months, it will have cost the O/P £5200 in lost earnings, and £4600 in costs.

So theres £10,000 its going to cost the O/P to try and make this fly.

Assuming then the O/P gets another NMW job, how long is it likely to take the O/P to pay that £10,000 back?

Would you not say, relatively speaking, that £10,000 to the O/P IS a fortune?

But based on what many on here feel is a weak idea, you're saying 'follow your dreams', 'give it a go'??

pitkin2020

Weak idea maybe a bit strong, it has potential. Does it have potential as a full time job, not sure. It would really depend on the area and what the competition is in the area. If its a rural area and no one else is doing it it could be an open market. If its a densely populated area with lots doing it could be an over crowded market.

The other thing, even though scrap is pretty high at the moment how much do you actually need to make your money week in week out. You need to know exactly how much each metal costs. Now if you can collect a couple ton of copper per week then ideal but other metals aren't such good value so your going to need a lot more. Then you also need to take into account a lot metal needs extracting, i.e washing machines, boilers etc. How long will that take and how much will the scrap value be once you have extracted them.

TBH though, look at the scrap dealers now. They tend to work in bulk to make any real money but if you've got a van and a waste license why just limit yourself to metals and paying out for it. You could go into rubbish removal where they pay you to take it away you then sort it and scrap anything for extra income.

You really need to work out your costs and its best to over price your costs than under cost them if your making an educated guess, see what the scrap values have been for the last 12 months and work to lowest figure, anything above that figure will be a bonus. This is where I would start before going out and buying a van and finding its costing you £5 to collect a washing machine, which you pay £10 for. It then takes 2 hours from collection, extraction and delivering to a scrap yard where you get paid £20 for it.

paddyrg

If you have access to any proper rural areas, old farm machinery is lots of iron/steel for the price of a gas axe to make it portable? Expect a lot to be immoveable and rusted!!

Old caravans have a lot of aluminium too strip, burn the wood, and haul the steel chassis away - worth a few quid.

Savvy_Sue

paddyrg wrote: »

Old caravans have a lot of aluminium too strip, burn the wood, and haul the steel chassis away - worth a few quid.

OP could start with the one in my back garden: what are they going to do with the windows? and the tyres? and did they ever use asbestos in caravans?

paddyrg

I'm sure there are some components that need proper disposal, although I'm not aware of asbestos, etc., so it would be smart to check first, you're right :-)

paulwf

DAREDEVIL78 wrote: »

yeh i understand people and thanks for your honesty, trouble is i am stuck in a minimum wage job and want to do something to not only enjoy but get paid, tired of doing same thing , wanted to do something on my own that would give me a nice wage at the end of the week, i have had a few ideas ie car valeting or gardening or anything that is one man band and also needs little investment to get going . . . so if anyone could give me a good idea that is successful . . i know thats what everybody probably says but i just want to do something rewarding that gives me a nice income.

OP I think the problem is you are trying to start a business that doesn't require any particular skill and no capital investment. That means you have a lot of competition as there is no barrier to entry and you'll end up working for low pay. You can make money this way but you'll be working ridiculous hours (even more than the silly hours us self employed people already work)...unless you work illegally which is how to make money out of scrap.

Generally the way a business gets ahead of the competition and survives is:

- high startup costs, grabbing a unique location or being the only one in the area

- finding a niche, it doesn't have to be totally unique just a twist on an existing idea

- building a brand: your artwork, marketing, promo and networking is important for customer facing businesses

- having a specialist qualification or skill

- having a passion for what you do enabling you to know more and care more than anybody else resulting in you being the best

cavework

What are you intending to do OP..?
Are you going to be one of those vans that drives around with a horn or trumpet?
There are loads of clearance companies out there who already have the correct documentation and legal requirements . The business , if you really want to take this seriously includes taking away the stuff people or companies don't want and tipping it legally ( Cost at the moment is give or take £100 per ton for trade recycling waste sites)as well as the metal you just might make a bit of money on... that is the perk for these companies who do things by the book.
Then as someone has said , you have H&S for asbestos waste, waste carriers licence , public liability insurance and if you employ .. employers liability insurance.
You should be able to track by your paperwork anything you remove from pick up to disposal. If you don't you are putting your customers at risk of receiving a big fine.

cavework

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Weak idea maybe a bit strong, it has potential. Does it have potential as a full time job, not sure. It would really depend on the area and what the competition is in the area. If its a rural area and no one else is doing it it could be an open market. If its a densely populated area with lots doing it could be an over crowded market.

The other thing, even though scrap is pretty high at the moment how much do you actually need to make your money week in week out. You need to know exactly how much each metal costs. Now if you can collect a couple ton of copper per week then ideal but other metals aren't such good value so your going to need a lot more. Then you also need to take into account a lot metal needs extracting, i.e washing machines, boilers etc. How long will that take and how much will the scrap value be once you have extracted them.

TBH though, look at the scrap dealers now. They tend to work in bulk to make any real money but if you've got a van and a waste license why just limit yourself to metals and paying out for it. You could go into rubbish removal where they pay you to take it away you then sort it and scrap anything for extra income.

You really need to work out your costs and its best to over price your costs than under cost them if your making an educated guess, see what the scrap values have been for the last 12 months and work to lowest figure, anything above that figure will be a bonus. This is where I would start before going out and buying a van and finding its costing you £5 to collect a washing machine, which you pay £10 for. It then takes 2 hours from collection, extraction and delivering to a scrap yard where you get paid £20 for it.

Please take notice of this post.. the poster is really making sense here:)