Self employed van costs

sevenhills

Not very satisfied in my job at the moment, even though I don't work in the school holidays.
I have been considering for a few years, buying a van and going it alone.
How easy is it to make a living? People want waste removing, furniture and parcel delivery. Apps and social media make contact with ordinary people much easier. I have been watching the 'clean air vone' news, vans don't seem to be affected here in Leeds, I also live outside of the zone.
I am quite secure, so I will be thinking about spending £3,000+ on a van. I dont really want to touch my savings at the moment, so saving and a loan, maybe next year.
I would be ditching my car and buying a van, so not too big a deal, I could see how things work out in my spare time and school holidays.

DUTR

Making a living is near easy, a living at a desired standard is a different challenge.
People do want waste removing, it doesn't mean they will pay any price, and then the guys undercutting often (but not always) resort to fly tipping.
You need to do some more homework on the business plan......

societys_child

Light haulage, courier work etc, insurance is costly, if you're carrying other peoples goods you should also have Goods in Transit Ins. Depending what you're planning, try getting some quotes.


It's 15 years since I last had a van and it's not really worth paying all that money for insurance, to do it part-time, sitting waiting for the phone to ring. Not trying to put you off, but you could do with contacts and offers of work before buying a van.

Herzlos

Yeah I'm not sure there's a huge scope for man-with-van type services. For waste removal, you're going to have to pay the council fees for dumping it, and to clean the van afterwards, but will be up against people who will fly tip or have farms, etc to dump stuff on, and customers who don't appreciate that it'll cost you £40 just to unload it.

You can make money as a courier but it seems to usually involve huge hours or low pay since you'll need appropriate insurance and be competing with people who don't have insurance or a van, etc.
Shifting stuff like sofas pays alright, but you'll need a mate as well since a lot of the stuff people want moved are 2-man lifting jobs, and insurance for the goods, etc.


One thing I had wondered, but have no intention of doing, is a cheaper end-to-end IKEA type service where you buy the items from catalog numbers, deliver them, build (either on or off-site) and remove the waste. IKEA does offer all of those services but they charge fairly high to dissuade people. They charge something like £10 to pick the stuff, £25 to deliver, but I've no idea what they'd charge to assemble.


You'd probably be better off just finding a driving job with a van provided, likely more money and less hassle, though you'll likely need to keep your own personal vehicle too. Or just working in McDonalds.

System

sevenhills wrote: »

How easy is it to make a living?

I'm guessing you've seen loads of posts on your local Facebook stuff for sale page asking if anyone has a van and can move something? Want to know how profitable that is?

Question: You've got a 3 piece suite you're giving to a friend who lives at the other side of town a 10 minute drive away. How much would you pay someone to move that, £10? After all a tenner to throw something in a van and run it 10 minutes up the road sounds reasonable does it not? From leaving your house to getting to the place to digging the suite out of the house, loading in your van, taking it to the friends house, unloading it into the house and getting back to your house again could take well over an hour, possibly two. Factoring in all your costs you have plus paying yourself the national minimum wage to include holiday pay you're going to want to be charging more like £30. How many of those on Facebook do you think will pay £30 to move a 3 piece suite 10 minutes down the road?

World and dog decide like you have its something they can do as most people have a car licence which enables them to drive a van and all you have to do is go out, buy a van and get work off Facebook and you're good to go so you have a lot of competition with everyone undercutting everyone else. To make the national average wage you're going to be doing at least 60-70hrs a week and when it snows you're still going to be expected to be out in it. When the police advice is not to travel you'll still be expected to be out in it. You will be expected to be at deliveries 200 miles away by 8am in the morning so you can expect to see the sun come up a lot and still be working when it goes down again in the evening.

If you're only going to be doing it in your spare time and holidays you'll get nowhere and most likely won't even cover the costs. To make money at it you either need to be banging in the hours or being paid for driving someone else's van.

sevenhills

Herzlos wrote: »

Yeah I'm not sure there's a huge scope for man-with-van type services. For waste removal, you're going to have to pay the council fees for dumping it, and to clean the van afterwards, but will be up against people who will fly tip or have farms, etc to dump stuff on, and customers who don't appreciate that it'll cost you £40 just to unload it.

It would be my plan to recycle as much as posible, something that I believe in. Much of the waste is combersome, if chopped down it would be much easier to dispose of.

societys_child wrote: »

It's 15 years since I last had a van and it's not really worth paying all that money for insurance, to do it part-time, sitting waiting for the phone to ring. Not trying to put you off, but you could do with contacts and offers of work before buying a van.

It would be my plan to do it when I am older and semi-retired, but just thinking things over as I am getting bored at work.
I earn around £15k at the moment, not ready to earn less yet.
But if I bought a van now, as you say, not easy to do it part time. With the extra costs of running a van, vs a car.

AdrianC

Are you planning on using the same van for "waste removal" as for parcel delivery and furniture moving? How much time do you intend to spend cleaning it out between jobs, to avoid Mrs Miggins complaining that her sofa got filthy?

Do you know how to get a waste disposal licence?

You mention "apps" - will you be developing and marketing your own? Or will you be signing on with one of the existing aggregators? How much will they actually pay per job?

Have you looked at what sort of van £3k buys? Clue: Nothing like as tidy or new as £3k of car. And have you looked into insurance? Sounds like a hell of a lot of start-up costs for "trying it out in the holidays"... What if you decide not to?

You earn £15k now... Full-time minimum wage is £16,300, and will go up from April to £17,100. Without all the hassle and risk of going self-employed.

System

sevenhills wrote: »

It would be my plan to recycle as much as posible, something that I believe in. Much of the waste is combersome, if chopped down it would be much easier to dispose of.

So now you need a business premises on an industrial estate with a licence for waste handling and disposal too. Try to do it at your home and you'll have the council on you in no time when the neighbours complain.

It would be my plan to do it when I am older and semi-retired

I'm a truck driver. As I've got older I've found heaving stuff around a lot harder to do. Shifting stuff around in a van is a young person's job.

but just thinking things over as I am getting bored at work.
I earn around £15k at the moment, not ready to earn less yet.

Spend £3k, get a licence to drive an artic, earn two to three times what you do now but beware that pretty much every job in transporting goods is way longer than office hours.

forgotmyname

£3k on a van. If you want a decent contract it will often say the vehicle must be under 3 years old and under a certain mileage also.

You may not be in a low emission zone but the places people want their stuff delivered to may well be.

Dont want to touch savings so getting a loan? Is the interest on your savings more than the interest on a loan?

Your going to be competing with similar people who had an idea but not thought it through properly. So you will be earning money and then one day it will click that your not actually earning anything. Your taking less than it costs to pay for the van and insurance and waste licence etc etc...

Nothing left in the kitty to replace the van or pay for repairs. A job that costs you money?

Get a job driving someone elses van.

micky2phones

Hi, my take on this is there are lots of " man with a van" out there,
last month i ask for a man with a van on a well know site.

Over a week i had over 30 quotes, the first two days i had 15.

sevenhills

micky2phones wrote: »

Hi, my take on this is there are lots of " man with a van" out there,
last month i ask for a man with a van on a well know site.

Over a week i had over 30 quotes, the first two days i had 15.

Very difficult to know how much work you can get, until you try it, even with a bussiness plan.
I do a few odd jobs now, but I don't look for work, because I have my main job. I don't charge a viable rate, as I just work out of my car. When I 'upgrade' my vehicle, I will decide how much more money a van would cost. No difference in MPG, just the purchase and servicing costs.