Starting up in the trades

Gumshoe_2

Hi,

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask this question but I’ve been reading threads and there seems to be a lot of experts and trades people offering advice, so here goes:

I’m 32 and being working in IT for 11years, however I was brought up as a builder lad. I’m currently doing my 4th bathroom for a friend, going to finish it this coming bank holiday.
I’ve been thinking about leaving the IT world and starting up on my own specialising in bathrooms. (Big decision I know). I have been taught ‘old school’ and even if I do say so myself I do seriously professional work. From reading threads in this forum there are a mix of messages but the general theme if that you tend to get a plumber to plumb, a tiller to tile etc.

I however just ‘know’ how to do things and properly, so single handed I’m stripping out a suite, installing new one, sorting out a bit of plumbing (adding isolation valves, redoing the pipe work for the wall mount shower, I’ll skim and re plaster that and tile the room as I go, finishing with the flooring, Gonna put plywood and level it our etc. (you get the idea) So I'm doing everything, start to finish, job done, pucker.

My problem comes when I look into maybe taking the plunge and doing this as a full time job. I earn around 30k a year in IT, so quick maths, a bathroom a week at around £1000 per job, I’ll be looking at 50k a year providing the work is available, but I reckon that’s a realistic annual target, give or take and pricing etc. So it should be easy to match what I currently earn, it should be possible to better that and its something I love doing.

Anyway, the problem I have is when the words, Corgi, Regulations, Certificates, etc. (nightmare) come up.

So (I’m getting to the question), is there anything stopping me just advertising my services for ‘doing bathrooms’ or do you need ‘things’ to be able to start up as a sole trader and trade professionally?

Canucklehead

Good afternoon: Have you posted on DIYnot? Your post look vaguely familiar;) Minimal technical competencies for plumbing from the Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering
as well as other advice

Canucklehead

Gumshoe_2

Nope....but thanks for the pointer...looks like a good forum for the info I'm after! :j

That IPHE document is very useful but this is what puts me off, it just seems to overwhelmingly complicated when all you want to do is just go and get on with a job, do you know what I mean? Anyway, I'll read through it all.

phill99

When I started (4 years ago now), I rapidly realsied that it was critical to know the limit of my own abilites. If I came across something I didn't believe I was capable of doing, I would get some one in to do it. This leads to a more professional job and you don't spend three days doing a job that a qualified tradesman does in three hours. There are plenty of trades that can do all the stuff that requires cetificates etc (corgi, Part P etc). They are trained and carry their own liabilty insurance. You cost these other trades into your price and have a little mark up on it. If you believe that you will net £1k / week, then well done you. Be realistic. You will have to run a van advertise, pay for liabilty insurance, register for tax, pay your own pension etc. Also, don't assume that you will do 52 bathrooms a year. You have lost most of december and early january. Come the summer. people will be spending their money in the Costa Brava, not the Costa Bathrooms. Also, if you are ill you don't get paid. It ain't all paved with gold!

ukwoody

I admire your confidence and your wish to go full time.
However I do have concerns. What I'm about to say sounds harsh and the worst scenario, but the chance of you earning 50K a year is next to nothing. You will have overheads such as a van, tools, materials. Not forgetting !!!!-ups because we all do them. Then you need a couple of weeks holiday (Phew, I wish!) and time off sick. It happens.
You also get jobs thast over run, last minute cancellations where you can't book some else in. A couple of weeks when it goes quiet. The list goes on.

The regs are changing and you will soon need a certifcate to plumb in bathroom suites if you are going to do it properly. (They aren't in yet are they??)

I'm not trying to put you off, I just want to make you think very carefully. It is B****dy hard work being self employed, and not the cushy number people think it is. The first couple of years will probably half kill you.

If I were you, I would gradually build up my bathroom work and start getting a name for yourself. Try to either reduce your hours in IT, Or take on short contracts so you can build the Bathrooms up. To make the jump sounds easy. It Aint! If you have a wife and kids, think about cash flow. At times it's a real worry.

The other thing is, I am not questioning your ability to do the work, but is it right? You think it is. But is it? How do you know? Why not look at doing a course at Pilkingtons (I think they still do them) and get trained how to tile properly. It's a finacial layout, but what better grounding to get you started and something you can advertise - and your competitors probably wont have it.

I'm not being negative, and I do wish you the best of luck, but please tread carefully. I've got 30 years in the trade, I have ran teams of blokes over several sites for the NHS and private companies. I always said I can make it alone. I'll tell you what. it's the hardest thing I have ever done.
Woody

ukwoody

Phil well said. I meant to mention the limit of your abilites.
Woody

phill99

Woody is right on all of that. I work 70 - 80 hours a week. Weekends included. Once you have come home for the day, you end up having to go out to look at jobs and give estimates, Then there is all the paper work and admin. If you value your free time and social life, then self employment ain't an option.

ukwoody

Free time? What free time?? The ruddy phone went at 10 past 10 Sunday evening. One of my customers was taken into hospital to be induced and she wanted to let me know she wouldn't be there today. (there you go classic example, spent an hour trying to re-arrange the week this morning so didnt earn much until lunchtime)
If' it's not the phone, it's emails, or estimates, or invoices or pricing up. The only good thing is I've now got a chair that leans back so at least when I fall to sleep at my desk it's comfy! LOL

But Phil is lucky, at least around his area in Essex the women dont know if they're coming or going anyway. Hee hee.

Woody

baldelectrician

It's not all a bed of roses. If you are thinking of making £1000 a week (profit) then you will need to be registered for VAT. Last time I looked the turnover limit was £66000.

I would dot expect you to make this at the start. And there is the spending going out when little is coming in.

You could find you turn over £3500 in a month and only make £700 profit- less than you would get working for someone else.

It isn't all a bed of roses, but I like it. I start at 9.15 when the kids go to school and the rush has past, and enjoy live more.

I took a conscious decision to cut things back 18 months ago as I found I was becoming a stranger to my kids.
Will ramp things up in a few years when they won't want to be seen dead with the old man

The only advice I will give you is watch your advertising- hang up on any firm that calls about any advertising. Don't get in to a coversation.

When you advertise look about and ask folk who they used (before they knew about you) and also ask where they look for customers. Some areas use Thomson, some use Yellow pages or the local paper.

nickj_2

bear in mind that we are probably on the brink of a reccesion , if we are not already in one , people may not have the money to spend , especially if you are just concentrating on one aspect of the trade .

ukwoody

And it has DEFINATLY got quieter!
woody