Finding subcontractors?

[Andyc321]

Hi folks, thought I'd post up looking for advice as I'm sure there will be people on here in the same situation (or have been in the past) as me.

I'm a heating engineer with about 9 years experience in the domestic market and for the past year and a half I've been getting flooded with enquiries for jobs that I can't take on due to time constraints.

6 months ago I decided to take on a friend that is also a heating engineer as a subbie as he was out of work and I seemed to be getting plenty of enquiries, so far it has gone well and I'm pleased to say I'm experiencing more calls than I can take on.

Here's the thing, the only reason I came across the chap that's doing work for me as a sub at the moment is because he is friend, I have asked at my local trade suppliers etc and considered putting an advert in the Manchester evening news but they are looking for about £1000!

I really don't know who to turn to and I actually posted up on this forum advertising for subcontractors but I realise that might have been a mistake as I'm fairly new on here and I'm well aware that these are the types of places scam artists like to prey on folk looking for work then promising the world and taking a fee upfront etc.


Can anyone give me some advice on how they managed to get their fledgling operation staffed with sub contractors?

My long term plan is to employ a salesman/technician for new system installs and take a backseat from doing the work myself and focus on marketing and customer service and hopefully grow into a decent sized concern one day!


Thanks in advance for any help


Andy

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

Maybe have a look at local recruitment firms, but i dont know how much they might charge

Try the local job centre
Try asking in local plumbers merchants
Try the local colleges, not just for newly qualified engineers but people updating their quals

 

[mfgs]

Contact an agency. They will have loads of blokes on their books.

 

[Andyc321]

I never thought about the college's that might be good idea for getting in touch with folk that have experience but maybe been out the game for a little while and are looking to get going again,

I haven't phoned any agencies yet as I'm frightened about what they might want to charge but that's daft I suppose because if you don't ask you'll never know!

 

[CES]

I'm forever getting text messages offering reliable plumbers for only £12.97 + VAT / Hr... Pain in the proverbial.

 

[Andyc321]

I could do with those messages right now! Mind you, I don't know if I'd trust a random text message on my phone offering that!

 

[GQuigley67]

what area of the country you in ?

 

[Andyc321]

Manchester covering most of the North West

 

[GQuigley67]

that rules me out then lol

 

[Andyc321]

Dammit!

 

[Andyc321]

Just realised your from Glasgow as well, maybe I should move back home! All in all seriousness though if you are after a bit of extra work my mates family own a large well known central heating firm in based in Glasgow that are always taking on folk, I can put you in touch if interested

 

[GQuigley67]

yeah sure mate that would be great, pm me details

 

[Andyc321]

No probs il pm you as soon as I'm in the door and on the comp in about an hour my phone is taking ages to load just now!

 

[stevetheplumber]

want to give us some pointers on how your finding the work ?

 

[REDSAW]

get down to your assesment center and ask there, plenty of people doing there acs and looking for teaming up doing installs.

 

[tamz]

Agency guys are not what you are after. You would go through 10 dross to get 1 half decent but none would have your intrests in mind.
Unless you are willing to pay decent money you won't get a decent subbie.
Have you never thought of starting an apprentice.

 

[tamz]

get down to your assesment center and ask there, plenty of people doing there acs and looking for teaming up doing installs.

I would have most crying in 10 minutes when i started going off like a banger.
Definately not what someone doing installs is looking for unless they are pacing themselves.

 

[Andyc321]

Agency guys are not what you are after. You would go through 10 dross to get 1 half decent but none would have your intrests in mind.
Unless you are willing to pay decent money you won't get a decent subbie.
Have you never thought of starting an apprentice.

As far as I'm aware my rates are better than what British Gas pay their sub contractors, I'm after sub contractors for the long run so I want them to earn enough to want to stay with me provided the work load is there, my problem is being able to actually get in touch with folk!

I've thought about apprentices but at this stage I would really need someone with experience in order to make the repair process as efficient as possible and help me use my own time better

, in the future I'd love to be able to take on apprentices and keep them long term though.

At this stage I've not got many options so giving the assesment center a visit might be worth it

 

[Andyc321]

want to give us some pointers on how your finding the work ?

I spent some time studying marketing many moons ago, that's really it to be honest, the trick seems to be targeting the right type of audience rather than a large volume, it just takes a bit of planning and research and a lot of trial and error!

 

[Ivor Bates]

Must be plenty of plumbers up north twiddling their thumbs at the mo.... As I get plenty of emails from them wanting to move down here wanting a job... Have to turn em down because of the language barrier lol. Seriously though I would have thought if you try somewhere like Gumtree or similar sites place an advert, say what your willing to pay and test the waters. If the wages will take all the profit out of the job, then it is hardly worth the hassle. Probably why so many plumbing companies are going to the wall at present, when their charging say £2500 to fit a boiler, £500 going to the VAT man, sub-contractor wanting £5-600 then take out your material costs, say another £1200....Once you've covered your time in quoting and other overheads involved with running the business that initial figure of £2500 is now not starting to look so good...is it?

 

[Andyc321]

Must be plenty of plumbers up north twiddling their thumbs at the mo.... As I get plenty of emails from them wanting to move down here wanting a job... Have to turn em down because of the language barrier lol. Seriously though I would have thought if you try somewhere like Gumtree or similar sites place an advert, say what your willing to pay and test the waters. If the wages will take all the profit out of the job, then it is hardly worth the hassle. Probably why so many plumbing companies are going to the wall at present, when their charging say £2500 to fit a boiler, £500 going to the VAT man, sub-contractor wanting £5-600 then take out your material costs, say another £1200....Once you've covered your time in quoting and other overheads involved with running the business that initial figure of £2500 is now not starting to look so good...is it?

I might give gumtree a go then I forgot about that!Your spot on about the installations, larger companies especially just can't compete with the one man bands on price however there are still customers out there that realise there is a reason why companies might cost more to do do an install as they can provide better customer service and are a sometimes a safer option if anything goes wrong with the system as they'll have someone at the end of a phone and a network of engineers to maintain/repair the system I know of a couple of larger companies have turned there attention to maintenance contracts and all but dropped installations as the maintenance side seems to be more lucrative

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

Over the years we have employed many subbies & paye plumbers and made plenty of expensive mistakes!
I would avoid employment agencies.
Don't pay 1,000 to advertise in recruitment, ad a line saying you need new heating engineers to your ad in classified advertising your service, this ad probably cost £100 or less.

By far the best way to find people though is: net work, word of mouth, keep in touch with all GOOD guys you worked with/ trained with. Good guys are usually busy and not looking around much for extra work so getting a reputation as a good employer - organised and paying on time is also important.

As for networking - Mr TP insists that is the only reason he is out in the pub at night!
- mixing with all the tradesmen - so at the very last minute when someone lets him down by not turning up he has a good chance of calling in someone else at very short notice.

 

[Andyc321]

Over the years we have employed many subbies & paye plumbers and made plenty of expensive mistakes!
I would avoid employment agencies.
Don't pay 1,000 to advertise in recruitment, ad a line saying you need new heating engineers to your ad in classified advertising your service, this ad probably cost £100 or less.

By far the best way to find people though is: net work, word of mouth, keep in touch with all GOOD guys you worked with/ trained with. Good guys are usually busy and not looking around much for extra work so getting a reputation as a good employer - organised and paying on time is also important.

As for networking - Mr TP insists that is the only reason he is out in the pub at night!
- mixing with all the tradesmen - so at the very last minute when someone lets him down by not turning up he has a good chance of calling in someone else at very short notice.

Thanks for that I like the idea of adding a line to the classified ad advertising for engineers, I'll give that some thought!

Yeah agencies are a big no-no from me I phoned a few today and most were looking for me to tell them exactly how many hours the engineer would work per week, I explained that it doesn't work like that in this industry unless you are paye and the guy couldn't get it, I was then told they would work on an average of 8 hours a day and would want £17.50 an hour on top of what I pay the engineer.

I wonder if it would be a bad idea to get someone on who is fairly young and inexperienced and just give them all servicing/landlord's to do...Don't think the other sub would be happy getting lumbered with all the repairs though!

 

[wazzer]

I live in Manchester and my phone is dead Maybe i am not advertising correctly but i am not getting the work at the moment

 

[stevetheplumber]

any chance you can be more specific targeting is dificult in london as all areas tend to be mixed are you web based or hard copy with your advertising?

 

[cdodds2004]

do you not no any good lads looking for work? i got a good rep as a hard worker no matter who im working for i get 2 or 3 local guys always asking me to contract to them for odd jobs but just dont have time! must be plenty of good engineers in your neck of the woods looking for work! you might have to poach! most good engineers will have work, but if your paying more than BG im sure u can tempt a few

 

[Ivor Bates]

To be honest, no one should really have the need for agency's at the moment, as too many people are looking for work. One simple ad on a freebie site, even if you pay the site say £40 you'll be inundated with people looking for work. I recently offered work to plumbers @ £13ph at least 20 people went for it and I've also done an ad paying £17ph with a similar result. I can't fault the work that was done and I have no problem using either of the chaps again.

 

[Andyc321]

Posted an adverty with direct gov yesterday afternoon and the phone hasn't stopped ringing today along with about 10 CV's sent by e-mail!
Very pleased with the response, I just need to sift through and hopefully get a couple of the good ones on board, thing is most of the folks CV's are claiming over 10 years of experience!

 

[gaspastemania]

If they have over ten years experience then somebody you know should know of them .

 

[whyyoumadbro]

Andy, do you know of the Glasgow firm would be taking on any apprentices mate?

 

[Andyc321]

If they have over ten years experience then somebody you know should know of them .

Yeah, I'm not really bothered about someone knowing them to prove their experience as I'll be able to get a good measure of their ability etc during an interview by asking certain questions, the references will be used more to prove they are reliable and trustworthy

Andy, do you know of the Glasgow firm would be taking on any apprentices mate?

Hi I got your PM sorry I never replied I've been pretty busy today, as far as I know they don't often take on apprentices, I'll find out though

 

[whyyoumadbro]

No bother thanks mate its appreciated.