starting out self employed

[johnmcginty]

All your work guaranteed for a year? why a year?.... ( I would clarify)do you supply all materials? or are you going to guarantee hose tap from aldi custard bought that you installed 364 days ago? that is now leaking ? for drainage and blockages not a good idea! what about your emergency rates? can you do 24hr call out? it is quite lucrative. £40 for a finished job , do you have an unfinished job rate ? do you do an oap discount? Do you have a call out charge or a cancellation fee? £20 to swap an inlet valve, ????? no wonder the plumbers in your area can't afford an apprentice good luck bud

thankyou everyone who has replied to my question. you have all given me lots to think about.

I have revamped my website as suggested. www.andysplumbingservices.com
I would love to do my nvq 2 before going out alone but have had no luck in finding a placement or a job in the field so feel a little stuck regarding advice that i should wait until i am more experienced. what i have decided is that i will take on any small jobs (i fixed a toilet inlet valve today for example and charged £20 plus parts) that come from the business cards i have put in shop windows in the local area. other than this (and the job hunting) i won't advertise any further or take on any more complicated jobs yet until i have at least finished my city and guilds level 2. Then i will have completed 3 years in college at least. does anyone have any tips on finding an NVQ placement as i agree that this would be very helpful for me? i rang a huge list of all the local plumbers already asking if they were taking on apprentices but had no luck with that approach.

 

[quality]

I have to agree with johnm plumbing, gas fitting, drainage whatever the market is saturated with skilled folk that have very little work let alone those who are so called qualified wanting to start out. Time is now to look and get work, it is there but you have got to be able to do it to get it - no offence intended but its not easy to earn a decent wage

 

[Plucky]

Try not to take this personally but your website it shocking. It looks like was made by a school kid.

 

[andyskint]

johnm
is £20 for a toilet sistern inlet valve change too much then? i charged less than my quoted £40 min charge for this as i felt id be asking too much for this job. Obviously i wouldn't expect this much if i was working under a 'proper plumber' as an apprentice.

i know my site is pretty naff too, but its the best i can do without paying a web designer. do i really need to do this, do you guys all have fantastic sites to promote yourselves?

 

[johnmcginty]

johnm
is £20 for a toilet sistern inlet valve change too much then? i charged less than my quoted £40 min charge for this as i felt id be asking too much for this job. Obviously i wouldn't expect this much if i was working under a 'proper plumber' as an apprentice.

i know my site is pretty naff too, but its the best i can do without paying a web designer. do i really need to do this, do you guys all have fantastic sites to promote yourselves?

Just click on my signature at the botom of mine I think mine is just ok enough... if you have a bad quality site then some people may think you put in the same effort in your plumbing, but i understand when you are starting out , click the create button at the bottom of my site you can build one much better quality with that software and get a logo and photoshop it up a bit or get a designer. £20 for an inlet valve ? hmmmm i was sugessting that it is an unconsidered price eg

£20 per job x 30 jobs a month ( for arguments sake) = £600 per month turnover. spend £200 on ads £100 diesel £200 other stuff £100 profit =
£1200 per year. Now as nobody can live off that the price is a silly one and if you are undercutting real tradesmen who charge real prices then they cannot afford to employ apprentices. So just think about your prices a bit more based on the actual economics of your own business structure which would have overheads! and not weather you FEEL its too much because belive me when you have overheads you will not be thinking £20 is too much.I would charge £55 bud

 

[andyskint]

johnm

thanks for getting back to me with your advice. I think i was suckered on that job. i originally asked the chap for £50 after having completed the job as i thought this was about standard. he looked at me gone out and then told me he only had £45 on him. I said that would do, and then asked him if he felt the price was fair as he had given me that look. He said he was expecting to pay about £30 so I gave him a tenner back. The inlet valve cost a little under £15 so I made my £20 for the work. He was quite suprised to get money back obviously and i spent the rest of the day wondering if I had done the right thing. Obviously not if i am really undercutting everyone else which i certainly don't want to do as i can see the problems with this. This was my first real job for someone i dont know, everything else has been for friends and family who i only charged the parts for. this is where my testimonials came from on my site. Do you have a list of prices that you would charge for different fairly standard jobs then?

I like your site by the way, and can now see why mine is getting the comments it is. maybe i do need that web disigner...

 

[johnmcginty]

andyskint , don't wory about it you might get a referral from it and it happened to me too when i started out . Just do an hourly rate of £45 or whatever minimum job 1 hr and I have had that look from customers many a time though it just doesnt wash with me anymore. Every man and his dog has a reason it should be cheaper for them and many a folk will try it on too , if you tell them the price before you start ( labour) and then parts on top how can they complain ?

 

[Flanners]

Ive been in this job 10 years being trained by national award wining enginers and feel I can do my job with my eyes closed. There is nothing that I dont know about the domestic gas, heating, plumbing industry and what I dont know I find out.

Im also qualified in renewables (ground source, rainwater harvesting, solar etc)

However I am still doubting the possibility of starting on my own! Im sure ill do it but it needs to feel the right time.

Dont mean to make you feel daunted in any way just think you need some experience behind you to experience the 'mistakes' as this is where you will learn the most.

Good luck!!!...................oh and sort your website out!!

 

[Centralheatking]

This is really a question for Flanners

How do you qualify in Rainwater Harvesting ? -

Its a serious enquiry as I might want to follow suit

centralheatking