Business slow!

[tedgman]

anyone else suddenly business dried up?

anyone had a good master pan to drum up more business ?

 

[keith915]

become a scrap metal collector. Those gypsies on channel 4 seem to have enough cash lying around...

 

[telectrix]

it's diabolical at the moment mate. just waiting for the phone to ring.

 

[keith915]

Its really tough, you start thinking about saving money because you don't know when the next work will come from; but on the other hand you think if I spend money on advertising I might get more work in.. argh

Does my head in.

 

[i=p/u]

well cant you do other things, window cleaning=20 a hour , gathering scrap metal =£££ , power washing £££££ loadssssss

 

[telectrix]

i could sell my body for medical research. will keep them quacks baffled for years

 

[Paul.M]

i could sell my body for medical research. will keep them quacks baffled for years

And that's just studying your brain .

Regards to it being slow I'm now getting a bit bored with calling firms and asking if any positions are available. Typical reply is "send us your cv". Never get any replies and the one I got last week for an interview has a really bad reputation for not paying, can't win.

I know something will come up but I'm bouncing off the walls atm. Just have to stick it out a bit longer or be a cowboy sparks undercutting everyone and end up being chased by Dom Littlewood.

 

[telectrix]

And that's just studying your brain .

Regards to it being slow I'm now getting a bit bored with calling firms and asking if any positions are available. Typical reply is "send us your cv". Never get any replies and the one I got last week for an interview has a really bad reputation for not paying, can't win.

I know something will come up but I'm bouncing off the walls atm. Just have to stick it out a bit longer or be a cowboy sparks undercutting everyone and end up being chased by Dom Littlewood.

at least you'd hav your moment of fame on the telly

 

[Paul.M]

at least you'd hav your moment of fame on the telly

I'll just make sure I have an Accordfire t-shirt on and an electricians forum base ball cap in when I get caught .

 

[mayfair]

looking for a brain lol

i could sell my body for medical research. will keep them quacks baffled for years

 

[telectrix]

they've only got to shine a torch in my ear and see the light coming out the other ear....................................

 

[Baztastic]

I think everyone is saving money were ever they can, and as always H & S is the first thing out the window. I have my cscs card, so next week I am driving up to the big building sites and approaching the site Managers and seeing if the trades on site have had there 110 tested, or if the cabins need doing.

 

[grantr37]

I think to be a window cleaner as mentioned earlier here you need to get a "street trader" licence from the council, and they start nosing around about your business rates for where you store your goods, even if its only a mop and bucket in a shed, VAT and what you are paying yourself minus tax.....a friend was wanting to set up stalls and go around the big open air summer time concerts selling outdoor kit, tents etc and was told he had to pay something like 88 pounds a day to the local council(and this was over 3 years ago, so will be more now) for a licence, and that they would need to approve each and every product he was selling individually, which would be done by trading standards, he was advised that attempting to just set up without paying out the monies demanded by them would result in a prosecution and severe punishment...and yet there are foreign people who are obviously illegals selling things in city streets outside pubs and clubs all over the UK every night and they dont say a thing....probably because they are run by people "owned" by gangsters.....hence not easy push overs...

 

[tonys]

and yet there are foreign people who are obviously illegals selling things in city streets outside pubs and clubs all over the UK every night and they dont say a thing....probably because they are run by people "owned" by gangsters.....hence not easy push overs...

The authorities seem to go after easy targets, TAX paying citizens with a family and address. The amount of times time people near me block public highway/footpaths to carry out driveway work but the police/authorities choose not to turn up and seem to make up excuses as to why they do not wish to confront these people and tell them its an offence to block the highway.

Plenty of cowards within our society but can turn into bullies when easy prey appears. Its Davey boys BIG SOCIETY for you lol

 

[Duntestin]

Mate in pub told me that PHS (Epsilon,Powerplus,CLM merged) are making 125 PAT lads redundant.

That'll be 125 more lads with 'their own' testers punting for work!

 

[paulytrick]

I'm just starting out PAT Testing.
I'm at the end of my 3rd year of my c&g 2330 and I've completed my pat testing course seperatly to this. I have around 5 years experience PAT testing and working on domestic installations.

I'll be honest, competition seems to be rife in all areas of the electrical game at the moment and I can't see me spending the rest of my life crawling under floors and sweating/shivering in dirty loft spaces breathing in god knows what.

If I can make a living PAT testing, I'll be very happy. Easier, cleaner work and although I take the responsibilities seriously, they are not as severe as the responsibilities which go hand in hand with re-wiring someones house or working on mains voltage in general.

I'm not a 59p merchent. If anyone ruins PAT testing, it will be the people who charge 59p per test.

I have a min callout charge of £40. this covers the first ten items I test. (before anyone looks on the website and asks for an explanation after my no 59p merchent comment )

This may seem cheap to some or expensive to others, idk but it works ok for me.
Obviously if someone has 200 items they need testing, the £40 is waved and I price per appliance.

Business is slow atm but I only started putting my name about around 3 months ago and I get a little bit more work every week.

 

[Duntestin]

Well good luck to you mate!
Get yourself around local shops, franchises are often good as they source their own services.
Try letting agents/estate agents as they often rent furnished properties that need testing.
Added value is always good - offer inclusive fuse changes, but charge extra for plug change or flex retermination.
£40 will get you a microwave tester from Acutest, charge around a fiver per microwave tested.
Show clients a sample report and, if your software does it, an asset list as well.
It's the little things which can set you apart from the rest and get those jobs in!

 

[paulytrick]

Well good luck to you mate!
Get yourself around local shops, franchises are often good as they source their own services.
Try letting agents/estate agents as they often rent furnished properties that need testing.
Added value is always good - offer inclusive fuse changes, but charge extra for plug change or flex retermination.
£40 will get you a microwave tester from Acutest, charge around a fiver per microwave tested.
Show clients a sample report and, if your software does it, an asset list as well.
It's the little things which can set you apart from the rest and get those jobs in!

Thanks for the support amd advice mate.

I've been round a lot of the local shops/firms/letting agents. Smal businesses and pubs are next on the list.
As far as I can see, most people in most businesses are potential customers.

At the moment I offer a fair bit free but this will change if I decide it's too big an outlay to win work.
I don't charge for reflexing, plug heads or replacement fuses.

I charge microwave testing for a visual and electrical test but the leakage test is free.

There's a fair bit of luck attached to anything and I have been lucky in finding some clients who have introduced me to more work or offered me more work.

I've also seen that some clients have come to me because they are unsatisfied with their previous pat tester.
I even had one guy aproach me who told me his last pat tester turned up without any stickers and came back at a later date to sticker up some 50 odd items. I'm not too sure how the guy new which item was attached to which appliance ID but I am sure this aproach has cost him future work.
They guy who aproached me also said he missed nearly as many appliances as he stickered...

Another one, when asked if he did repairs, re flexing etc answered 'not me mate.' I'm not sure how these people hope to earn a living....

I have no idea who the first company was but I do know the second and they are a fairly big concern in pat testing in my local area.

I can't see an excuse for this kind of carry on but seeing as it's benefiting me by shoving more work my way I'm not too upset

 

[Duntestin]

Sounds like you're on the right track, your website looks good too!
As you say, a bit of luck now and you're away!