Working for yourself??

[LEO]

Hi Guys,

I would just like some honest opinions regarding the above please. I currently work as an Electrician (employed by a company), been working as an Electrician for about 14yrs now (various lines/types of industry). I feel now perhaps it's time to move on and work for myself. I have got many questions and unclear things about doing this i.e, what is the process with regards to certification, can I do it myself or do I have to be registered with the NICEIC first due to Part P etc. Do I have to notify building control before any work is carried out, basically I want to be able to do the work and certification myself without the hassle of getting other people involved etc.

Is there decent money in it, or is it not worth the aggro? Competion of work?

I would like to hear from any subbies or guys running there own business' as Electrical Contractors.

Much appreciated, Cheers LEO.

 

[flukey]

hi leo

you really need to register with one of the competent person schemes if you are serious about doing domestic work as going through building control will ultimately cost you a small fortune

as with competition its the same as most bsuinesses in that once you get your name out there and start getting recommendations and repeat business you will have cracked it up until then though you will ahve to compete with some sparks that quote very unrealistic prices you cant compete with but on the upside you will have the last laugh when you go and put their cock ups right

no time is a good time to take the plunge and if this years anything like the last one i wish you the very best of luck

 

[Brian Boyd]

I went out on my own at start of last year and found it tight at the start but after digging deep and working hard combined with professional job at reasonable prices i`m working now about a month in front of myself and have been as while. You need to be trading for min 6 months before you can reg with NICEIC. Certificates can be signed off by competent person with adequate knowledge on inspection and testing although getting your 6391 would be recommended. I`d say though you either go for it 100% or not at all as its a shock to the system keeping paperwork and everything else right so an average week will be about 60 hours min to stay on top of things. In my opinion its been right move for me and i have no less than seven other contractors in my town to compete with. If its what you want then go for it but if you have doubts think about the extra stress and pressure of doing everything yourself. The financial rewards will come but not straight away with the cost of vans equipment etc.

 

[flukey]

I went out on my own at start of last year and found it tight at the start but after digging deep and working hard combined with professional job at reasonable prices i`m working now about a month in front of myself and have been as while. You need to be trading for min 6 months before you can reg with NICEIC. Certificates can be signed off by competent person with adequate knowledge on inspection and testing although getting your 6391 would be recommended. I`d say though you either go for it 100% or not at all as its a shock to the system keeping paperwork and everything else right so an average week will be about 60 hours min to stay on top of things. In my opinion its been right move for me and i have no less than seven other contractors in my town to compete with. If its what you want then go for it but if you have doubts think about the extra stress and pressure of doing everything yourself. The financial rewards will come but not straight away with the cost of vans equipment etc.

hi brian
just out of interest, where did you do your advertising as it seems to have worked well for you

 

[acat]

Dont think it was the advertsing that made the man it was the recommendations from jobs already done. A recommendation is priceless. I advertised as much as I could and got quite a few jobs from it. Now when my phone rings I get "You did a job for a friend of mine n you ...............

Best of luck



Chris

 

[offshorealex]

There are various places to find work on the internet that i find more cost effective than advertising. My preferred one is 123 getaquote, also rated people not bad. There is myhammer, which I personally hate! I used to spend approx 12k a month on advertising, but only become the legendary busy fool!! I had 12 guys working for me, and 6 vans on the road before I realised that all I was doing was advertising to get work to keep the guys working for me, not make me any more money. I'm now combining working offshore with running the business with casual labour when required, and spending about £150 a month buying leads from the internet. Getting busy again and starting to face the prospect of giving up the guaranteed income from offshore again and just going it alone!

 

[flukey]

Dont think it was the advertsing that made the man it was the recommendations from jobs already done. A recommendation is priceless. I advertised as much as I could and got quite a few jobs from it. Now when my phone rings I get "You did a job for a friend of mine n you ...............

Best of luck



Chris

hi chris,
that is very true, but he started on his own in what has been the hardest year on record and seems to be doing something right
ive been trading since 1988 and found most of last year stop and start even with my regular customers and recommendations and more advertising than i have ever done before

 

[Brian Boyd]

In N.I we have local services guides which go out 4 times a year to all local homes businesses etc though the vast amount of my work is repeat custom and expanding the homers i set out from. It was very slow at start with only maybe 2/3 days a week which was scary but it gradually got better and better. The start of this year is going great so far. I`m not from the main land and this might be a factor.

 

[flukey]

In N.I we have local services guides which go out 4 times a year to all local homes businesses etc though the vast amount of my work is repeat custom and expanding the homers i set out from. It was very slow at start with only maybe 2/3 days a week which was scary but it gradually got better and better. The start of this year is going great so far. I`m not from the main land and this might be a factor.

hi brian,
its good to see you are doing well.
hopefully things will start to level out for the rest of us soon and we can get back to some sort of normality
keep up the good work

 

[SirKit Breaker]

Let the customers advertise to you. This is what i do when it gets quiet. All planning applications are advertised by the local councils both in the local papers and on the internet. I write to the planning applicants, enclosing a covering letter explaining who i am and what i do, i enclose Elecsa's homeowner letter which explains all they need to know about part P etc etc, and give them names and addresses of recent clients as a reference, subject to their approval. If i send out 30 letters i can guarantee that i will get at least a couple of jobs from them. The first time i tried this i got called out to a tripping lighting circuit on a saturday morning which i fixed for a good price, he then offered me to quote to wire his extension, which i did and i got the job, i now do all the electrical work for the builder who built the extension. I v'e done about 5 rewires on recommendation of the bloke who's extension i did. Not a bad payday for a couple of hours on the computer. I have since repeated the exercise twice and got work both times.

Cheers...........Howard

 

[Jason Smith]

hi brian,
its good to see you are doing well.
hopefully things will start to level out for the rest of us soon and we can get back to some sort of normality
keep up the good work

I have been incredibly Lucky. An Electrician did some work for me at home and we got on well. He is not as able anymore and as our work can be up to 80% house bashing, I do all the hard bits whilst he enjoys doing the Boards etc. I personally am a Domestic installer now, and due to my friends excellent client base, have never been sort of work.

 

[flukey]

I have been incredibly Lucky. An Electrician did some work for me at home and we got on well. He is not as able anymore and as our work can be up to 80% house bashing, I do all the hard bits whilst he enjoys doing the Boards etc. I personally am a Domestic installer now, and due to my friends excellent client base, have never been sort of work.

hi jason,
do you only work on the island or mainland too

 

[Jason Smith]

My Plan was to give up the day job, get a part time job, then advertise and see what happened. I worked every other day part time, and as a result of advertising a few small jobs came in, all was going very well, untill from an existing customer, I was asked to quote on a Re- Wire.This was four weeks work, and meant that the part time job had to go or the re- wire did. I took the leap from a bit of security to the unknown, and have never looked back. There is a fair bit of self disipline involved, I attend to office work in the morning, telephone calls etc, entries in the book keeping system, and leave the hous as oo after nine as I can. I genrally get to customers at about 945, it seems to be ideal as they are over the morning "bit. " Customers will always ask you to do little jobs for them " when you have time " .These are very important rainy day jobs you can pull in when you are not busy for whatever reason. Keep on top of these though as it is stressfull when you are on a big job and you have customers pulling at you to do their outside light etc,.

hi jason,
do you only work on the island or mainland too

Island only, I do have a feeling it will get very busy as they have just announced 850 houses to be built locally, this should soak up some competition.

 

[LEO]

Thankyou guys for the info, any more views out there?

Much appreciated .

LEO.

 

[acat]

Google business link its a free course on running your own business and covers everything. When you take into account the investment you made van ins etc etc its normally works out as a loss in the first year break even second year and profit 3rd year onwards.

PM me if you have any concerns I went self employed last september


Good luck

Chris

 

[mainebankelec]

I went out on my own at start of last year and found it tight at the start but after digging deep and working hard combined with professional job at reasonable prices i`m working now about a month in front of myself and have been as while. You need to be trading for min 6 months before you can reg with NICEIC. Certificates can be signed off by competent person with adequate knowledge on inspection and testing although getting your 6391 would be recommended. I`d say though you either go for it 100% or not at all as its a shock to the system keeping paperwork and everything else right so an average week will be about 60 hours min to stay on top of things. In my opinion its been right move for me and i have no less than seven other contractors in my town to compete with. If its what you want then go for it but if you have doubts think about the extra stress and pressure of doing everything yourself. The financial rewards will come but not straight away with the cost of vans equipment etc.

And Brian its also worth mentioning that your not from the biggest town in the world as well lol

 

[LukeD]

go gently..... try a few weekend jobs etc and see how you and "customers get on etc. Some guys are just not meant to work for themselves etc , crap time keeping and unable to quote etc . Its a nice life if it works, but very little security .

clients will always be your best advertisers ! make a point of leaving them a few cards and ask them to pass them on if they are happy with the service you gave them

good luck

 

[Octopus]

Google business link its a free course on running your own business and covers everything. When you take into account the investment you made van ins etc etc its normally works out as a loss in the first year break even second year and profit 3rd year onwards.

PM me if you have any concerns I went self employed last september


Good luck

Chris

I'd also recommend attending one of the (free) 1/2 sessions at your local tax office to understand what they will be expecting to see!