Markythesparky
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Yeah - without doubt cash basis is my way to go. MTD won’t affect me at present so I can ignore those perils at the moment.
Non-Notifiable work
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And no doubt building up a cash balance in your business account is a good move too - then you can pay your suppliers and not be too worried about slow payers
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A card terminal, (numerous are available all accepting credit/debit/apple/google etc..), to accept customer payments once you finish a job can remove the slow/late payers problem..
So customer doesn't have to worry about having cash available or setting up a bank transfer etc..
For just a small nominal transaction fee the money is typically in you bank within a couple of days..
Plus a lot of customers do tend to like cash-free payment methods..
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Never used one but there again never seem to have issues with slow payers
Markythesparky
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May have look at the card payment systems - cheers
Fair point, but BACS works for lots of people, and has no fees.
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It's commercial customers, who expect you to send them an invoice that are the usual slow payers. A card terminal would not speed that up.
Stage 1 towards retirement, I don't fo commercial any more.
Stage 1 towards retirement, I don't fo commercial any more.
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I have only had two late payers since going self employed in Feb 1999, but card payments are still easier for a domestic job in my experience. (As ProDave says.. commercial works typically wait until their regular scheduled BASC's transfer day of month and would not do card payments!).
However many people don't like the faff of setting up a BACS transfer for a one-off payment..
But they are happy to do a contactless card/phone payments, especially for transactions less than £100..
[ Although I have also done four figure card payment transactions as well ]
Fee's are negligible.. and/or no worse than some of the traditional bank charges for paying in cheques etc. into a business bank account.. Which are easily covered by ensuring that your job costs include your admin charges...
(No different than adjusting your invoice charges because your fuel costs, insurance cost, material costs, etc. have gone up bit)
I picked up a card terminal back in Nov/Dec 2019 on offer at £9.99 from Rymans.. (but they are a bit more expensive now!!)
IMHO one of the best decisions I have made.. Especially if you have done small "minor works" / "non-notifiable" / "fault rectification" job.. that you couldn't give the customer an exact cost until you had finished...
e.g. customer phones/text/e-mails describing problem.. I suggest an approx cost, Min/Max, if they are happy I trot along do the job. get a card payment.. Easy solution everyone is happy!
As I read the question "Markythespark" is looking at doing some easy domestic non-notifiable electrical jobs, rather than commercial or larger notifiable works??
Probably less than a day's work... Objective:
"Get In", "Do The Work", "Get Paid", "Get Out", "Get Down The Pub To Spend The Money Earned"...
but I may be wrong?
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Doing simple little non notifiable jobs is not all plain sailing.
This from today's "change a few switch and socket fronts" job.
This from today's "change a few switch and socket fronts" job.
Markythesparky
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Haha, Ah yes Indeed - what was the outcome?
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IT was a DIY Joe additional spurred socket. Thankfully not far away in a stud and plasterboard wall, so correct cable pulled through and connected properly, CPC and all.
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£28.50 from Amazon, so not bad really.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/mobile-ter...3398938&sprefix=credit+card+re,aps,114&sr=8-3
Markythesparky
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Hi James - like you I only want to do non-Notifiable work. Do you charge by the hour, circuit, accessory or other measure?
As I’ve said in my original post I’m not going to take anyone’s eyes out, just supplement my retirement fund, a better season ticket or a few extra beers.
What is the most prevalent jobs you get as a matter of interest, and how are you marketing yourself locally?
Cheers Mark
jameslaurieuk
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Hi Mark, I’m probably not a good example as I don’t market myself as an electrician. I do a lot of work for smallholders in west wales and was occasionally asked to install a floodlight in a stable or change a light fitting and thought that I’d better find out how to do it officially. Now having got wiring regs, initial testing and verification and part p certs I don’t feel experienced enough to start advertising. In Wales part p still includes kitchens which is also limiting. So now I still just do the occasional jobs for people I’m already working for and try to spread the word that I am available for any other non notifiable work.
Markythesparky
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Thanks for that James, I’m relying on the word of mouth approach as well - although I’ve made a Facebook page to see what the response is. Looking at a few videos, generally speaking, it looks as though pricing by the job would be my go to rather than by the hour. One spark was on a day rate, and the customer hadn’t got the materials so had him jetwash his drive till they arrived
One spark was on a day rate, and the customer hadn’t got the materials so had him jetwash his drive till they arrived
Who relies on customers sourcing parts other than lights. That’s madness
not really. your getting paid for their screwup....
jameslaurieuk
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I think it depends on the job, for fault finding it could be hourly with a minimum of 2 hours, for set jobs it might be based on the number of hours it should take you to do it, that way it should balance out where you run into problems and where it's goes a breeze. Of course if you run into problems outside of the job you’re doing you can always talk to the customer about why you might need to charge a bit more.it looks as though pricing by the job would be my go to rather than by the hour. One spark was on a day rate, and the customer hadn’t got the materials so had him jetwash his drive till they arrived
As for jet washing a drive because the parts hadn’t turned up, that sounds to me like a nightmare customer with no respect for the trade, maybe he should walk away next time!
then
Wisdom of Solomon
Skin of a Rhino
Ability to see through walls and tall stories (sic)
Love of 'friendly' dogs, cats, rabbits, toddlers and 'visiting relatives'
The inner strength to handle "But it can't be that much - you were only in the loft /seller/ stables for half a day . ."
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An additional thought when considering your costings...
Don't forget that some types of work require multiple visits while you wait for other trades to complete their part of the work...
Even with non-notifiable work, 'First-fix' & 'Second-fix' visits can often be needed and sometimes the "other-trade(s)" haven't done their bit correctly, which can mess-up your time/labour schedule costings, as you have to do extra work and/or visits!!!
So if providing costs/quotes/estimates to any customer remember to include a suitable adjustment factor if other trades are involved!!!
Anyone can be a busy idiot working for peanuts.... It is a bit more complex to be sufficiently busy without losing profit due to other trades incompetence!
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