Going it alone!

[Ben Lockley]

Hi all,

im new to TEF so please bare with me if this has been covered before.

im looking to become self employed as a domestic electrician, my qualifications gained just over five years ago are:

     :From OLCI Construction Training:

    EAL Domestic Electrical Installer incl. Part P,

BS7671 - 17th Edition IEE Wiring  Regulations (2382-10),

 Fundamental Inspection, Testing & Initial Verification (2392),

i worked gor for a company for five years doing domestic and some commercial installations. Including everything from changing light fittings to complete re-wires and new builds, mainly on the domestic side. Also testing and certification, through through the registered company I worked for.

Since leaving last year I'm now thinking of becoming self employed.

Basically I need info on what. If any other qualifications I need to get started, will I need to register with NIC EIC, Napit or the like.

What kind of insurance.

Any help would be much appreciated.

cheers

Ben

 

[Murdoch]

If you speak to the CPSs they will have requirements for what you need to have for your initial assessment. 

This will cover qualifications, insurance, tester and calibration, BS 7671 books etc

And what types of work they want to inspect .....

 

[binky]

sounds like you have enough qualifications, but do you undertsand how to run a business - that's a lot harder than doing the work.

 

[Doc Hudson]

sounds like you have enough qualifications, but do you undertsand how to run a business - that's a lot harder than doing the work.

Absolutely, they are two very different beasts.  I know of some excellent top notch tradesmen who haven't got a clue about managing the admin and costs to keep a business running at a profit. And some people who are rubbish at the hands on the tools work, but could get estimates and the real costs of doing a job, to within a few pence of each other.  @Ben Lockley  Have you read any books about running your own business and book-keeping etc.. Do an Amazon search and get a couple if you haven't already done so.

Doc H.

 

[phil d]

For once I actually agree with all the comments made here, check with a few of the competent persons schemes, as I believe there can be considerable differences between things according to which scheme you choose.

The only other thing I would say is make sure you have a good business model to work from and remember that there's a lot more to running a business than just doing the job. Don't forget, a year is 52 weeks, now if you want 6 weeks holiday over a year then you need to earn enough in the 46 weeks you will work to see you through the 6 weeks you won't. Make sure you have sufficient insurance cover and remember to watch out for people taking advantage of you, I had one who swore blind I'd burned a hole in a new carpet, even though it was covered with 2 dust sheets and both of these were undamaged.

Remember your extra's book and use it, you'd be surprised at how many people will ask for a quote for say adding 3 twin sockets, then, when you get on site, start asking for extra's, could you swap a couple of light fittings, could you fit an outside light etc, well note it down, give them a price for the extra work and get them to sign it. Depending on the size of the job I 'm sure we all do the odd freebie, if you're doing a job worth several hundred pounds and they ask you to lets say, swap a light fitting that will only take 10 or 15 minutes, then you may want to do it as a freebie, that's up to you, one thing you don't want to do however is to end up doing a 1 hour paid job and spend another hour doing a freebie.

Don't forget Sundry items too when doing a quote, screws, rawlplugs, that broken drill bit, they all have to be paid for, I usually work out a price for a job and then add an amount on for sundries, this can be anything from a fiver on a small job to say £50 on a big job. And never ever feel you have to do a job, the worst one is the guy who you give a quote to and he says he's had a much cheaper one, well let them do it, and let him deal with the aftermath!

I had a bit of spare time one Friday and a guy asked for a price on a job, I'd quoted £180 parts and labour, it wasn't a big job, but the materials were a hundred quid, the guys reply was, "there's a guy in the pub can do it for a hundred quid", fine, let him do it, because either the guy wanting the price is trying to have you off, of the other guy isn't doing the job properly, either way walk away. Finally, the most important thing ever, you are only ever as good as your last job! you can do a hundred fantastic jobs, great, but when you get one wrong it's that one that everyone remembers.

I'm sure you've heard it in the pub, " anyone know a decent spark, I need some work done" a guy replies, "whatever you do, don't ask that John from down the road, he nailed a pipe and ruined a fellas ceiling"

Now John might be a cracking spark, he's got loads of happy customers and done loads of great jobs, but everyone remembers the time he hit a pipe. Make sure that you don't become John.

Anyway best of luck with whatever you decide to do, regards, Phil

 

[Murdoch]

And to add .......... do you have money to put in your business account when you start up?

Cash is king for paying bills when you are waiting for clients to pay you........... you may state on your invoice that the sum is due on submission of invoice BUT most people and companies pay when THEY WANT.............

And have you tried to work out your annual overheads ? Don't be surprised when its over £6K and that's before you buy a van ...

 

[Evans Electric]

And don't be scared off by the  excellent advice above  , follow it .

I nearly always  say yes to posters  who are wondering about SE , go for it ,  you'll probably make mistakes like all of us  but learn from them  .

For almost everything you do in domestic work  you need to be a "Competent Person"   under Part P of the Building Regs  .

That means , unfortunately , you now need to enlist with a  CPS    ( Competent Persons Scheme)   which means  NICEIC / NAPPITT/ ELECSA/  STROMA   etc

STROMA is the cheapest at half the cost of the others  ,I'd go with them  .  It doesn't matter which one ...just means you sign off your own work .  

They give you a list of requirements which you MUST have . 

I think your quallies are OK

Public Liability Insurance  to £ 2m     (About £180) 

18th edition Regs book .

Suitable test instruments   ( complete with calibration certs)

Electricity at Work Act  1989

Building Regs Document P

Written Health & Safety policy

Risk Assessment forms 

Thats roughly what ELECSA  require .

Just join , its not an option unfortunately .  STROMA  must be around £250    .  Don't worry , you  wont have a problem  , they need us more than we need them , just make sure the cheque doesn't bounce . 

Any more advice  just post again .     You need to work out a charge out rate   per hour  ,   write down all your business expenses  , van , road tax,  MOT ,  petrol , STROMA , Insurances , etc etc   and divide  by 40 hours  to give you  outgoings per week ....then decide how much you want to/ need to  earn  per week   & see what  it comes to .   

If you charge too much you'll soon know because you won't get any work .......if you charge too little  its just not worth  being SE . 

If you want to discuss advertising  post again . 

Let us know how you get on  .  

 

[binky]

For once I actually agree with all the comments made here,

 steady on now!  :^O

Isn't there a long post on here somewhere about starting your own business?

One other thing, the first 6 months is easy, you'll get work from family and friends (although they can be the worst customers), it's after that it gets hard. It takes about 2 years to get a good reputation and client base. You will have to advertise to get your name around. Do you have enough money to survive that length of time on minimum wage, cos that's roughly what you will earn over that time unles you have good contacts already. (incidentally at least half those contacts won't give you any work no matter what they say). I'm not trying to put you off, if you can handle the long hours off the job to do paperwork and visit clients then you will enjoy being your own boss.

 

[Evans Electric]

Isn't there a long post on here somewhere about starting your own business?

There certainly is  !    Mr Lockley can have a look at that if he wants .  

 

[Ben Lockley]

Thank you all for your input, it's all been a great help.

Due to my circumstances earning full time off the bat is not so much of an issue, so not too much of a problem there.

The scary part is just having the nuts to do it and getting everything in place.

Ill see how it goes and give you guys a shout if I get a bit stuck, if that's ok?

cheers

Ben

 

[binky]

the joy is working for yourself,  you will put the effort in, and earningss will be directly related to effort (most of the time), Don't charge less than £25 an hour, or you might as well go stack shelves in Tesco. Cash is king or at least Cash-flow, as long as you can manage that you should be fine, and do advertise to get your own client base. Being reliant on the likes of builders is not good - some builders are fine, mst aren't and just want cheap! And beware of winkers who target new businesses, there's a fare few about! 

You will always be welcome back

 

[ProDave]

Get to know other trades. As sure as I am typing this while you are doing a job someone will say "do you know a plumber.....?"  You want the plumber when asked "do you know an electrician" to be recommending you.

Watch out for people trying to sell you useless advertising in some probably non existant magazine.

 

[binky]

Watch out for people trying to sell you useless advertising in some probably non existant magazine.

Police, Ambulance, Fire Brigade, bullying in schools, The Foresters (not the genuine freemasons) to name but a few of the most popular scams. NEVER EVER agree to place an advert over the phone, always ask for a contract by email stating who what where and when! 

 

[Evans Electric]

Police, Ambulance, Fire Brigade,

I'd second that   and add Yellow Pages , whats left of them . Waste of space . 

I've always said its down to .."Who you know "   ..so as Dave says  get to know the plumber , the kitchen fitter etc  .    Local magazines like  Church ,  political party councillor ,

, and possibly best ...van livery  but keep it simple & to the point .   Name  ,  Electrician ,  phone no. 

And if there is one in your area ,  a local website  ,  theres one called   "Nextdoor "      that covers local areas  , lost cats , child minding ,   mobile mechanics,  someone always looking for a reliable tradesman  . 

 

[Murdoch]

Decent business cards, with your address, landline and mobile numbers

and a website too

but don’t waste your money on seo

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

If you yourself were looking for a tradesperson to do some work in you house...

The first port of call is always asking Friends and Family......

So if none of your friends or family know a good "Widget fitter"...

You will probably look in the local free newspaper...

And any local social media community sites...  (Ask Deke said  places like "Nextdoor",  not the best but it is a place where people look)

Some local communities have a town or village Facebook page...

Or doing a general Google search..

etc..

etc..

SO..   you need to think.. "Where do people look for electricians?"...

You need to get you name known in those places..

and its almost impossible to survive in todays climate without an Internet presence..

The more places you can get your name on the internet for the cheapest cost..

will give the best returns on your investment...

Even if you haven't gone self employed yet..

think about what company name you are considering..

Then do a search for suitable domain names for a website to be as near match to your proposed business name..

e.g. try using places like  www.123-reg.co.uk

If your ideal domain name is available..  Buy it now....  so you have it reserved before anyone gets it..

Its not a major expense buying a domain name for a 12 or 24 month period..

It always helps if you can get a website domain that is not easily confused with or is very similar to other businesses..

You will want people to find YOU not another business 1675miles away which just sound like your name!

It can be helpful to buy multiple names if you can get ALL of the most common name extensions..

e.g.    I own  the  ".CO.UK"   ".COM"   and the  ".UK"   for my website name...

So any searches for any of those three "big" website DOT names will end up at ME..   Not A.N.Other!

If you don't have any contacts or ideas for website hosting.. 

the forum does have Very.. Very..  VERY!!  good links with..  'Cloud9' who do very good website hosting packages...

http://www.cloud9dynamics.com/

Use their contact page if you are interested....  

(Not biased "TOO MUCH :innocent "  but Cloud9 have been hosting my website for....

Lost count how many years!?    But all good so far NO complaints at all!!!)

[ you can start building a website immediately without it actually going Live until you are ready, if you want to...

So you can do some behind the scenes work, so when you are ready to take the plunge, you are also ready to roll with an active webpage!!]

It is the early years while you have less existing customers to do the word-of-mouth to their friends and families..

is when its will be a very long hard slow grind..

If you have children at the local school.. it can be good to get you name in any and all of the programs for the school, Fetes, Productions etc..

where they have advertising space...

So you bang a few quid into the P.T.A.  funds to help the school and you get you name know to all the mums and dads of your children's peer group.

I'm going to stop now....

Cuz my beer bottle is empty!!!!!!!!!!

Hop that helps a bit?

Guinness

 

[Evans Electric]

think about what company name you are considering..

Please don't don't go with the easy way out one ....   picking   initials I think is a bit nondescript ...so many around   ...JK  Electrics   etc   .

Your name is what you're known by  so use that .       I did consider  the area I live in  which would indicate a local tradesman  ..in my case I considered Great Barr Electrics  and also  North Birmingham Electrical   , went with  Evans Electric  as there,s already a  local  Evans Electrical .