Good Evening..

[jamesanderson]

Hello all, 

I have just joined the forum and started browsing and seems like theres a vast amount of info which is helpful. 

I am an ex Chief electrical engineer Royal Navy, I completed a 5 Year apprenticeship and got myself a Degree. I then continued working on Nuclear Submarines for a further 7 years after. I am currently Project Managing a HV Compensation installation in Mozambique which is interesting to say the least. 

Anyway I joined the forum as I'm looking into starting my own electrical company in the next 3-6 months and so trying to do as much research before taking the plunge. I am looking into Domestic courses as my discipline has always been Marine or HV based and I would like to be able to offer Residential services. 

Anyway I see there a dedicated page for Business start ups so Im going to work my way through that,

I am currently creating my business plan and financial projection, if anyone has any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks 

James 

 

[Sidewinder]

First piece of advice.

If you want to earn anywhere near what you have been.  Forget setting up a domestic business.

Rates are pants.

The domestic arena has been decimated by people who are running a business for a wage, not to run a business, there is a BIG difference.

Please for your own sake, think about this, as unless you have a significant second income from your previous employment then you will struggle, and if you do and you base your rates on your gap income then you will be messing the market up for those who rely on their primary income being their electrical installation business.

 

[Murdoch]

As a rule of thumb allow about £6k for business overheads per year, on the basis you are "working" from home

 

[jamesanderson]

My idea is to offer services to Marine, Commercial & Industrial markets, I had in mind including Domestic also, hence why I was looking into available courses but this would not be my core line of work. I ideally want to focus on Condition Based Monitoring, Fault diagnosis, Testing & Installation and repair. 

My idea was to try and offer various services to different markets in order to increase my customer target base. 

I would be running this as my sole income so have no plans on messing up the market, I want this to be a business with a future and not just a wage otherwise I would stick where I am now. 

Thanks

Murdoch, 

Thanks for your advice, my current projected overheads for working from home are 680 per month so 8160 a Year, But I did try and project worst case scenario and I'm sure I can cut back in some areas.

 

[Sidewinder]

james,

Where in the UK are you, because your business model encroaches on mine! ; )

Barring the Marine bit.

We can help guide you and design your business model, but, you need to understand the  details of the market.

Domestic £15/hr no VAT because most of the idiots have mucked the market up (at least near me) so that there is no way of earning a reasonable income and running a business because they are charging rates akin to earning a wage whilst trying to run a business.

If you are looking at  PdM, Fault Diagnosis, CBM, PLC, CNC, industrial etc. you should be looking at circa £45/hr, IF you are going to be correctly insured for this work as it will be 10x the cost of a "regular" electrical installation contractor, if you are also looking at H&S and design, consultancy etc. which I don't see how you can get away from with the description you have just given?

 

[jamesanderson]

Sidewinder,

At the minute i'm trying to organise the services I can provide, my background I have a lot of experience with CBM, so thermography, vibration analysis, laser balancing and alignment, I also have done a lot of work with breaker testing, load trials/fingerprint testing, machinery overhauls DGs, MGs, Steam turbines. I also have experience creating PMS. Control & Indication, PLCs and the like is not my Forte but its something I have done. With regards to H&S, design and consultancy this is something I would need to research further. 

I appreciate your comments on the domestic market, its food for thought whether its worth targeting, I just thought it might give me a starting revenue while I establish my core market. 

Your comments about understanding the market this is something I am trying to do to see where I can fit in. As I said I would like to identify a few different avenues in the hope of creating a greater target market. 

To add I'm currently based in the North-east

 

[Sidewinder]

OK james, no where near me so that's good!

I am jesting a little here.

To get into your experience market, you will need a LOT of contacts for you to bring with you.

I found this first hand as I had a lot of contacts in the "higher tech" end of the market, and only after 5 - 6 years after most of them have forgotten me are these contacts coming through!

 

[jamesanderson]

No problem,

Yeah contacts are highly important, fortunately I think I have some decent ones for the MOD and also a lot of guys I used to work with went offshore, this would be a good market to capitalise on if I could get in. My current job I'm trying to build a database of guys in the transmission line of work for thermal imaging as this has a lot of potential so again this is another avenue. 

I am really just trying to work out the best way to go at the minute, what courses/certifications I need and where I want to pitch to. I Know CBM is growing but its still a bit of Niche market hence why I wanted to include some small boat works, domestic, commercial etc to get the ball rolling. Maybe its just better to focus on where my experience is?

 

[steptoe]

Stay well clear of domestic if you can, I do it, I try not to, but I subby for a builder that does council refurbs, 

It's regular work, but the money is worse than dire, 

As has been said, too many people working for a wage rather than running a business. 

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Domestic work is a whole bunch of sub -markets...

Just as much as there are a whole bunch of different types of dwelling that people live in..

and how they pay for that accomodation..

Anyone thinking all domestic work is the same is being very blinkered IMHO...

e.g.

Private contracts..

Owner occupier elderly, little or no mortgage, hate doing any DIY..

Owner occupier young, big mortgage, no spare cash, try to do most DIY..

Builders contracts / extensions / new builds..

Multiple property build projects.. 

Individual single build projects..

Private landlords contracts..

Council landlord contracts..

etc..

etc..

etc..

I have said it before and I will say it again...

ELECTRICAL WORK IS NO DIFFERENT IN PRINCIPAL TO ANY OTHER BUSINESS OR MARKET..

Different sectors of the market will pay a higher premium for better quality product..

Some will prefer a cheaper product,

(e.g. I can buy work trousers from Aldi for £8.99 or numerous branded items form other places for £50.00+)

Even in the domestic sector there is reasonable money to be made if you can market yourself to the right customers!!

Many people on this forum will say Yellow pages is crap advertising...

But there is still a percentage of the domestic population who  use it...

Personally I get enough business from it to pay for its advertising costs and give me an increased base of new customers..

e.g.

Last Thursdays job was an brand new YellPge customer, (off to see another new YP customer this week as well...),  who rang the week before... 

replacing shower cable switch & dedicated shower RCD after "plumber" had replaced shower and it was still not working

approx 10mile round trip..

on site 9:45 start work 10:00

finish 16:15 back home before 17:00

charge for 6 hours labour

approx 11m of 10.0mm T&E

1x crabtree cord pull 50A switch

RCD, clips fixings etc..

6 hrs labour @ £35.00n per hour

plus materials  total cost  £301+ a few pence..

(I had e-mailed estimate for the job the previous weekend so customer was well aware of costs..

and could have looked elsewhere is they so wished!)

Now personally I can cope with that sort of money for a days Domestic work and I don't call it dire!!!!!

What anyone can earn in any sector of the electrical trade is down to how well you can market yourself..

how good a job and thus reputation you can get...

People WILL pay a premium for a premium quality job...

But its no good trying to sell premium quality product to customer who is after a cheap fix...

A lot of landlords, councils & builders are NOT looking for a premium product!!

IF you are looking at going into the domestic sector you need to decide upon your target market..

suss out how you will be advertising to that market..

what are your marketing / advertising costs.. etc

and build them into your labour costs!

Guinness

 

[jamesanderson]

Trailerboy, 

Thanks for your comments, I agree with what you are saying I think you need to cater for what level of quality your customer requires and pitch accordingly. I think this is something I need to clarify and research before taking any further steps as due diligence now should hopefully help me in the future.

Thanks