How much work is reasonable

[Blue Fox]

With all this talk of pricing and business plans etc I was wondering how much work it is normal to expect when times are "normal"? Having only started up on my own this year after always doing site work I've never been through te good or bad times. Am now following a bit of Green Hornets advice and doing a proper business plan, had a pretty good idea what I expected to earn and its going pretty much to plan so far i think although time will tell!! But how much work can I expect to be getting when everything gets back to normal, I charge about average for the area, do a good job and since starting up almost every customer I've had has reccomended me to someone else so got to be doing something right. So what do you guys who have seen it all before think is a reasonable number of chargeable hours or days to expect per week?

 

[NozSpark]

I have had discussions about this with some other trades..

One guy said that "You need to earn 12 months money in 9 months"... I think he was about right!! (but that was a couple of years ago when things were better)

 

[green-hornet]

Reccomendations in my view are the best ways to keep working, however the client base you need takes time to develop.

There are no hard and fast rules to keeping busy, but I must admit if you go through this forum and look at the my pictures thread you will see some very impressive jobs done by members of this forum.

I personally would be proud to have come close to the neatness and professional standards that I have seen.

Your workload depends on your customers knowing you are there!

You could have the best product around or offer the best service but if your potential customers dont know you then you will forever be overlooked.

Another angle is what you are content on doing, if you want to remain a sole trader, or take on extra staff to fullfill contracts.

I often work 7 days per week, some at home and some out and about, just making sure people are happy and things are going to plan.

If you are going through a bad patch dont worry everyone is, we are all suffering.

I have built a house of cards, that could come down in an instance, but I will do my best to keep it all together, and will never give up.

I hope you and other members will do the same, we need good moral electricians in this god forsaken country.

 

[WarrenG]

As said, being in business is unpredictable and it really is a case of the more you put in the more you will get back out.

I think its about creating the right balance, i.e. it you don't want to be a busy fool working every single day and actually earning nothing by under selling your services just to get the business?

Its far better if you can work less hours with more profitable jobs giving you more time to generate other profitable jobs.

At the start of a new business you really can't be that fussy about your jobs but as soon as your business grows you should be in a position to make a decision on whether the work that comes up is right for your business.

You will have choc-a-block times and you will have quiet times, all about the balance.

Bottom line - time is money, use it wisely

 

[Evans Electric]

Good question Bluefox, but difficult to answer. There is nothing to compare with the present economic climate, so I think we are all in the same boat and struggling through. I have always had a steady flow of work, with periods of everything coming at once . Often having to pass work on if they want you imediatley.

Then in November 2008 I noticed that the phone had stopped ringing and did sod all in Jan and Feb 09.

My best customer , a printer, is now in receivership, they paid about half my years income, so I will notice the difference there.

However , its often the case that when one door closes , another opens.

I now work ,average, 3 days a week and times are hard, with cases of being undercut by others with silly prices.

In " normal" times you could find yourself working 8 days a week. There are some I know who were doing that , but its best left to The Beatles ! They'll wake up one morning and find their kids have grown up without them ,somehow.

I don't think you can plan anything while this recession continues, get through it first.

Deke

 

[Blue Fox]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm actually enjoying working for myself and would even say I look forward to doing the job which I havn't in quite a long time doing other things. I'm doing this part time at the moment as have kept going with my regular job for as long as it last (the company is in trouble) and so am hoping I can make a living out of this. I've worked out I need to work 3 full days at my rate to earn a livable wage every week for 48 weeks per year which I'm hoping once this recession is over I'll be able to acheive and gradually build up.

One more quick question, before this recession how far in advance were you all booked? Whats reasonable?

 

[Evans Electric]

Never more than 3 weeks to be honest, other than the larger jobs like a printing company moving premises. Builders used to have their whole year planned as domestic customers don't mind waiting for a good and trusted builder, but will rarely wait for a sparky.